Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Blue Jackets Prospects Sep/Oct Review
Well the calendar has flipped to November and that means hockey has been going for a little over a month (month and a half for the players in the QMJHL). For those of you that don't know not only am I @en4cer45 on twitter but i also handle the @CBJProspects acccount. Being that it's November 1st it's time to see how the future Blue Jackets did in September and October. Now I only keep tabs on the team's prospects playing in the CHL and NCAA cause we only have 1 european prospect and I dont speak Swedish. Overall the Jackets have 10 forwards, 6 defensemen and 3 goalies playing in these leagues.
OHL
OHL
Brandon Archibald
14 GP 1-5-6 -4 24PIM
Dalton Smith
13 GP 2-1-3 +3 46PIM
Dalton Prout
9 GP 3-8-11 -5 19PIM
QMJHL
Mathieu Corbeil
12 GP 5-6-0-1 .862 SV% 3.84GAA
Petr Straka
16 GP 6-7-13 -2 14PIM
WHL
Ryan Johansen
12 GP 4-9-13 +6 16PIM
Oliver Gabriel
12 GP 1-8-9 -2 19PIM
Austin Madaisky
16 GP 4-5-9 -6 24PIM
OHL
The Blue Jackets have 3 prospects playing in the OHL this season. Brandon Archibald is a defenseman playing with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Archibald and the Hounds got off to a good start going 3-0 with Archibald picking up 2 assists and being a +3. But then October happened the Soo lost 7 straight while Archibald missed 2 games serving a suspension. Then after a small 2 game winning streak the Greyhounds ended the month on a 4 game losing streak. To find a positive of the 4 game streak Brandon is on a 2 game point streak going into November. Archibald was named a assistant captain for the Greyhounds this season. The other 2 players in the OHL are the Dalton boys in the form of Barrie Colts defenseman Dalton Prout and Ottawa 67's forward Dalton Smith (no relation). Dalton Smith was a 20 goal and 20 assist guy last season but has gotten off to a slow start picking his only 3 points this season in 2 games but when all the scouts said Smith was a tough customer they werent kidding Smith has picked up 46 penalty minutes in 13 games only missing 2 games due to a suspension earned during the season opener against Archibald's Greyhounds.
wait until the end.
1-15-16 that was Dalton Prout's career scoring before last season but then something clicked and Prout decided to become a offensive juggernaut exploding for 7 goals and 14 assists likely leading to the Jackets selecting him. The only 2010 draft pick that lasted at Blue Jacket's training camp longer than Prout was 1st round pick Ryan Johansen. Had it not been for all the rookies making there professional debuts with the Falcons Prout might have been in Springfield at the moment instead of being the Captain of the Colts. Prout has continued his strong offensive play picking up points in 7 of the 9 games hes played in including 4 multi-points games.
QMJHL
Petr Straka got off to probably the best start of all the Blue Jackets prospects picking up points in 9 of his first 10 games including a 9 game point streak. The last game that Straka earned a point was his best game of the season a game in which he scored a hat trick plus an assist. But that was 6 games ago and that was also the last time the Oceanic won a game. Mathieu Corbeil is the No. 1 goalie for the Halifax Mooseheads a team that hasnt had much sucess since a certain blonde haired Czech left the team for a city in Ohio. Going back to my prospect camp preview it seems that if Corbeil doesnt win the Herd doesnt win picking up 5 of the team's 6 wins.
WHL
The Jackets have 3 players in the Western Hockey League, 2 on the juggernaut known as the Portland Winterhawks and 1 on the Kamloops Blazers. The Winterhawks feature 2010 1st round pick Ryan Johansen and prospect camp invitee turned actual prospect Oliver Gabriel earning a contract with his strong prospect and training camps. When Johansen got back to Portland he went on a 3 game point streak earning 1 point in his season debut, 2 in his second and 3 in his third I was hoping he would keep up this pace but no. Johansen has scored in all but 4 games this season. The Islanders returning sniper Nino Niederreiter to the Hawks should help Johansen's points totals. Oliver Gabriel earned an entry-level contract after impressing the Blue Jackets brass at camp. Gabriel has picked up 9 points so far this season including matching Johansen in the duo's third game back both scoring a goal and 2 assists. Austin Madaisky is a defenseman with the Kamloops Blazers scoring 4 goals and 5 assists this season including 2 multi-point games. Madaisky was just named to an all star team of WHL players who will take on a Russian all star team.
There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the way the NCAA schedules hockey with some prospects teams have already played 8 games while Sean Collins and the Cornell Big Red have only just played their first 2 games that matter so ill cover the NCAA prospects in a few weeks.
STATS
OHL
Brandon Archibald
14 GP 1-5-6 -4 24PIM
Dalton Smith
13 GP 2-1-3 +3 46PIM
Dalton Prout
9 GP 3-8-11 -5 19PIM
QMJHL
Mathieu Corbeil
12 GP 5-6-0-1 .862 SV% 3.84GAA
Petr Straka
16 GP 6-7-13 -2 14PIM
WHL
Ryan Johansen
12 GP 4-9-13 +6 16PIM
Oliver Gabriel
12 GP 1-8-9 -2 19PIM
Austin Madaisky
16 GP 4-5-9 -6 24PIM
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Jackets finish 8th in Traverse City
The Blue Jackets played their best game of the Traverse City Prospects tournament today, oh wait did I say game I meant period. This was the only the second time the Jackets went into the first intermission either tied or with the lead in the tournament. The game was a rough one but my dad and I could tell this was gonna be this way when Jackets enforcer Kyle Neuber and Blues tough guy Stefan Della Rovere were talking during warm-ups. A total of 26 penalties were called totaling 92 penalty minutes with Neuber and fellow OHL tough guy Dalton Smith getting 29 of those minutes. The game appeared to be a complete loss with the Jackets down 3-0 in the 3rd until former Portland teammates Ryan Johansen and Chris Francis scored back to back goals 46 seconds apart. Cody Goloubef assisted on both goals, the assist on Johansen's goal was a beautiful pass from about the blueline for a wrist shot from Johansen. How many times have we heard this in a Blue Jackets post game article, special teams KILLED the Jackets today with the Blues scoring 5 power play goals in the game. I can only think of two goals I wouldnt blame on starting goaltender Riley Gill one was either a second or third effort and the other was a blast from the top prospect in the NHL Alex Pietrangelo.
