31 Teams in 31 Days - Vegas Golden Knights

1. Connor Corcoran - Windsor Spitfires
It was a really good year for Corcoran, from a progression standpoint, even if the Spitfires were plagued by consistency issues and ultimately underwhelmed as a team. He needed to show strong growth at both ends to earn that ELC from Vegas and he certainly did just that. As an offensive player, Corcoran really has excellent scoring instincts and a high quality shot; his 19 goals this year were no fluke. According to InStat Hockey, his 1.14 scoring chances per game were behind only Alec Regula (because of his work on the powerplay), Ryan Merkley, and Thomas Harley among NHL prospect defenders in the OHL. He jumps up into the play aggressively and will confidently cycle down low in the offensive end to keep plays alive. Corcoran's shooting ability is certainly an asset on the man advantage, where his one timer is very heavy. He did a good job cleaning up some of his exit pass issues in the defensive end and overall play with the puck, making quicker decisions and trusting his high end mobility to assist him more often. That said, this will continue to need to be a focal point moving forward to the pro level. Defensively, he established himself as one of the better defensive players in the OHL by increasing his physical intensity in his own end. Corcoran has always been strong as a transitional defender because of his gap control, reach, and mobility. However, this year, his work in coverage really took a step forward by being stronger along the boards and being more assertive in taking away space and engaging early. Corcoran is also a terrific shot blocker who plays a selfless game. I certainly feel more confident about Corcoran's NHL chances now than I did a year ago and a lot of that has to do with his improvements defensively. At 6'3, a right shot, and with a smooth stride, he's going to get his shot to be a quality stay at home defender, at minimum. I think that his offensive game will have some limitations as a pro, but if he can lock things down, continue to seek out scoring chances, provide value offensively there, and clean up his exits, he could be a quality third pairing guy for many years.

2. Mason Primeau - North Bay Battalion
Probably not the kind of season Vegas and the Battalion were hoping to get from Primeau in his draft +1 year. The hulking pivot saw his offensive production stagnate despite receiving a lot of ice time from the rebuilding Battalion. While there are certainly times where Primeau can dominate down low with his size and ability to protect the puck, those instances do not occur frequently enough. Some of the areas that needed improvement (skating, ability to receive passes in transition, ability to handle the puck at full speed, physical consistency) last year, still require that same level of growth for him to become a high end OHL player. Next year, North Bay will hope to be a better team and have certainly made some changes to their lineup to make sure of that. With the addition of Matvei Guskov, in addition to Luke Moncada and Liam Arnsby returning, there's no guarantee that Primeau gets the kind of ice time he'll need to increase his production considerably. With center depth all of a sudden, one wonders if North Bay will consider moving Primeau to the wing, or moving him to another organization. He'll likely need to be a point per game player in order to gain a contract from Vegas.