This article is part of our The Kids' Table series.
Through the years, Halloween has evolved into one of my favorite holidays. It used to be all about dressing up as your favorite Power Ranger (the blue one) and running around the streets of your neighborhood hounding people for free candy. Now, Halloween has taken on a much different shape. At the age of 25, finding a costume has become a chore. Instead of hounding strangers for candy, I'm hounding bartenders for drinks while wearing the worst fake cop outfit anyone has ever seen. Obviously there are perks to going out and telling every chick I walk past that she has "the right to remain sexy," but it gets old after about an hour. I'd much rather stay in while doing the only enjoyable activity there is on Halloween: watching scary movies.
Every year, I patiently wait for AMC's FearFest to begin, and each year it seems to get better and better. I know, I know, it's the same horror movies over and over, but the more I watch films like Friday the 13th and Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, the more I appreciate how terrifying horror flicks used to be and how not-so-terrifying they are nowadays. Every idea is just being recycled. I almost feel duped. It makes me want to go back to the days where Chucky from Child's Play and the titular character from Leprechaun made me afraid to turn out the lights. Ultimately, FearFest does a pretty good job of making me
Through the years, Halloween has evolved into one of my favorite holidays. It used to be all about dressing up as your favorite Power Ranger (the blue one) and running around the streets of your neighborhood hounding people for free candy. Now, Halloween has taken on a much different shape. At the age of 25, finding a costume has become a chore. Instead of hounding strangers for candy, I'm hounding bartenders for drinks while wearing the worst fake cop outfit anyone has ever seen. Obviously there are perks to going out and telling every chick I walk past that she has "the right to remain sexy," but it gets old after about an hour. I'd much rather stay in while doing the only enjoyable activity there is on Halloween: watching scary movies.
Every year, I patiently wait for AMC's FearFest to begin, and each year it seems to get better and better. I know, I know, it's the same horror movies over and over, but the more I watch films like Friday the 13th and Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, the more I appreciate how terrifying horror flicks used to be and how not-so-terrifying they are nowadays. Every idea is just being recycled. I almost feel duped. It makes me want to go back to the days where Chucky from Child's Play and the titular character from Leprechaun made me afraid to turn out the lights. Ultimately, FearFest does a pretty good job of making me feel like a kid again, mostly by scaring the hell out of me.
As we approach Oct. 31, I can't help but think of a few other things that scare me – particularly, a few prospects. Some are a good kind of scary and some are a bad kind of scary, but both types have me on the edge of my seat whenever they hit the ice. They either fill me with adrenaline and excitement or riddle me with fear and doubt. But the best feeling of all is that fear of the unknown, which is a feeling every prospect gives his owners until he proves himself at the NHL level. So this week, we'll take a look at the prospects that scare me the most.
Scary Good
Travis Konecny, C/RW and Ivan Provorov, D, Flyers
Not a single franchise's picks in the 2015 NHL Draft terrified me more than the Flyers picking up Konecny and Provorov, two of my favorite prospects at the time. Seeing them drafted by one of the Devils' rivals made me feel like my heart was ripped out. I'd rather be forced to watch Jason X (you know, the one in space) over and over than see Konecny and Provorov tear it up for Philadelphia as soon as next season.
Provorov, 18, was selected seventh overall and was arguably the most talented defenseman in the draft. After a breakout rookie season for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, the young Russian is on fire to start 2015-16 with two goals and 14 points in 12 games. He's also a WHL-leading plus-18, putting the Wheat Kings in good shape to defend their Eastern Conference regular-season title. The Flyers are being patient with Provorov, but there's no doubt in my mind he could have been one of their top blueliners this season. He may see some action in Philadelphia late this year, but chances are you'll have to wait until 2016-17 to reap his fantasy rewards. This is a must-own defensive prospect for dynasty leagues, and he may offer the most offensive upside among blue-line prospects at any level.