For the first time I can think of in this tournament you knew the 4th overall pick in the 2010 draft was out there, I talked about Ryan Johansen's goal but also today we saw the guy isnt afraid to throw his weight around with big hit in the first period. Petr Straka continued to showcase his skill but you caan tell he's probably used to playing with players with a bit more skill than his linemates up here. Anyone from Springfield who reads this should be happy to know that future Falcon Chris Francis led the team in scoring with 3 goals and 1 asssist.
For the first time I can think of in this tournament you knew the 4th overall pick in the 2010 draft was out there, I talked about Ryan Johansen's goal but also today we saw the guy isnt afraid to throw his weight around with big hit in the first period. Petr Straka continued to showcase his skill but you caan tell he's probably used to playing with players with a bit more skill than his linemates up here. Anyone from Springfield who reads this should be happy to know that future Falcon Chris Francis led the team in scoring with 3 goals and 1 asssist.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Jackets blown away by Hurricanes
Sorry about the bad pun for a title folks but I had to, thats what this game looked like the eye of the storm was the first period. The Jackets were outshot 22 to 5 but they skated away trailing 1-0. The second and third period is when the Jackets got hit by everything including the kitchen sink getting outscored 7 to 1 over the final 40 minutes. Canes 2010 1st round pick Jeff Skinner scored 5 points on the Jackets including 1 of the few goals I wont blame on goaltender Jason Missiaen cause it was a laser and a half. Now the other night I wouldnt blame Riley Gill for the Minnesota game, tonight I cant say that I lost track of how many times I tweeted Canes score on a mishandled rebound. I dont know if it would of made much of a difference but the Jackets were without Ryan Johansen and Matt Calvert both as healthy scratches and David Savard was nursing a bruised foot.
Now so far in these I've mentioned players that impressed me but i'm scratching my head trying to think of anyone, the only ones I can think of are the Portland duo of Chris Francis and Oliver Gabriel. Francis for the second game was part of the Jacket's only goal scoring it after picking up an assist the other night.
Tomorrow is the final day of the tournament the Blue Jackets will be battling for 7th or 8th place tomorrow at 2pm against the Dallas Stars hopefully getting my first look at 2010 1st round pick Jack Campbell of the Stars(possibly the future of USA Hockey). The rest of the day looks like this the 5th place will between the Rangers and Blues at 2:30. The 3rd place game will be between the Hurricanes and Lightning and the host Red Wings taking on the Houston Aeros oh I mean the Minnesota Wild team of "prospects"
Now so far in these I've mentioned players that impressed me but i'm scratching my head trying to think of anyone, the only ones I can think of are the Portland duo of Chris Francis and Oliver Gabriel. Francis for the second game was part of the Jacket's only goal scoring it after picking up an assist the other night.
Tomorrow is the final day of the tournament the Blue Jackets will be battling for 7th or 8th place tomorrow at 2pm against the Dallas Stars hopefully getting my first look at 2010 1st round pick Jack Campbell of the Stars(possibly the future of USA Hockey). The rest of the day looks like this the 5th place will between the Rangers and Blues at 2:30. The 3rd place game will be between the Hurricanes and Lightning and the host Red Wings taking on the Houston Aeros oh I mean the Minnesota Wild team of "prospects"
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Jackets fall to Wild
Just a warning Jackets fans this is going to be a very negative post.
The Blue Jackets will not win the Traverse City Prospect Tournament this year, now before you call for my head on a hockey stick hear me out. The Blue Jackets are the only team that brought a team of actual prospects, I say this because during the second intermission me and my Dad starting looking at the Wild's roster and where it said what league the player played in last season we saw NHL not once not twice but a whopping three times. That got us looking through the rest of the tournament's rosters, now the Wild is the only team we did the actual math for the Wild brought a team that played a combined 280 NHL,AHL or ECHL games last season. The Blue Jackets total in those leagues 4, 3 of those by today's starting goaltender Riley Gill with the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings. Now I can't think of a good defintion of a player that qualifies them as a prospect but playing in a professional league has to change that status a little. Sorry for my ranting on to the actual game recap.
For the second game in a row the Jackets got off to a fast start scoring within the first two minutes with Oliver Gabriel scoring off a Chris Francis shot to take a 1-0 lead. After the Wild tied it at 1-1 a few minutes later is when the rough stuff started, the referees called 7 penalties for either fighting or coincidental minors for roughing. Now the NHL must be using this tournament to try a new officiating system, the system will use 24 referees 20 were wearing red shirts that looked a lot like Minnesota Wild jerseys and 4 wearing the normal black and white striped shirt. The system appeared to work ok because everytime the refs in red shirts yelled out a penalty the refs in black would call it leading to the Wild having 6 power plays. Columbus's power play went 0 for 8 including at least a minute of 5 on 3(i forget how long sorry). I'm not putting all the blame on goalie Riley Gill, Gill stood on his head a few times and made some spectacular saves when the game was already out of reach.
This is a hard game to tell you who impressed me because you really only noticed the guys throwing there weight around. Dalton Prout and Michael Kantor continued to impress, but it wasnt for the passes like I commented about Kantor yesterday it was for his fists. But theres a negative Kantor was called for 3 minors and a 5 minute major for fighting. Prout was solid again in the losing effort, Petr Straka was the only non tough guy to impress in his tournament debut picking up an assist. Tomorrow is a practice only day with the tournament picking up on Wednesday with the Jackets(0-2) playing Carolina(1-1) at 6:30
The Blue Jackets will not win the Traverse City Prospect Tournament this year, now before you call for my head on a hockey stick hear me out. The Blue Jackets are the only team that brought a team of actual prospects, I say this because during the second intermission me and my Dad starting looking at the Wild's roster and where it said what league the player played in last season we saw NHL not once not twice but a whopping three times. That got us looking through the rest of the tournament's rosters, now the Wild is the only team we did the actual math for the Wild brought a team that played a combined 280 NHL,AHL or ECHL games last season. The Blue Jackets total in those leagues 4, 3 of those by today's starting goaltender Riley Gill with the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings. Now I can't think of a good defintion of a player that qualifies them as a prospect but playing in a professional league has to change that status a little. Sorry for my ranting on to the actual game recap.
