Back again with a weekly pipeline update. It was another busy weekend, and they won’t be slowing down anytime soon. Speaking of not slowing down, that’s exactly what Tommy Lafrenière is doing in the WHL right now, as he is up to 19 points in 17 games. One thing that is slowing down is any offence that plays the Fort Wayne Komets right now because of the stellar play of both their goaltenders, Nathaniel Day and Samuel Jonsson. The “Oilers Bowl” went down in Indiana this weekend as Asher Barnett, Aidan Park, and the Michigan Wolverines visited Paul Fischer and Notre Dame for two back-to-back games. Let’s jump right into it.

The Fort Wayne Komets are sitting at six wins in their first seven games and have given up only 11 goals in those games (1.57 GA/Game). Only one team has allowed fewer, and that’s Toledo at nine goals against in four games played (2.25 GA/Game).

A big part of those numbers is because Samuel Jonsson and Nathaniel Day have been spectacular. In four games, Jonsson has four wins, a 1.25 goals-against average, a .945 save percentage, and three shutouts. Now Nathaniel Day doesn’t have the numbers like Jonsson, but he’s doing mighty fine himself with a 2-1-0 record in three games, a 2.03 goals-against average, a .909 save percentage, and one shutout. That means in the seven games the Komets have played, their goalies have recorded shutouts in four of them, which is simply outstanding.

Sitting at the top of the Western Conference in the ECHL, Fort Wayne has an argument for being the best team in the league. James Stefan is leading the team with six goals and one assist in seven games, plus Beau Akey made his ECHL debut tonight, finishing with a +2 rating against the Florida Everblades.

After a seven-game point streak that saw the Blazers winger rack up seven goals and 11 points, Tommy Lafrenière could only go one game without a point before starting another streak. In his most recent three games played, the 2025 third-rounder has two goals and three assists. Lafrenière has been moving from centre to the wing every two games or so, but it hasn’t affected his play at all. The pace of play Lafrenière wants to play at has gone up a notch since last season, and his playmaking especially has taken a step. In the first clip below, Lafrenière, using his highly regarded work ethic, wins a race and makes an excellent spinning backhand pass for the primary assist.

In his draft year, I saw Lafrenière as less of a line driver and more of a play-in-space/get-in-on-the-forecheck complementary winger. But the Blazers’ assistant captain has shown the ability to gel together a line and be whatever the missing piece is on that line. The versatility he has brought to the Blazers is impressive early on in the season. Now we can’t go on without showing the beautifully placed one-timer and wrist shot for Lafrenière’s two goals during his current three-game streak.

Elite placement on both the one-timer goal and the quick release in transition. Since his slow first six games of the season, in which he only registered three points, Lafrenière has 16 points in his last 11 games played. Not only have the point totals climbed to start, but you can see the progress in his skating and playmaking ability continue to grow. Tommy Lafrenière is still averaging 4.3 shots per game through 17 games now, and he just registered his season-high eight shots against Wenatchee on November 2. Arrows pointing up for the 2025 third-rounder.

Second-ranked Michigan University and Notre Dame University clashed in back-to-back nights this past weekend. The Wolverines ended up walking away with a 5-3 win and a 2-1 OT win. A total of three Oiler prospects were featured in both games this weekend — those being Aidan Park and Asher Barnett for Michigan and Paul Fischer for Notre Dame.

Out of the three players listed, Paul Fischer plays the biggest role for his Fighting Irish squad, and he continues to catch my eye with his offensive ability. The Notre Dame defenceman was also the most impressive of the three prospects playing in the games this weekend. The first two clips of Fischer below show the nonchalant plays he makes to help fuel offence or put his teammates in the best position possible.

The first clip shows the playmaking mind Fischer plays with. A lot of defencemen will rim that puck around the wall behind the net or panic-shoot it on goal, but the American-born defenceman takes half a second and makes a pass into the middle of the ice to the F3. Unfortunately, the play was kind of wasted in the end, but I love the idea.

The second clip shows the poise he carries while he has the puck. Fischer holds onto the puck for as long as he can until he fires it up to the centreman, who has a lot more space to play with because of Fischer’s patience. Paul Fischer finished the weekend with two assists, and fellow Oilers prospect Aidan Park got on the board this weekend with a beautiful deflection goal that is clipped below.

Aidan Park and Asher Barnett are still playing in the bottom of the lineup, but that was expected with the depth of the Michigan roster. Park has shown some excellent flashes of skill and playmaking ability, but the skating mechanics need to be refined if he wants to progress even further in his career.

I am flabbergasted that after 22 games played, Maxim Beryozkin has zero goals. To not even have one of his shots bounce in off a defender’s shin pad or something is incredibly unlucky at this point. Even watching Beryozkin play, he continues to generate chances, but whether it’s a post or the puck exploding in half, it will not go in the net right now. The Russian power forward is still averaging above 16 minutes of ice time per game and continues to hover around two shots per game. Below is a clip of what Beryozkin is still capable of: he drives the net on his backhand after a great passing play and tries to bring it back to his forehand for the glove-side finish.

It would have been a beautiful way to get the monkey off his back. You can see he is still generating chances, and an inch to the left, and that puck is in the net. Even through the finishing struggles, the Lokomotiv winger still puts in an excellent work ethic throughout the whole ice surface. In the second clip below, he shows that he is willing to backcheck, and he has always carried a good defensive stick with him.

I still believe in the player, and I do think this is a bit of an off year, but the ceiling might just not be what we all thought it could be. Beryozkin did finish the game off with a primary assist on the power play after his shot hit off the backboards to his teammate, who made a heads-up play by banking it in off the goalie.

In other news and notes, David Lewandowski continues to lead the Saskatoon Blades with 18 points in 16 games played now. He continues to impress with his playmaking ability, but like Aidan Park, Lewandowski does need to clean up his skating a bit, and I haven’t seen too much progress yet. The season is still very young, though. Albin Sundin is now up to two goals and two assists in 17 games played. In his past two games, his minutes have gone down to around the 15-minute mark, but it seems to be paying off as he’s finding the scoresheet a bit more often.

That is all for the weekly prospect update. Come back for the Bakersfield Condors weekly report later this week as they continue to have a roller-coaster start to the year.