The prospect who got real work in week one was Cagnoni, at No. 6

Luca Cagnoni got the work. In San Jose's first three games he played 20:33 a night, second of six San Jose defensemen in ice time twice and fourth once, and he scored the overtime winner against Florida on opening night. That is 3 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 P for the sixth prospect on the board.

Ivar Stenberg, first on the board, played 42:57 across the same three games and has one assist and one shot. By ice time he was seventh, seventh and ninth of twelve San Jose forwards. He turned 19 on September 30, and those are a teenager's opening minutes, not a verdict.

The minutes are the part worth holding onto, because they are a decision the coaches made, and points in three games are mostly noise. The case against reading more into it is short. Three games is a sample. Cagnoni's goal came three on three and his assist on the power play, so nothing here says what he is at even strength.

That is also why the board did not move him. Cagnoni sits sixth, below Quentin Musty, who is injured, and an injury is not a performance. Ryan Lin, 18, gave the board its other real signal: a power-play goal and the most minutes on Denver's defense on October 3. All thirty held for a fourth straight week on the prospect board.

Sources: NHL box scores and play-by-play; AHL, OHL and WHL league feeds; Liiga game files; College Hockey News box scores and schedules.