For the second game in a row the Jackets got off to a fast start scoring within the first two minutes with Oliver Gabriel scoring off a Chris Francis shot to take a 1-0 lead. After the Wild tied it at 1-1 a few minutes later is when the rough stuff started, the referees called 7 penalties for either fighting or coincidental minors for roughing. Now the NHL must be using this tournament to try a new officiating system, the system will use 24 referees 20 were wearing red shirts that looked a lot like Minnesota Wild jerseys and 4 wearing the normal black and white striped shirt. The system appeared to work ok because everytime the refs in red shirts yelled out a penalty the refs in black would call it leading to the Wild having 6 power plays. Columbus's power play went 0 for 8 including at least a minute of 5 on 3(i forget how long sorry). I'm not putting all the blame on goalie Riley Gill, Gill stood on his head a few times and made some spectacular saves when the game was already out of reach.
This is a hard game to tell you who impressed me because you really only noticed the guys throwing there weight around. Dalton Prout and Michael Kantor continued to impress, but it wasnt for the passes like I commented about Kantor yesterday it was for his fists. But theres a negative Kantor was called for 3 minors and a 5 minute major for fighting. Prout was solid again in the losing effort, Petr Straka was the only non tough guy to impress in his tournament debut picking up an assist. Tomorrow is a practice only day with the tournament picking up on Wednesday with the Jackets(0-2) playing Carolina(1-1) at 6:30
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Jackets fall in tournamnet opener
The Blue Jackets team of prospects fell to the New York Ranger's prospects 5-4 with only 6.1 seconds remaining today at the Huntington Rink at The Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, MI. The Jackets got 3 points from Tomas Kubalik and 2 assists from 2010 1st round pick Ryan Johansen. While the Rangers got 3 point games out of top prospect Derek Stephan and Ryan Bourque. The Jackets started 6'8 monster Jason Missanen while the Rangers countered with Scott Stajcer. Columbus started what i'm guessing is being called the team's first line made up of Kubalik, Johansen and Matt Calvert while the defense was John Moore and Theo Ruth. The game was a physical affair with the Rangers defenseman Jyri Niemi losing his helmet on a hit by Dalton Prout(I believe could be wrong sorry). I'll admit its hard to judge the ref with them being from either the AHL or the QMJHL but as usual with Jackets games a lot of what seemed like non-calls or at least things I thought deserved a penalty. The Jackets who were already a little shorthanded losing 3 players to either injury or not coming over from Europe might have lost another when Steven Delsile suffered a upper-body injury(never too early for playoff speak) in a second period fight with Rangers pick Randy McNaught. Every goal in this game was scored either off a rebound or from about the slot out so I wouldnt put much of the blame on Missiaen. I'll try and take better notes tomorrow when the Jackets travel to the David's Rink as the visiting team against the Minnesota Wild who defeated the Carolina Hurricanes today 2-1.
Some of the players that impressed me were Dalton Prout, the 2010 draft pick was noticeable all game long with big hits and strong defensive play. I tought Michael Kantor was a goon but he used those hands to make some nice passes out of the zone.
Some of the players that impressed me were Dalton Prout, the 2010 draft pick was noticeable all game long with big hits and strong defensive play. I tought Michael Kantor was a goon but he used those hands to make some nice passes out of the zone.
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Jackets Opponents in Traverse City
Now lets meet the teams the Blue Jackets prospects will be playing in Traverse City. Now these will be nothing like my preview of the Jackets these will be semi short just the highlight. I'm using the Hockey News Season Preview when mentioning the team's top 10 and including what it says about them.
CAROLINA HURRICANES
The Hurricanes are the defending champions of the Traverse City Prospect tournament beating the Minnesota Wild's team 4-0 in the championship. Zac Dalpe left Ohio State after only his sophomore year to begin his pro career, picking up a hat trick in only his 4th career AHL game. Eric Staal's brother Jared will be on the Cane's team after being acquired in a trade.
Top 10 Prospects playing in Tournament
#2 Jeff Skinner-Accomplished skater has superb goal scoring instincts
#5 Zac Dalpe-Adept finisher almost doubled his production as a sophomore
#10 Riley Nash-A 2007 first-rounder, he has evolved into a two-way checker
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
Since I forgot in my earlier blogs here's the CBJ's Top 10 Prospects that are playing.
#2 Ryan Johansen-Plays Eric Staal style, but needs to bulk up, play stronger
#3 John Moore-Late 1990 birth date means no more junior; NHL or AHL this year
#7 Theo Ruth-Low risk stay at home needs a healthy senior season. (playing in Springfield)
#8 Cody Goloubef-Spent three years in Madison protecting the home front
#9 Dalton Smith-Gritty winger doesn't hesitate to get his nose dirty
DALLAS STARS
The Dallas Stars have an easy way to get on there Traverse City team, be a player on the Star's brother. Jamie Benn's brother Jordie and the newest Jackets nemesis James Neal's brother Michael will be on the team. Matt Calvert's linemate Scott Glennie is the Star's top prospect. This will be Luke Gazdic's 4th year in the tournament picking up 27 penalty minutes.
Top 10 prospects playing in tournament
#1 Scott Glennie-Smooth-skating scorer had monster offensive season after recovering from injuries, but didn't light it up in the playoffs. He'll never play a power, physical game, but he does need to add grit at the next level.
#2 Jack Campbell-Mentally sound and solid under pressure; Bound for Windsor
#3 Tyler Beskorowany-Got a ton of work last season and earmarked for Texas(AHL)
#4 Philip Larsen-Plays with skill, calm and top-notch hockey sense
#7 Colton Sceviour-Grinding style winger well suited for energy line
#9 Tomas Vincour-Found scoring touch after trade from Edmonton to Vancouver
DETROIT RED WINGS
Darren Archibald's name might seem familiar to hardcore Blue Jackets because if you went to the opening day training camp last year might remember when two players dropped the gloves Archibald was one of those players.
Sorry for the break, anyway the Red Wings feature Ray Ferraro's son Landon a second round pick of the team in 09. Top prospect Brendan Smith is another defenseman leaving Wisconsin early to begin his pro career
Top 10 prospects playing in tournament
#1 Brendan Smith-Improvement has been impressive and steady in three college seasons. A fabulous skater who loves to rush the puck, Smith has little to prove in a fourth season an would do well with a year in the AHL
#2 Tomas Tatar-Speedy Winger has good instincts, needs defensive refinement
#5 Tomas McCollum-Big, Square goalie had challenging introduction to pro level
#7 Landon Ferraro-Production dropped drastically, but improved two-way game
MINNESOTA WILD
As I said earlier the Wild lost last year's tournament in the championship game. The Wild is the only team with only one first round pick on it's team every other team has at least 2. Wild forward Casey Wellman is one of the few players in the tournament to play in the NHL getting into 12 games last year, making his debut against the Blue Jackets. The Wild have the smallest defenseman in the tournament 5'8" Jared Spurgeon. Defenseman Bjorn Krupp is the son of the only German to win a Stanley Cup Uwe Krupp.
