Hi there, all you folks out there in web-land! PPP's T25U25 proper kicks off this morning at 9:00 AM with No. 25. We'll be doing one prospect per day Monday-to-Friday for the next five weeks, with weekend opportunities to recap and for the community to have its say over the Hive Mind. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Here's what else is happening on-site and around the hockey world:

ICYMI

Acha for T25U25: Why We Should Believe in Kasimir Kaskisuo Acha takes a closer look at one of the Leafs' goalie prospects. I think we should nickname him KasiKaski or something.

Species for T25U25: How Did We Do Last Year? Let's just forget that whole Richard Panik thing ever happened.

Katya: Why I'm Not Worried About The Leafs' Cap Situation Katya's often the voice of calm in our internal discussions. Here she lays out why you shouldn't lose sleep over bonus overages and the like.

The World At Large

Ice age, heat wave, can't complain.

Fear The Fin: Sharks T25U25 No. 8, Barclay Goodrow Other sites are also doing T25U25s. The Sharks' No. 8 appears to be a British mercantile bank.

Silver Seven Sens: Sens T25U25 No. 21, Chris Driedger Also what Chris Kreider calls himself when drunk.

Second City Hockey: Blackhawks T25U25 No. 22, Dylan Sikura Sometimes it feels like every prospect now is an NCAA kid.

Winging It In Motown: Top 25 Detroit Red Wings Under 25, Anthony Mantha WIIM doesn't appear to actually rank their T25U25, which takes all the fun out of it if you ask me. Anyway, Mantha is about due for a longer look at the NHL level, even though his AHL performances have been in the good-as-distinct-from-excellent range.

Pensburgh: Happy Birthday Sidney Crosby Crosby turned 29 yesterday. If he retired today, he would make the Hall of Fame at his first eligibility. I feel like people don't appreciate how incredible that is.

Defending Big D: Dallas Stars Future Outlook, Summer 2016 Edition The Stars are good now, the Stars ought to be good later. Aside, though--the Stars give up a lot of dangerous chances. I suspect any goalie they trade for might find that out.

Blue Seat Blogs: Ranking the NHL GMs Part One Can't get your fill of rankings? This one features NHL GMs 30-21, in the eyes of the author. #30 will not surprise you at all.

Puck Daddy Summer Series: Weird Carolina Hurricanes Puck Daddy is going through teams and their weird histories for the summer. Here's Carolina.

As usual, add any links you like in the comments. See y'all at 9.

From The Branches