The Isles took care of business in the opener of their second-round series against the Flyers. Semyon Varlamov posted a 29-save shutout and New York was able to get three past Carter Hart (and one into an empty net).

The game wasn’t that far out of reach, as the Flyers out-attempted NYI 63-47. However, the shot-blocking of the Islanders came into play. As well as that ridiculously stingy defense. They kept Philadelphia to the outside and according to Natural Stat Trick, limited them to just nine high-danger chances in total

Gee, I wonder if the Caps regret letting Barry Trotz walk? What a system’s coach he is. Remarkable.

**

Quickly on Varlamov. The 32-year-old netminder has three more seasons at 5M per with a NMC turning into a modified NMC in 2021-22. Ilya Sorokin has landed and will immediately begin pushing him for starts next season. If you have a chance to sell Varly on these playoffs, I’d go ahead and do it in a hurry.

**

JVR was scratched again in this one. That’s pretty wild stuff to me. He was on a 25/25 pace this season with a 7M cap hit in his back pocket. Alain Vigneault isn’t playing.

**

Detroit signed 24-year-old centre, Robbi Fabbri to a two-year deal worth 2.95M per season. Talk about a nice low-risk move by the Red Wings.

First, they traded Jacob de la Rose for him straight up. A fine deal for STL as they nabbed a useful fourth-liner to add some beef to the bottom of the lineup. However, Fabbri has long been a player with immense upside. The 24-year-old, former 21st overall selection appeared to have first-line upside if it weren't for those damn meddling injuries.

Well, he was healthy in his brief stint with Detroit and began to inspire the thought that maybe he could be a useful top-six guy. He recorded 31 points in 52 games for Detroit playing around the lineup but seeing the most time next to Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi.

That was due to Anthony Mantha's lengthy trip to the IR, so don't expect that spot to remain. However, a 2C role beside a burgeoning Filip Zadina wouldn't be the worst place to be.

I'm cautiously optimistic that he could push 40-plus next season with some room for a bit more. 

**

Quinn Hughes got tuned up by the Golden Knights in game one of the second round, but my goodness has he been god-like before that.

There’s a case to be made that he’s already a top-three defenseman in the world. That’s right, I said it.

**

No Erik Johnson or Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 of the Avs-Stars battle. Colorado didn’t appear to miss Johnson much, but they were maybe could’ve used Grubauer’s mojo in the net. They were not getting the bounces on Monday night.

Despite outshooting Dallas 41-27, out attempting them 74-34, out-chancing them 30-19, the Avs lost this one 5-2 and find themselves down 0-2 in the series.

I keep expecting the rails to come off of this Dallas team. Maybe I need to start giving them some more credit.

**

Phew.

**

Nashville has loaned Eeli Tolvanen back to Jokerit of the KHL until their 2020-21 training camp begins in November. 

On paper, this is a great move. Tolvanen experienced by far his most success as a player while skating for the sole Finnish club in Russia's top tier. It was there that he recorded 19 goals and 36 points in 49 games as a 19-year-old – terrific production for a teen at that level.

Perhaps a spin back on the top line and top PP back home will reignite his scoring prowess. 

**

I want to talk about Alex Tuch for a minute. Here's a 6'4 power winger who can absolutely fly. He also has a history of scoring at an impressive clip. While big men usually take a little longer to break out, he's hitting that sweet sweet 240 career-game threshold as we speak and looks deadly on a fast and fun third line for the Golden Knights.

He also struggled through the worst season of his young career in 2019-20. A lower-body injury ended his regular season before COVID has a chance. But he fell off from a 22-goal, 58 point pace in '18-19 to a 16-goal, 33-point pace this past year. 

So what happened?

Well, he lost two minutes per night – 45 seconds of which were power-play time. On top of that, his PDO of 955 was the lowest on the Vegas' squad – indicating luck was not on his side. Finally, his even-strength and total shooting percentages fell by three or more percent. 

He’s posted seven points in nine playoff games with an extra minute of ice – 30 seconds of which is coming on PP2. There are signs here.