Top 10 Prospects playing in tournament
#2 Marco Scandella-Late bloomer plays with terrific poise, strength and smarts
#3 Matt Hackett-Tall skinny stopper posts great numbers, but must get stronger (Jeff's Nephew)
#4 Tyler Cuma-Development slower than expected, pro seasoning required
#5 Brett Buler-Undersized but competitive winger a draft-day chart mover
#8 Cody Almond-Junior scoring whiz struggled during pro indoctrination
NEW YORK RANGERS
Rangers 2010 1st round pick Dylan McIlrath was named top fighter by The Hockey News in their draft preview edition. I feel bad for Wisconsin fans next year they lost a ton of talent after losing the National Championship game, Ranger's top prospect Derek Stephan is leaving after two seasons. Continuing with the famous father theme Ray Bourque's son Ryan was a third round pick of the Rangers.
Top 10 prospects playing in tournament
#1 Derek Stephan-The captain and leading scorer for the U.S. junior team is turning pro after just two seasons in Wisconsin. His maturity and skill with the puck will pay rewards at the pro level. He's a quick and creative thinker on the ice.
#2 Evgeny Grachev-Big-time junior sniper struggled to find mark as a rookie pro
#4 Dylan McIlrath-Known as 'The Undertaker' for his imposing, tough style
#7 Ethan Werek-Offensive number flatlined, so OHL breakout imperative
#8 Christian Thomas-Junior scoring phenom was a late riser up the 2010 draft charts.
#9 Scott Stajcer-Was a workhorse for a defensively weak OHL team
ST. LOUIS BLUES
2008 1st round pick Alex Pietrangelo is almost a point per game in the OHL. The defenseman has played in at least eight games for the Blues since being selected 4th overall before being sent back to juniors. Blues Defenseman Brett Ponich is the biggest skater in the tournament, Ponich is a teammate of Ryan Johansen and the other Portland Winterhawks
Top 10 Prospects playing in tournament
#1 Alex Pietrangelo-A big two way defenseman with mentall prowess and the ability to make the right decision at the right time. Has an offensive upside and uses his big frame to his advantage. Just needs to ramp up his intensity
#3 Jake Allen-Calm netminder with great rebound control and puck playing ability
#5 Ian Cole-Bulky D-man clears space around the net; turned pro early
#6 Brett Ponich-Giant stay at home blueliner has long learning curve
#10 Philip McRae-Power forward roughs it up, but production has levelled off
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
The Lightning return to Traverse City after skipping last year's tournament and it might have been a good thing going 0-3-1 in the 2008. The Lightning have two players with famous fathers, Carter Ashton's dad was a journeyman that played for eight franchise. Brock Beukeboom is a teammate of the Jacket's Brandon Archibald and from the sound of it he plays the same physical game his father Jeff was famous for. Now most of us know a junior player can play nine or less NHL games and there NHL contract won't kick in and you can send them back to juniors, well Tampa let center James Wright play 48 games before being sent back to Vancouver of the WHL.(i dont know why they did this seems like a stupid move to me)
Top 10 prospects playing in tournament
#1 Brett Connolly=A premier goal-scorer with exceptional skills and on-ice intelligence. Connolly would have challenged for first pick overall if not for hip flexor injuries. He's a goal scoring threat whenever he touches the puck
#2 Carter Ashton-Power forward with size and skill; scoring total levelled off
#4 Richard Panik- Skilled and powerful winger takes on big d-men and gets to the net.
#5 Dustin Koharski-Technically sound goalie makes up for small size with quickness
#6 Alex Hutchings-Pure scorer is small and must maximize physical strength
#7 Jaroslav Janus-Smallish goalie makes up for size with Hasek like acrobatics
#8 Brock Beukeboom-Two-Way defender takes care of his own zone, can dish out pain
#10 Dana Tyrell-Workhorse forward plays the game with intensity and heart
There you have it folks a little preview about the teams the Jackets will be facing off against next week in Traverse City.
Traverse City the Blue Jacket's Defenseman and Goalies
The CBJ are bringing nine defensemen to Traverse City and all nine are Jackets property. Why the team did this is because five of these nine will be making there pro debuts this season. Columbus is one of two teams in the tournament bringing all draft picks for a position, Tampa being the other bringing only six defenseman. Now in my post about the forwards I mentioned the size of the Columbus team and the defense is no different Columbus and New York are the only teams that every Dman is over 6'1". Now we know the Jackets have needed a right handed shot on defense, the only two to play the majority of the season in Columbus last season were the offensive dynamos Anton Stralman and Mike Commodore(wait a minute). Well the rookie team is the opposite of that with only two players shooting left.
Brandon Archibald seems to be a defenseman that can play either a offensive or shutdown role for the team. Archibal scored 33 points last season on a Sault Ste. Marie team that made a 35 point inporvement from 08-09. Archibald played on the Greyhounds top defensive pairing, his defensive partner Jacob Muzzin actually led the Greyhounds in scoring. I can't write much about Anton Blomqvist because finding info on European players is a little rough. Blomqvist is a 6'5" defenseman who could actuaally be playing against the Jackets when they get to Sweden as he plays in the Malmo organization. I liked this take on Blomqvist from Hockeysfuture.com "
Blomqvist has become an important part of Malmö’s blue line in a league dominated by older players. He had been labelled as somewhat inconsistent while playing in the junior ranks, but has been able to step up considerably upon being promoted to the men’s team – a great sign when evaluating young players". Steven Delisle is the biggest defenseman in camp at 6'6" but he doesnt use that size to crush opponents but more for defensive play. Delisle was the captain of the Gatineau Olympiques before being traded to Rouyn-Noranda. While not being suited to a offensive role he is seen as a complement to a offensive defenseman like the Jurcina-Russell D pairing last season.
