Day 1 of the NHL season has come and gone and you can now be forgiven if any attention you were paying to the early-season progress of your favorite team’s prospects takes a backseat.



Fear not, we’ve got you covered at The Athletic.



Here, I’ve broken down the one prospect from all 31 teams who I believe is poised for a major step forward. These are players who I think still have a lot more to offer than we’ve seen to date — or those whose natural progression I think will be steeper than most anticipate.



Anaheim Ducks



Blake McLaughlin — LW, 19, University of Minnesota



The Golden Gophers have built the current iteration of their program around depth at defense. So while they’ve just graduated last year’s three leading scorers (Rem Pitlick, Tyler Sheehy and Brent Gates Jr.), the freshman crop of forwards is weak enough that McLaughlin will be awarded a huge opportunity as a sophomore...