Your guide to the NHL Prospect Tournaments
6 years ago
The unofficial start to the NHL hockey season kicks off this week with teams competing in prospect tournaments across North America.
A few years ago, these tournaments didn’t exist and regular training camps would be the place for young players in their organizations to make a name for themselves. But with the focus being placed on teams getting younger and those players making an impact earlier, these prospect tournaments now hold value. It also allows fans a chance to catch a glimpse of some of the players that could be making up their favourite teams in a few short years.
It can be hard to keep track of all the players and tournaments going on, so I wanted to create a one-stop shop for all of the events. Have all the rosters, locations, and schedules in one digestible page and the links from around the league to get everything you needed.
Young Stars (Penticton, B.C., Canada)
We’ll start with the local team and their annual prospect tournament (since I primarily write for Canucks Army). Up in the interior of BC, the Young Stars Classic has become a highly-anticipated event to kick off the season in Western Canada. Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Winnipeg will participate in this year’s event (as it’s been for a couple of years).
The tournament runs for September 8th-11th at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton B.C. This is the 7th tournament to be hosted by the Canucks.
The full schedule of games is as follows:
| GAME | TEAMS | DATE | TIME |
| Game 1 | Edmonton vs. Calgary | Sept. 8 | 4:00pm |
| Game 2 | Vancouver vs. Winnipeg | Sept. 8 | 7:30pm |
| Game 3 | Winnipeg vs. Edmonton | Sept. 9 | 7:30pm |
| Game 4 | Calgary vs. Vancouver | Sept. 10 | 2:00pm |
| Game 5 | Winnipeg vs. Calgary | Sept. 11 | 10:30am |
| Game 6 | Vancouver vs. Edmonton | Sept. 11 | 2:00pm |
The rosters for the four teams competing in Penticton are below:
The various teams will stream their games through their twitter/facebook or youtube.
2017 NHL Prospects Tournament (Traverse, MI, USA)
The marquee prospect event that spawned all the others is the 2017 NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse, Michigan. This is the biggest prospect tournament with 8 teams participating with hopes of capturing the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup, which was named after the late Matthew Wuest, who developed capgeek.com.
The eight teams are divided into two divisions (Howe and Lindsey) and are entering its 19th season.
The Alumni list from this tournament is simply astounding. The full schedule is as follows:
| Time | Home | Score | Visitor | Rink |
Friday September 8 | ||||
| 3:30pm ET | Columbus Blue Jackets | Dallas Stars | Davids Rink | |
| 4:00pm ET | St. Louis Blues | Minnesota Wild | West Rink | |
| 7:00pm ET | Chicago Blackhawks | New York Rangers | Davids Rink | |
| 7:30pm ET | Detroit Red Wings | Carolina Hurricanes | West Rink | |
Saturday September 9 | ||||
| 3:30pm ET | Carolina Hurricanes | New York Rangers | Davids Rink | |
| 4:00pm ET | Chicago Blackhawks | Detroit Red Wings | West Rink | |
| 7:00pm ET | Dallas Stars | St. Louis Blues | Davids Rink | |
| 7:30pm ET | Minnesota Wild | Columbus Blue Jackets | West Rink | |
Monday September 11 | ||||
| 3:00pm ET | St. Louis Blues | Columbus Blue Jackets | Davids Rink | |
| 3:30pm ET | Dallas Stars | Minnesota Wild | West Rink | |
| 6:30pm ET | Carolina Hurricanes | Chicago Blackhawks | Davids Rink | |
| 7:00pm ET | New York Rangers | Detroit Red Wings | West Rink | |
Tuesday September 12 | ||||
| 3:00pm ET- 7th Place Game | 4th Lindsay Division | 4th Howe Division | Davids Rink | |
| 3:30pm ET – 5th Place Game | 3rd Howe Division | 3rd Lindsay Division | West Rink | |
| 6:30pm ET – 3rd Place Game | 2nd Lindsay Division | 2nd Howe Division | Davids Rink | |
| 7:00pm ET – Championship Game | 1st Howe Division | 1st Lindsay Division | West Rink |
Team rosters are below:
Rookie Tournament (Toronto, ON, Canada)
The Maple Leafs kick off their centennial celebrations by hosting the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens at the Ricoh Coliseum for their annual event.