Cody Goloubef is one of two college players leaving school a year early to get started on their professional careers. Goloubef was a member of a Wisconsin defensive group that all but two players were either a first or second round draft pick. Cody scored 14 points last year while also being a +13. Austin Madaisky scored 27 points last season splitting the season with Calgary and Kamloops of the WHL. One of Madaisky's strengths is his defensive positioning and skating ability, plus everything i've read makes it sound like the kids a gym rat. The only defenseman heading to Michigan with a shot at making the NHL out of training camp this year is 2009 1st round draft pick John Moore. Moore picked up 47 points last year in 61 games last year including 11 multi-point games. Six of Moore's 10 goals were scored on the power play, Moore's only multi-goal game came in his OHL debut.
2009-10 was a breakout season for 2010 6th round pick Dalton Prout. Prout exploded for 21 points, this coming from a guy who'd never scored more than 6 in his previous 3 seasons. But the extra offense is a bonus with Prout who's not afraid to throw his weight around and drop the gloves. Prout could turn pro this year or play one more year in the OHL. I always have to bring it up but Theo Ruth is the player the Jackets got for Sergei Fedorov and it's finally time the CBJ faithful get to see what we got for the future hall of famer. Ruth is a shutdown defenseman with underrated offensive skills and the few websites I checked rave about him having a hard and accurate shot from the point. David Savard is another Blue Jackets prospect to pick up multiple awards in the QMJHL last year winning both the Emile Bouchard Trophy as Defenseman of the Year and the Kevin Lowe Trophy for Best Defensive Defenseman. Savard last season was the first defenseman ever to lead the QMJHL in assists with 64.
On to the Goalies the Jackets are bringing to Traverse City, the Jackets are bringing the two biggest goaltenders in the tournament. The Jackets scouting staff must have been looking around Canadian National Basketball team when searching for goaltenders. Columbus is bringing 6'8" Jason Missiaen, 6'6" Mathieu Corbeil and the little guy of the group 6'1" Riley Gill.
Mathieu Corbeil is the only Jackets draft pick that will be playing goal for the Jackets. Now when you look at his stats please note Corbeil has been playing on a brutally bad Halifax Mooseheads team a team that has won only 32 games over the last two seasons. Most sites believe Corbeil is a bit of a project but the kid is seen to have a lot of potential. If it wasn't for free agent invite Riley Gill Western Michigan University might not of won any games over the last 4 years. Over the last four seasons the Broncos have only won 48 games and Gill won 39 of those. In fact over the last two seasons Gill won every game but one for the team.
The biggest player in the tournament is Jason Missiaen, at 6'8' Missiaen will probably the biggest players ever to don a Blue Jackets jersey even if it is only Traverse City or preseason. He was orginally a 4th round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Missiaen was another goalie to pick up almost all of his team wins, winning 27 out of 29.
This is an old picture but it gets my point across
There you have it folks with my first post about the forwards this is the team the Jackets will take to Traverse City this year. Now I was looking at the pictures my Dad took from last year's tournament the team didn't have a captain but a few players did wear A's on their jerseys during games. I think the players who should have an A are John Moore, Matt Calvert, after those two im not sure would deserve an A if they use three which is normal when no captain is playing.
As I've said before follow @CBJProspects and @En4cer45 for live in game updates and hopefully on this blog I will able to post game recaps at the end of the day.
Brandon Archibald seems to be a defenseman that can play either a offensive or shutdown role for the team. Archibal scored 33 points last season on a Sault Ste. Marie team that made a 35 point inporvement from 08-09. Archibald played on the Greyhounds top defensive pairing, his defensive partner Jacob Muzzin actually led the Greyhounds in scoring. I can't write much about Anton Blomqvist because finding info on European players is a little rough. Blomqvist is a 6'5" defenseman who could actuaally be playing against the Jackets when they get to Sweden as he plays in the Malmo organization. I liked this take on Blomqvist from Hockeysfuture.com "
Blomqvist has become an important part of Malmö’s blue line in a league dominated by older players. He had been labelled as somewhat inconsistent while playing in the junior ranks, but has been able to step up considerably upon being promoted to the men’s team – a great sign when evaluating young players". Steven Delisle is the biggest defenseman in camp at 6'6" but he doesnt use that size to crush opponents but more for defensive play. Delisle was the captain of the Gatineau Olympiques before being traded to Rouyn-Noranda. While not being suited to a offensive role he is seen as a complement to a offensive defenseman like the Jurcina-Russell D pairing last season.
Cody Goloubef is one of two college players leaving school a year early to get started on their professional careers. Goloubef was a member of a Wisconsin defensive group that all but two players were either a first or second round draft pick. Cody scored 14 points last year while also being a +13. Austin Madaisky scored 27 points last season splitting the season with Calgary and Kamloops of the WHL. One of Madaisky's strengths is his defensive positioning and skating ability, plus everything i've read makes it sound like the kids a gym rat. The only defenseman heading to Michigan with a shot at making the NHL out of training camp this year is 2009 1st round draft pick John Moore. Moore picked up 47 points last year in 61 games last year including 11 multi-point games. Six of Moore's 10 goals were scored on the power play, Moore's only multi-goal game came in his OHL debut.
2009-10 was a breakout season for 2010 6th round pick Dalton Prout. Prout exploded for 21 points, this coming from a guy who'd never scored more than 6 in his previous 3 seasons. But the extra offense is a bonus with Prout who's not afraid to throw his weight around and drop the gloves. Prout could turn pro this year or play one more year in the OHL. I always have to bring it up but Theo Ruth is the player the Jackets got for Sergei Fedorov and it's finally time the CBJ faithful get to see what we got for the future hall of famer. Ruth is a shutdown defenseman with underrated offensive skills and the few websites I checked rave about him having a hard and accurate shot from the point. David Savard is another Blue Jackets prospect to pick up multiple awards in the QMJHL last year winning both the Emile Bouchard Trophy as Defenseman of the Year and the Kevin Lowe Trophy for Best Defensive Defenseman. Savard last season was the first defenseman ever to lead the QMJHL in assists with 64.
On to the Goalies the Jackets are bringing to Traverse City, the Jackets are bringing the two biggest goaltenders in the tournament. The Jackets scouting staff must have been looking around Canadian National Basketball team when searching for goaltenders. Columbus is bringing 6'8" Jason Missiaen, 6'6" Mathieu Corbeil and the little guy of the group 6'1" Riley Gill.
