First, Max and Corey look back at the first month of the NHL season and discuss which rookies, and high-end young players, have lived up to the hype so far, including Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Trevor Zegras, Bowen Byram, and others, and which ones have struggled to find their way, like Cole Caufield and Alexis Lafrenière.

Then, the guys talk about Michigan’s top prospect-laden lineup and discuss Kent Johnson’s and Matthew Beniers’ respective starts, Owen Powers and Luke Hughes leading the way from the backend, and Brendan Brisson as a potential piece in a hypothetical Jack Eichel trade between the Vegas Golden Knights and Buffalo Sabres.

Plus, Corey breaks down his most recent 2022 NHL Draft rankings and talks about a slight decrease in exuberance for Shane Wright, despite maintaining his position as the presumptive No. 1 pick this summer, Tier 2 prospects like Ivan Miroshnichenko and Logan Cooley, and the extremely impressive play of JYP’s Joakim Kemell to start the season in Liiga.

And, to close things out, the guys open up the mailbag and take listener questions about weighing “character issues” in prospect assessments, which of the next three draft classes are the strongest, who could be the NHL’s next true power forward a la Brendan Shanahan, which pandemic scouting workarounds could remain as the world begins to open back up, and if Scott Perunovich has done enough to crack the St. Louis Blues lineup.

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NOTE: This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, prior to the Jack Eichel trade.

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Sebastian Hilpert, Wildhüter