The tournament had been held in London for the last couple of years and usually included the Pittsburgh Penguins. But this year, it has been trimmed down to the three Canadian teams and moved to downtown Toronto.
The schedule for the ‘Rookie Tournament’ in the centre of the universe is:
| Date | Time | Event | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, September 8 | 7 p.m. ET | Game 1 | Montreal vs. Toronto |
| Saturday, September 9 | 7 p.m. ET | Game 2 | Ottawa vs. Montreal |
| Sunday, September 10 | 4 p.m. ET | Game 3 | Toronto vs. Ottawa |
The three rosters can be found below:
Prospect Challenge (Buffalo, NY, USA)
The third annual Prospect Challenge takes place in Buffalo, NY at the HarborCenter, which attached directly to the Sabres home arena. This year has the host Buffalo Sabres be joined by prospects from the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils.
Like all other of these events, it is a round robin format with all four teams facing each other once.
The schedule for the Prospect Challenge is as follows:
Friday, Sept. 8
• Pittsburgh vs. Boston – 3:30 p.m. ET
• Buffalo vs. New Jersey – 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, Sept. 9
• New Jersey vs. Pittsburgh – 3:30 p.m. ET
• Buffalo vs. Boston – 7 p.m. ET
Monday, Sept. 11
• Boston vs. New Jersey – 12 p.m. ET
• Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh – 7 p.m. ET
The rosters for the four participants can be found here:
Pittsburgh Penguins Roster (*has not been released, will update when available)
Prospect Showcase (San Jose, CA, USA)
After participating in the Young Stars for a couple of years, the San Jose Sharks decided to host their own tournament in California. This year features the Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche and Arizona Coyotes in a round robin format.
The majority of the games will be played at the Solar4America Ice in San Jose with one game being played at the Sharks main rink, the SAP Center.
The full schedule:
| DATE | GAME | LOCATION | TIME (PT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 9 | Avalanche vs. Sharks | S4A | 4:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 9 | Coyotes vs. Ducks | S4A | 7:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 10 | Ducks vs. Sharks | SAP Center | 3:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 11 | Avalanche vs. Coyotes | S4A | 7:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 12 | Ducks vs. Avalanche | S4A | 12:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 12 | Coyotes vs. Sharks | S4A | 3:00 p.m. |
The rosters for the four participants can be found here:
Capitals Rookie Tournament (Four-Team) (Estero, FLA, USA)
***This tournament has been cancelled due to Hurricane Irma***
The prospect tournament has rotating hosts with the Washington Capitals taking the duties this season in Estero, Florida. This is the third year
It features the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators.
The tournament schedule is as follows:
Saturday, Sept. 9
1:00pm ET – Florida vs. Washington
4:30pm ET- Nashville vs. Tampa Bay
1:00pm ET – Florida vs. Washington
4:30pm ET- Nashville vs. Tampa Bay
Sunday, Sept.10
1:00pm ET- Tampa Bay vs. Washington
4:30pm ET- Nashville vs. Florida
1:00pm ET- Tampa Bay vs. Washington
4:30pm ET- Nashville vs. Florida
Tuesday, Sept. 12
10:00am ET- Washington vs. Nashville
2:00pm ET- Florida vs. Tampa Bay
10:00am ET- Washington vs. Nashville
2:00pm ET- Florida vs. Tampa Bay
The rosters can be found below
Washington Capitals Roster
The missing teams
Los Angeles and Las Vegas will not take part in any of the aforementioned tournaments but will play two games against each other at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, CAL on September 12 and 13.
Their rosters are here:
Los Angeles Kings Roster (*has not been released, will update when available)
For the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers – their prospects will play one game against each other on September 13th. The Flyers roster can be found here, while the Islanders roster is found here.
From what I can find, the majority of games will be streamed by their respective teams through twitter, facebook, or youtube. Some have been confirmed (like the Young Stars), some are still up in the air. If you are looking to watch a specific team’s prospect game, I would suggest checking out their twitter account for updated information.