Mathieu Corbeil is the only Jackets draft pick that will be playing goal for the Jackets. Now when you look at his stats please note Corbeil has been playing on a brutally bad Halifax Mooseheads team a team that has won only 32 games over the last two seasons. Most sites believe Corbeil is a bit of a project but the kid is seen to have a lot of potential. If it wasn't for free agent invite Riley Gill Western Michigan University might not of won any games over the last 4 years. Over the last four seasons the Broncos have only won 48 games and Gill won 39 of those. In fact over the last two seasons Gill won every game but one for the team.
The biggest player in the tournament is Jason Missiaen, at 6'8' Missiaen will probably the biggest players ever to don a Blue Jackets jersey even if it is only Traverse City or preseason. He was orginally a 4th round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Missiaen was another goalie to pick up almost all of his team wins, winning 27 out of 29.
This is an old picture but it gets my point across
There you have it folks with my first post about the forwards this is the team the Jackets will take to Traverse City this year. Now I was looking at the pictures my Dad took from last year's tournament the team didn't have a captain but a few players did wear A's on their jerseys during games. I think the players who should have an A are John Moore, Matt Calvert, after those two im not sure would deserve an A if they use three which is normal when no captain is playing.
As I've said before follow @CBJProspects and @En4cer45 for live in game updates and hopefully on this blog I will able to post game recaps at the end of the day.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Traverse City Prospects Tournament Preview/Forwards Preview
My last post was a prediction of who I thought would be playing for the Jackets in the Traverse City Prospect Tournament. Now with the team announcing it's roster, let's see how I did. Overall 20 out of the 22 I named will be in camp while also giving myself a half point of extra credit for guessing correctly the team wouldn't add any defensemen. The two players that won't be on the team that I guessed were center Tyler Murovich and goaltender Gustaf Wesslau.
Now I did a history lesson about the tournament last time so this time I'll explain how the tournament works. The tournament will take place September 10th through the 15th. The eight teams will be split into two divisions each named after a NHL Legend. The Blue Jackets will compete in the Gretzky division which also includes the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes. While the Howe Division will feature the Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars. Each day at the tournament includes a morning practice and then a game in the afternoon/night except Monday which is only a practice day. Saturday through Tuesday each team will play the other three teams in its division. Then on Wednesday the teams will play each other based on standings, 4th place vs 4th place, 3rd vs 3rd etc. The two first place teams will play at 6pm for the championship.
TEAM OVERVIEW
Now in my last piece I said it looked like the Jackets were sending a BIG team and boy was I right. The teams average height is 6'2", that number is the same with or without the team's two ogre goaltenders but more on them later. The team is made up of 16 of the team's draft picks, 12 invitees and a prospect the team traded for. 23 of the 29 players played last year in the Canadian Hockey League while four played college hockey. Defenseman Anton Blomqvist is the only player coming over from a european league to play for the Jackets.(still wearing Adam Foote's number though, poor guy) Now I can't say for sure but I believe the minor league coaching staff normally serve as the coaches for the tournament. Now to the position breakdowns, now I'll admit I've written a lot about some of these guys but I'll try not to repeat myself and hopefully include some new stuff.
FORWARDS
The Blue Jackets will take 17 forwards to Traverse City and of the 17 only three are under 6'0" one of those three is 5'11" Matt Calvert. This will be Calvert's third Traverse City camp including tying for the lead in goals and points in last years tournament. Calvert led the entire Columbus organization in goals last season picking up 47 while serving as a co-captain for his hometown Brandon Wheat Kings. Calvert is a threat on special teams with 19 of his goals being on either a power play or short-handed goal. In fact during last year's WHL playoffs Calvert scored a natural short-handed hat trick in a 6:47 span. The biggest forward in camp will be Nick Czinder. The 6'6" Czinder is a Michigan native that played for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL last season and has signed on with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. Justin Feser is the smallest guy on the team at 5 foot 9 181 pounds.
Feser just completed his second season with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and what a season it was. Feser's production went up 45 points up from 28 to 73 including a 24 goal increase. The last player under 6'0" is 5'9" Chris Francis. Francis is a teammate of Columbus first round pick Ryan Johansen with the Portland Winterhawks. Francis is a playmaker picking up 102 assists over the last 2 seasons. Francis has been signed by the Springfield Falcons, a bit off topic but here's an article about Francis from early last season from The Oregonian. Oliver Gabriel is another Winterhawk the Blue Jackets are taking to Traverse City, Gabriel has put up 35 points in 91 WHL games.
Marek Hrivik finished 4th in rookie scoring in the QMJHL putting up 26 goals and 29 assists as a teammate of Blue Jackets defensive prospect David Savard with the Moncton Wildcats. Ryan Johansen was the Blue Jackets 1st round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft going 4th overall. Johansen will be the highest draft pick in the tournament along with St. Louis's Alex Pietrangelo (4th overall in 08). 10 of Johansen 25 goals were on special teams with 9 being on the power play and 1 being short handed. You have to like the names Johansen is being compared to Joe Thornton was the name thrown around by most people at the draft and The Hockey News has Ryan as the Jackets 2nd best prospect while saying he plays a Eric Staal type game. Michael Kantor is one of the many heavy hitters on this Columbus roster he picked up 108 penalty minutes in 24 NAHL games then signing with the Saginaw Spirit picking up 71 in 29 games while also scoring 12 points with the Spirit.
As I said earlier I've written about some of these a lot and Tomas Kubalik is no exception. So here's hockeysfuture.com's take on the big Czech "Kubalik is a chippy forward, always in the middle of scrums. He plays with a bit of an edge, but also brings skill. He is not afraid to go to the net and score dirty goals. Kubalik must continue to work on his skating. He owns a good shot. He needs to continue to develop his physical game, and must increase his strength to compete with bigger stronger players." Kubalik played in last year's tournament picking up a goal and an assist, while not lighting up the scoreboard his play did earn him some good reviews according to a post on Puck-Rakers. Jordan Messier has a last name that is famous throughout hockey and before you ask I'll tell you he is Mark Messier's....cousin's son(sorry I had to). Messier is another Tri-City player that had a major increase in point production including a 14 goal increase going from 9 to 23.
