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Perhaps the top candidate for the Calder Trophy going into the season, the fourth-overall pick from the 2017 draft showed the hockey world why he was highly regarded when he jumped into the heat of conflict from the Hut 21 Coins playoffs last spring.In 10 games after turning pro after the end of his sophomore season at UMass Amherst, the smooth-skating defender averaged 17:22 of ice time per game and posted a goal and five assists.With right-side defenseman Tyson Barrie now in Toronto, Makar is expected to play a big part on an emerging Avalanche team this year.

The Columbus Blue Jackets' group was decimated when Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel all departed as unrestricted free agents. However, the team has a stone coming up from Alexandre Texier.The 20-year-old, drafted from France in the second round in 2017, came to North America in the end of last season after two successful years at Finland's leading league. Beneath John Tortorella, Texier played with a role that was more limited than Makar did in Colorado, but he impressed his coach enough to dress in eight of the Blue Jackets' playoff games, where he contributed two goals and one assist.

Drafted as a middle, Texier has gotten a preseason look on wing with Cam Atkinson and Pierre-Luc Dubois, in the old place of Panarin. If he begins the regular season, he could wind up among the top rookie scorers of the 2019-20 campaign.Prospect Ryan Poehling made a splash by scoring a hat trick in his first career Buy NHL 21 Coins game for Montreal in the end of last year. His quest for a roster spot with the big club this season was complicated by eight times off the ice after he suffered a concussion on September 18 in preseason action.