It looks as though Montreal Canadiens prospect Jesperi Kotkaniemi has made quite an impression on head coach Claude Julien in his first NHL training camp.

Following the club's 5-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, Julien discussed where the 18-year-old stands with just one preseason game remaining.

"It's pretty hard to not see him on our roster," Julien said, according to TSN's John Lu.

When asked postgame if he thought he had earned a spot on the roster, Kotkaniemi remained modest.

"It's hard to say anything about that, but I've given everything I've got every night, so we'll see what happens," the 18-year-old said.

Kotkaniemi was plucked with the third overall selection in June's draft.

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Nashville Predators top prospect Eeli Tolvanen was assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, the team announced.

The 19-year-old is coming off an outstanding 2017-18 that saw him break Evgeny Kuznetsov's KHL record for most points by a player under 20 years old. Tolvanen recorded 36 points in 49 games, surpassing Kuznetsov's mark of 32.

Tolvanen entered camp with hopes of cracking the Predators' roster after he was unable to cement a spot last season. Although he joined the team down the stretch a year ago, the 2017 first-round pick had a rather unimpressive camp, failing to record a point in four preseason contests.

The team also announced that defenseman Brian Cooper was released from his professional tryout, but the club expects to send him to training camp with the Admirals.

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Making the playoffs in consecutive seasons in today's NHL is no easy feat.

Each year, the cycle of teams to qualify features some fresh faces, and since we've already guessed who those newcomers will be, let's estimate who they might be replacing.

New Jersey Devils

Nobody anticipated that New Jersey would qualify for the playoffs within a calendar year of drafting first overall, but the feisty Devils shocked naysayers with a fast-paced attack, a collection of breakout campaigns, and an MVP season from Taylor Hall.

Hall's Hart-worthy effort was so dominant that his 93 points were 41 clear of Nico Hischier, who finished second in team scoring despite the former missing six games. Hall will be the central figure in New Jersey's offense again, but the gap in production down the roster is too vast to comfortably rely on the Devils squeaking back into the playoffs.

New Jersey certainly has some nice pieces outside of their MVP. Hischier, Kyle Palmieri and Will Butcher are all solid players, but even in last year's dream season, the Devils only eked into the dance by one point, fending off the charging Florida Panthers. Not to mention, a loaded Metropolitan Division will make it even more difficult for New Jersey to qualify in back-to-back seasons.

Colorado Avalanche

Just call them Devils West.

Mirroring New Jersey, Colorado came out of nowhere last season to claim the final Western Conference playoff spot, and like the Devils, did so on the strength of MVP-level play from Nathan MacKinnon. The 23-year-old's 1.31 points per game trailed only Connor McDavid league-wide, but a middling Avalanche team will need more than his individual brilliance to reach for the postseason again.

MacKinnon's linemates Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen also put forth standout seasons in 2017-18, but Colorado's output as a whole is underwhelming for a team that needs to stay afloat in the Central Division gauntlet. Last year, a 10-game win streak in the middle of the schedule largely inflated the Avs playoff odds. Beneath the surface, the numbers suggest a repeat bid is unlikely.

Even with one of the best lines in hockey on their side, at five-on-five, Colorado ranked 27th in possession at 47.57 percent and 28th in expected goals for percentage 46.29, according to Corsica. However, a gaudy PDO (shooting percentage plus save percentage) of 101.45 was enough to mask their flaws and erase the memory of a dreadful last-place finish 2016-17.

They have the pieces to contend soon - and could make another major addition with the Senators' first-round pick in their back pocket - but don't count on the Avalanche to be in the Western Conference playoff picture this season.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings are an interesting team.

Their core is strong, although not exactly young. They have a world-class goalie in Jonathan Quick and landed a major piece in Ilya Kovalchuk via free agency. So, what's holding them back?

Primarily, it's the pieces supplementing Los Angeles' nucleus. Outside of Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Jeff Carter, and Kovalchuk, the Kings lack impact players down the roster. That collection of players is by no means anything to scoff at, but with Dustin Brown's gigantic shooting percentage increase last season, factored in with a less-than-stellar bottom six, L.A.'s offense - which ranked 16th in goals for in 2017-18 - has to be better in order to contend in the Pacific. The Kings face the same problem on their blue-line, which apart from Doughty and Jake Muzzin, features some sizable holes.

Overall, the Kings have the pieces to compete if they stay healthy and things continuously fall their way over 82 games, but that's not exactly an encouraging diagnosis for a team looking to get back to the postseason.

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St. Louis Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo will have a hearing on Thursday for elbowing Washington Capitals blue-liner Michal Kempny, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Wednesday.