Now as I said this team has some big boys and some very tough customers and no one is probably tougher than Kyle Neuber. Neuber will never be known for lighting up the scoreboard other than where they put the penalty clock, Neuber put up 526 penalty minutes in four years in the OHL including 188 last year finishing 2nd in the OHL and lead the Blue Jackets organization in that category. Now I joked earlier about Jordan Messier's hockey heritage, but I can't do that with 2010 2nd round pick Dalton Smith. Dalton's dad is Derrick Smith and his uncles are the Primeau brothers, Keith and Wayne. Together those 3 have combined to play more than 2200 games and earned more than 2700 penalty minutes. It appears the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree as he picked up 129 penalty minutes in 62 games while scoring 44 points and being a +20. Dalton not only used his size to help him be a 21 goal scorer but he also uses it to create space for his highly skilled linemates who both scored more than 35 goals and nearly 80 points.
Ted Stephens was the first player eve from the Yukon to play in the QMJHL when he started playing for the Moncton Wildcats. Why that is a big deal needs a small explanation, the CHL is made up of three leagues (OHL, QMJHL, WHL) and each can only sign players from certain parts of Canada and the United States. Now somehow a player from an WHL area can sign with a QMJHL team but I don't know what has to happen to make this possible. Now the Yukon is deep in WHL territory how deep it share a border with Alaska while the Province Moncton is in shares a border with Maine. Stephens appears to be a consistent 40 point scorer picking up 39 points last year and 41 the year before.
Petr Straka won two out of the three rookie of the year awards a player can win in the QMJHL last year. Straka is the 3rd player the Jackets have drafted to win both the RDS Cup and Michel Bergeron Trophy as league and offensive rookie of the year in the same year(05-Brassard, 07-Voracek). Straka led all Q rookies in scoring putting up 64 points in 62 games. At 23 Nick Sucharski is the elder statesman of the Jackets forwards. Sucharski is one of only 5 players left from the 2006 NHL entry draft and the only never to even sign a contract. Sucharski was part of the 2007 National Championship team including scoring the game winning goal to put the Spartans in the Championship game. This is probably the last chance for Sucharski's last chance if he wants to make a living as a hockey player instead of what he went to school for, a lawyer.
Scott Tanski is the only free agent invitee back from last year's Traverse City team and he was also the only invitee to play in all four games last year. Tanski has scored 80 points over the last two seasons playing with the Brampton Battalion of the OHL. As a nine year old Tanski was a teammate of John Tavares on a GTHL championship team. Brampton was the lowest goal scoring team in the OHL and it shows with Tanski being third on the team with only 34 points. But the team made up for not scoring goals by having the 2nd fewest goals against in the league. Stephon Thorne is a teammate of Tanski's with the Battalion was 5th on the team in goal scoring with 13 in fact those were the only 5 players to score more than 10 goals. Now when i do these i scour the internet to find anything on these guys and found a whole lot of nothing. But with the help of the great and mighty youtube i found two videos and learned somthing about Thorne he's not afraid to take on anyone.
I give you exhibit B (Even though a seems a little too close to Brassard Vs Neal)
Well they're you have it folks these are the forwards who will play for the Jackets in Traverse City next week. I'm gonna admit I was gonna do this a one big post but I changed my mind and decided ill do the defense and goalies in my next post and will take a look at some of the other prospects at the camp.
Now I did a history lesson about the tournament last time so this time I'll explain how the tournament works. The tournament will take place September 10th through the 15th. The eight teams will be split into two divisions each named after a NHL Legend. The Blue Jackets will compete in the Gretzky division which also includes the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes. While the Howe Division will feature the Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars. Each day at the tournament includes a morning practice and then a game in the afternoon/night except Monday which is only a practice day. Saturday through Tuesday each team will play the other three teams in its division. Then on Wednesday the teams will play each other based on standings, 4th place vs 4th place, 3rd vs 3rd etc. The two first place teams will play at 6pm for the championship.
TEAM OVERVIEW
Now in my last piece I said it looked like the Jackets were sending a BIG team and boy was I right. The teams average height is 6'2", that number is the same with or without the team's two ogre goaltenders but more on them later. The team is made up of 16 of the team's draft picks, 12 invitees and a prospect the team traded for. 23 of the 29 players played last year in the Canadian Hockey League while four played college hockey. Defenseman Anton Blomqvist is the only player coming over from a european league to play for the Jackets.(still wearing Adam Foote's number though, poor guy) Now I can't say for sure but I believe the minor league coaching staff normally serve as the coaches for the tournament. Now to the position breakdowns, now I'll admit I've written a lot about some of these guys but I'll try not to repeat myself and hopefully include some new stuff.
FORWARDS
The Blue Jackets will take 17 forwards to Traverse City and of the 17 only three are under 6'0" one of those three is 5'11" Matt Calvert. This will be Calvert's third Traverse City camp including tying for the lead in goals and points in last years tournament. Calvert led the entire Columbus organization in goals last season picking up 47 while serving as a co-captain for his hometown Brandon Wheat Kings. Calvert is a threat on special teams with 19 of his goals being on either a power play or short-handed goal. In fact during last year's WHL playoffs Calvert scored a natural short-handed hat trick in a 6:47 span. The biggest forward in camp will be Nick Czinder. The 6'6" Czinder is a Michigan native that played for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL last season and has signed on with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. Justin Feser is the smallest guy on the team at 5 foot 9 181 pounds.
Feser just completed his second season with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and what a season it was. Feser's production went up 45 points up from 28 to 73 including a 24 goal increase. The last player under 6'0" is 5'9" Chris Francis. Francis is a teammate of Columbus first round pick Ryan Johansen with the Portland Winterhawks. Francis is a playmaker picking up 102 assists over the last 2 seasons. Francis has been signed by the Springfield Falcons, a bit off topic but here's an article about Francis from early last season from The Oregonian. Oliver Gabriel is another Winterhawk the Blue Jackets are taking to Traverse City, Gabriel has put up 35 points in 91 WHL games.
Marek Hrivik finished 4th in rookie scoring in the QMJHL putting up 26 goals and 29 assists as a teammate of Blue Jackets defensive prospect David Savard with the Moncton Wildcats. Ryan Johansen was the Blue Jackets 1st round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft going 4th overall. Johansen will be the highest draft pick in the tournament along with St. Louis's Alex Pietrangelo (4th overall in 08). 10 of Johansen 25 goals were on special teams with 9 being on the power play and 1 being short handed. You have to like the names Johansen is being compared to Joe Thornton was the name thrown around by most people at the draft and The Hockey News has Ryan as the Jackets 2nd best prospect while saying he plays a Eric Staal type game. Michael Kantor is one of the many heavy hitters on this Columbus roster he picked up 108 penalty minutes in 24 NAHL games then signing with the Saginaw Spirit picking up 71 in 29 games while also scoring 12 points with the Spirit.
