BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The pro scouts who make their living on the Northeast circuit have cycled through here plenty already this season. They have a lot to see with the Sound Tigers, who are not only playing well in the AHL — they haven’t won a playoff game since 2010 or a playoff series since 2003 — but have a wealth of intriguing young prospects for the bird-dogs to evaluate.



In the last six weeks, a few scouts have started to take notice of the tall, slender kid who’s been centering the No. 1 line the last half a dozen games. Otto Koivula doesn’t have the puck wizardry of Josh Ho-Sang nor the weighty expectations of Michael Dal Colle, but it was Koivula, a wing for his entire playing life in Finland, whom Sound Tigers coach Brent Thompson felt could handle the middle between those two former first-round picks — at least until Ho-Sang got the call to the Islanders a week ago.



And the scouts like what they see in the 6-foot-5,...