Konecny, also 18, is currently leading the OHL in scoring. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Dylan Strome. Not Mitch Marner. Konecny. The Ottawa 67's captain has four goals and 22 points in 13 games, proving that he shouldn't have fallen all the way to 24th overall in this draft. To me, Konecny is somewhere between Zach Parise and Brendan Gallagher, but I'm beginning to lean toward Parise because of the increase in production. Konecny plays a relentless style of hockey and is a leader who can be used in all situations. He makes up for his lack of size with his skill and ability to pester opponents, making him difficult to play against. Konecny nearly cracked the Flyers' Opening Night roster, and Ron Hextall and Dave Hakstal may be kicking themselves for sending him down, but ultimately it was for the best. Now that he's starting to show that he can produce at the highest level in juniors, you shouldn't hesitate to stash Konecny in dynasty leagues as a future winger for Claude Giroux.
Thatcher Demko G, Canucks
The Canucks have been known to draft and develop goaltenders from Boston College, and Demko could be their best goalie prospect yet. He was selected in the second round in 2014 following an impressive rookie campaign in which he posted a 16-5-3 record, 2.24 GAA and .919 save percentage. Since then, all he's done is pad his resume with another great season for the Golden Eagles and a nice showing at last year's World Junior Championship for the United States. In five starts this season, he is 4-1-0 with a ridiculous 0.60 GAA and .974 save percentage. Demko's numbers this season could make Cory Schneider's from back in 2006-07 look pedestrian.
Vancouver has Demko lined up to take over for Ryan Miller when the veteran's contract is up following the 2016-17 season. We all know how poorly the Canucks' old management handled the Luongo-Schneider situation, so chances are Trevor Linden and Jim Benning won't make that mistake again with Miller and Demko. I could see a scenario where Demko leaves BC a year early to get a season in the AHL under his belt before making the jump to the NHL. I could also see the Canucks taking a bit more time with Demko's development, so it's still tough to judge quite when he'll make a fantasy impact. Regardless of when he does make it to Vancouver, Demko is easily the best U.S.-born goalie prospect in all of hockey, and he has a bright future.
Scary Bad
Michael Dal Colle, LW, Islanders
The Islanders have really stockpiled prospects over the past decade or so, and Dal Colle has a shot to be the most promising since John Tavares. But after scoring a combined 81 goals over his past two seasons with the Oshawa Generals of the OHL, Dal Colle has yet to light the lamp in 11 games this season. He has just five assists and is minus-9 for the Generals, who are the reigning Memorial Cup champions. Oshawa has struggled to start the season and likely won't repeat as champions of junior hockey unless their captain steps up.
Dal Colle is a big kid, listed at 6-foot-3, which is what scares me the most. We've seen imposing prospects with elite skill like Dal Colle fall off a cliff, so it's pretty important that he gets things going with Oshawa, regardless of how bad the team is playing overall. With high-end prospects like Dal Colle, it's hard to jump the gun on situations like this. Chances are he'll bounce back this season and make us all forget how much he struggled to start the season. But the fact that he is such a highly touted prospect makes me scared that he could turn into a Steve Bernier horror sequel.
Anthony Mantha, RW, Red Wings
I wrote about Mantha when he was sent down to AHL Grand Rapids prior to the start of the season. Many assumed Mantha would make Detroit's Opening Night roster, but he fell short after Dylan Larkin emerged as the best-looking youngster on the team. Subsequently, Mantha has had a pretty slow start with Grand Rapids, scoring just two points through the first six games of the season. You could argue that subtracting coach Jeff Blashill from his post with the Griffins was bound to cause the team to regress a bit, but that should be no excuse for Mantha's lack of production. He had a solid rookie season with 15 goals and 33 points in 62 games in 2014-15, but any step back this year could mean he'll never reach his potential as a goal-scoring power forward in the NHL.
Mantha is your prototypical AHL prospect who seems destined to fail at this point. I hate to admit this, since I really liked Mantha in his draft year and he seemed like one of those prospects that fell right into the Red Wings' lap, like many of their players throughout the years. He's beginning to look like that high-budget slasher flick that doesn't live up to the hype – think Scream 4. I love that movie franchise and will defend its fourth installment until the day I die, but let's face facts – it was a pretty disappointing film. I feel like everyone will always fall in love with Mantha's size and he'll wow us with a highlight=reel goal every now and then, but I just don't see him living up to the hype, and that terrifies me.