Without an avenue to the top-six or top power-play unit, it's unlikely we see him spike to a degree that will make you kick yourself for missing out on him. However, he could blow past a guy like Reilly Smith who has two more seasons left on his deal while the younger, Tuch has six more. Then watch out. 

**

The KHL friendly matches have begun and we’re starting to get a gauge on where some younger players will be slotting into the lineup. With Kirill Kaprizov finally heading to Minnesota, and Grigori Denisenko jumping over to FLA, Vasily Podkolzin takes the mantle of the most intriguing fantasy prospect playing in the K. The 6'1 200lbs winger ended last season with a bang; producing points, earning more trust, and leaping in the proper direction.

Early on, it appears that the kids are alright in SKA. Podkolzin, Ivan Morozov (VGK) and Kirill Marchenko (CBJ) have seen time together at even-strength and look dangerous as a bottom-six unit. Podkolzin, who recently turned 19, is also appearing to be a major component of the team’s penalty-killing group and has been seeing time on both power-play units. These are excellent signs for the second-year Russian pro. 

Only three U20 KHL skaters have produced more than 30 points in a season – Evgeni Kuznetsov (x2), Tolvanen, and Kaprizov. It’s a difficult bar to reach especially playing on a stacked up SKA club that will still keep his minutes down a bit. But that should be the lofty expectation for Podkolzin in the 2020-21 campaign. If there’s a real season that is. Can’t forget that preface.

Finally, in regards to Marchenko, I become more and more sold on this kid with each passing viewing. He's a 20-year-old with a lot of skill and a tenacious style of play. He's now the Blue Jackets' top prospect as the big club has graduated several youngsters of late. 

Unfortunately for Columbus folks, Marchenko has two more seasons on his KHL deal though, so the wait will be real. 

**

Quick FYI – the Roos Lets Loose column penned by Rick Roos will be off this week due to Rick taking a vacation.  It returns on the 2nd with an edition of the mailbag; and as it so happens, Rick could use a few more items for the column.  So if you have a question about your fantasy team or just about fantasy hockey in general, you can get it to Rick in one of two ways, either by emailing it to [email protected] with the words "Roos Mailbag" as the subject line or by sending it to Rick via a private message on the DobberHockey Forums, where his username is "rizzeedizzee".

**

I joined Guy Flaming on the TPS show last week to talk about 2020 prospects. A handful of high-end talent evaluators and I provided a half dozen prospects who we are higher on and a couple more that we're a bit lower on than most. It was a fun discussion and hopefully provides insight into who you should be targeting in prospect drafts this fall.

Season 16 Begins…NOW!

@chrismpeters @espn
@THNRyanKennedy @TheHockeyNews
@LarryFisher_KDC @FCHockey
@Hockey_Robinson @eliteprospects

6 personal favorites for the #2020NHLDraft and one (or more) that has ‘red flags’.

https://t.co/Lqhlx3bKuD pic.twitter.com/AbeZ7cBOmx

— Guy Flaming (@TPS_Guy) August 22, 2020

**

The Bruins locked up netminder, Dan Vladar to a three-year extension. This one only jumped onto the radar since the team announced it in the middle of game one against the Bolts. However, this is a move that should garner some attention.

The Bruins have an interesting situation brewing in net. A couple of months ago, they extended Jaro Halak for one-year. They have Tuukka Rask for one more season as well. Now Vladar makes three but the crux here is that for the Seattle expansion draft, the club must have at least one netminder under contract for the 2021-22 campaign.

The Bruins do now.

My guess is that they’re not too keen to lose the 6’5, 23-year-0ld Czech though. Vladar posted a .936 save percentage in 25 AHL contests this past season – tops in the league.

Rask has already spoken about retiring at the end of his deal. 35-year-old Halak isn’t your long term plan. The club does have a kid by the name of Jeremy Swayman who had a tremendous final NCAA season and is turning pro. But that’s a can that’ll need to be kicked around for a bit before it’s ready.

Vladar sure looks like the heir apparent to the Bruins crease at this moment.

**

@Hockey_Robinson