Because the EURO League is a virtual evolution league, its seasons don’t align with the NHL seasons. They begin and end at different times.

When the NHL season ends on April 17, we’ll be in very early February in the EURO League. Then, a week or two later, in time for the last 7 or 8 games of the regular season, several teams – not all – will get some of the prospects they picked in previous drafts.

Gothenburg fans seem giddy, and with great reason. They won’t be preparing for the playoffs, but they will welcome three promising forwards to the club as well as an amazing defenseman who might as well be a forward. To get your Websim attributes, you need to play about 35 games in an NHL season. Blueliner Lane Hutson has played 69 for the Montreal Canadiens and he is averaging .77 points a game (5 goals and 48 assists). That’s a great base for the 21-year-old to build from and he will have a PO rating in Cale Makar territory.

Joining him in the Frolunda clubhouse will be equally exciting 20-year-old RW Matvei Michkov, who has .71 points per game through 70 games (20 goals and 30 assists) with the Philadelphia Flyers. They will also get Mackie Samoskevich, 22, who has been a pleasant surprise for the Florida Panthers and Jiri Kulich, 20, of the Buffalo Sabres. Both are shoot-first players who should be regulars for the Frolunda down the line.

Gothenburg is not the only team that will get some good young reinforcements.

Macklin Celebrini has 52 points in 58 games for the San Jose Sharks. He could have a PO rating a little better than Connor Bedard’s 91. Whatever it is, he will be a godsend to the Madrid franchise which is currently 24th in the EURO standings. And there are others who will filter into the league (see the chart below) including Celebrini’s San Jose teammate Will Smith, who will join Lisbon on the other side of the Iberian Peninsula.

Goalies

As for goalies who might get their attributes this season, one has hit the 15 games mark and that’s Joel Blomquist of the Pittsburgh Penguins who is property of the Bratislava Eagles in the EURO.

Oslo would love it if the Ottawa Senators would give Leevi Merilainen a few more games because he has great numbers including a .925 save percentage. But he has 12 games and the Game Guide says goalies need 15 for attirbutes. But that’s not a firm number and could change. If he gets in, then Minsk will also get Yaroslav Askarov and Copenhagen will get Arturs Silovs, although their stats aren’t eye-popping like Merilainen’s are.

Here is a preview of who could be joining the league in about a month. These are skaters sorted by games played.