The incident occurred early in the third period of Tuesday night's preseason game between the two clubs, moments before the Capitals scored their third goal of the contest.

Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said on Wednesday that the team will continue to evaluate Kempny for an upper-body injury, but the rearguard is believed to have a concussion, according to The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan.

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Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones will be out four-to-six weeks due to a sprained knee suffered in Tuesday night's preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres, the Blue Jackets announced Wednesday.

Jones was hurt in the second period of the contest.

The talented blue-liner underwent an MRI on Wednesday that revealed a second-degree sprain of his MCL.

Jones, who turns 24 on Oct. 3, racked up 57 points in 78 games last season.

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Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry had surgery to repair meniscus and MCL injuries and his recovery timetable is 20 weeks, or about five months, the club announced Wednesday.

More to come.

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Ron Hextall says the Philadelphia Flyers are dealing with a matter involving forward Jori Lehtera and they have contacted the NHL about the situation.

“We have spoken with Jori Lehtera and the league office regarding the reports out of Finland, and will reserve any further comment on the matter at this time," the Flyers general manager said on Wednesday.

Police in Finland have questioned Lehtera about his possible involvement in a cocaine ring, as Finnish news outlet MTV reported on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old forward, who has denied being involved in a crime, is one of 23 suspects in a case that centers on two kilograms of cocaine, according to the report. Some of the suspects were arrested at Lehtera's summer home this offseason, but he wasn't there at the time.

Lehtera was acquired by the Flyers in the Brayden Schenn trade at the 2017 draft.

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Vegas. New Jersey. Colorado.

These were the teams no one expected to qualify for the playoffs last season. But hockey gods be damned, they surprised us all and made the dance. Every year the postseason features a handful of newcomers. Here, we venture our best guess as to who those might be in 2018-19.

Florida Panthers

A second-half surge brought the Panthers within one point of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference last season, and they appear poised to build upon their late success and barge their way into the dance in 2018-19.

The team was sunk by a mid-season injury to goalie Roberto Luongo, who recovered to go 12-5-1 with a .930 save percentage down the stretch to give his club a chance. His health will be imperative for the Panthers to be in the playoff mix again. Florida enhanced its odds of a postseason berth with the savvy acquisition of Mike Hoffman to bolster a top-six forward group that also features superstar and new captain Aleksander Barkov, as well as Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, and Evgenii Dadonov.

However, Florida resides in a top-heavy Atlantic Division that could very well feature the conference's top three teams in the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Panthers probably aren't cut from the same cloth as those powerhouses, but on the opposite end of the division lies a slew of teams much more likely to be contending for a lottery pick than a wild-card spot. Florida needs to feast on its weaker competition to qualify for the playoffs for just the fifth time in franchise history.

St. Louis Blues

Like the Panthers, the Blues missed out on the playoffs by a single point, losing five of their final six contests of the regular season, including a crushing winner-take-all Game 82 to the Colorado Avalanche. The skid snapped a six-season playoff streak, but St. Louis, on the strength of a highly active offseason, looks like a threat to compete once again.

After surprisingly shipping Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline, general manager Doug Armstrong got back on the horn over the summer and acquired Ryan O'Reilly. He'll join Brayden Schenn and free-agent signee Tyler Bozak to make up one of the deepest trios of centermen in the NHL. Armstrong also signed wingers Pat Maroon and David Perron to give his club enviable forward depth on top of a highly reliable blue line built around captain Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko.

The Blues' biggest X-factor is in goal, where Jake Allen will need to rebound from last season's struggles and a .906 save percentage that ultimately led to Carter Hutton taking over the reins as St. Louis' starter. If he can't, there could be significant trouble in the Gateway City. But if he can, the Blues have added all the pieces they need to contend in the deadly Central Division.

Calgary Flames

Calgary was one of the busiest teams of the summer. Out are Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland, and Troy Brouwer. In are Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, James Neal, Derek Ryan, Austin Czarnik, and head coach Bill Peters.

The surplus of transactions creates some uncertainty surrounding the Flames, but for the most part, their new additions should play a significant role in helping them rebound from an 84-point output last season and back into the playoffs. The biggest question is whether Hanifin can adequately replace Hamilton on the blue line, but otherwise, each of Calgary's forward acquisitions should help fix its greatest pitfall from 2017-18: offensive depth.

The Flames lacked much of an attack behind Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan on the team's first line. Neal could give that unit two elite finishers and create several enviable options down the lineup, which features mainstays like Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund along with a new mix of offensively capable players.

The Flames also benefit from a wide-open Pacific Division. Aside from Vegas and San Jose, there's a pack of middling teams vying to claim the third playoff spot, and Calgary appears equipped to be in the thick of the race.

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