As I said earlier I've written about some of these a lot and Tomas Kubalik is no exception. So here's hockeysfuture.com's take on the big Czech "Kubalik is a chippy forward, always in the middle of scrums. He plays with a bit of an edge, but also brings skill. He is not afraid to go to the net and score dirty goals. Kubalik must continue to work on his skating. He owns a good shot. He needs to continue to develop his physical game, and must increase his strength to compete with bigger stronger players." Kubalik played in last year's tournament picking up a goal and an assist, while not lighting up the scoreboard his play did earn him some good reviews according to a post on Puck-Rakers. Jordan Messier has a last name that is famous throughout hockey and before you ask I'll tell you he is Mark Messier's....cousin's son(sorry I had to). Messier is another Tri-City player that had a major increase in point production including a 14 goal increase going from 9 to 23.
Now as I said this team has some big boys and some very tough customers and no one is probably tougher than Kyle Neuber. Neuber will never be known for lighting up the scoreboard other than where they put the penalty clock, Neuber put up 526 penalty minutes in four years in the OHL including 188 last year finishing 2nd in the OHL and lead the Blue Jackets organization in that category. Now I joked earlier about Jordan Messier's hockey heritage, but I can't do that with 2010 2nd round pick Dalton Smith. Dalton's dad is Derrick Smith and his uncles are the Primeau brothers, Keith and Wayne. Together those 3 have combined to play more than 2200 games and earned more than 2700 penalty minutes. It appears the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree as he picked up 129 penalty minutes in 62 games while scoring 44 points and being a +20. Dalton not only used his size to help him be a 21 goal scorer but he also uses it to create space for his highly skilled linemates who both scored more than 35 goals and nearly 80 points.
Ted Stephens was the first player eve from the Yukon to play in the QMJHL when he started playing for the Moncton Wildcats. Why that is a big deal needs a small explanation, the CHL is made up of three leagues (OHL, QMJHL, WHL) and each can only sign players from certain parts of Canada and the United States. Now somehow a player from an WHL area can sign with a QMJHL team but I don't know what has to happen to make this possible. Now the Yukon is deep in WHL territory how deep it share a border with Alaska while the Province Moncton is in shares a border with Maine. Stephens appears to be a consistent 40 point scorer picking up 39 points last year and 41 the year before.
Petr Straka won two out of the three rookie of the year awards a player can win in the QMJHL last year. Straka is the 3rd player the Jackets have drafted to win both the RDS Cup and Michel Bergeron Trophy as league and offensive rookie of the year in the same year(05-Brassard, 07-Voracek). Straka led all Q rookies in scoring putting up 64 points in 62 games. At 23 Nick Sucharski is the elder statesman of the Jackets forwards. Sucharski is one of only 5 players left from the 2006 NHL entry draft and the only never to even sign a contract. Sucharski was part of the 2007 National Championship team including scoring the game winning goal to put the Spartans in the Championship game. This is probably the last chance for Sucharski's last chance if he wants to make a living as a hockey player instead of what he went to school for, a lawyer.
Scott Tanski is the only free agent invitee back from last year's Traverse City team and he was also the only invitee to play in all four games last year. Tanski has scored 80 points over the last two seasons playing with the Brampton Battalion of the OHL. As a nine year old Tanski was a teammate of John Tavares on a GTHL championship team. Brampton was the lowest goal scoring team in the OHL and it shows with Tanski being third on the team with only 34 points. But the team made up for not scoring goals by having the 2nd fewest goals against in the league. Stephon Thorne is a teammate of Tanski's with the Battalion was 5th on the team in goal scoring with 13 in fact those were the only 5 players to score more than 10 goals. Now when i do these i scour the internet to find anything on these guys and found a whole lot of nothing. But with the help of the great and mighty youtube i found two videos and learned somthing about Thorne he's not afraid to take on anyone.
I give you exhibit B (Even though a seems a little too close to Brassard Vs Neal)
Well they're you have it folks these are the forwards who will play for the Jackets in Traverse City next week. I'm gonna admit I was gonna do this a one big post but I changed my mind and decided ill do the defense and goalies in my next post and will take a look at some of the other prospects at the camp.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Traverse City Tournament Roster Preview
Today is 1 month until the Traverse City NHL Prospects Tournament. The tournament started in 1998 with just 4 teams competing, but the past few years the tournament has expanded to 8 clubs competing and representing every division except the Eastern Conference Norhteast Division. Now finding stats and the teams that have competed was tough, I found them for the last 4 years and a site had an all-time player register. From 05-07 the Blue Jackets played in the tourney's championship game winning back to back championships in 05 and 06.
Now this is just my opinion of the team the Blue Jackets will be sending to the tournament. I'm only basing this on the players that attended the Jacket's development camp in July and knowing that most NCAA players can't attend. The Blue Jackets appear to be sending a BIG team with only 3 forwards under 6'1". The smallest defensemen are Cody Goloubef and Theo Ruth both at 6'1", and the "smallest" goaltender is 6'4" Gustaf Wesslau. I believe the minor league coaches normally serve as the coaching staff for this, so this should be Rob Riley and his staff in charge..
FORWARDS
The shortest players on the team will be Matt Calvert(5'10"), Chris Francis(5'9") and Tyler Murovich(5'8"). This will be Calvert's third tournament after tying for the lead in points(7) and goals(5) last year. Murovich is another holdover from last year only playing in 2 games picking up no points in 2 games. Francis is one of three Portland Winterhawks on the team the other being 2010 1st round pick Ryan Johanson and Oliver Gabriel. Johanson will be the probably be one of the most high profile players in the tournament being the highest draft pick from this year's draft in thee tournament. Michael Kantor is one of many tough customers on this Blue Jackets team picking up 71 Penalty minutes in only 29 OHL games playing with Murovich and the Saginaw Spirit. Tomas Kubalik is one of only four foreign players on the team playing in the World Juniors last year with the Czech team picking up 9 points in 6 games. One of the team's heavy hitters will be Kyle Neuber picking up 188 penalty minutes last season leading the Columbus Organization in that stat. Dalton Smith is another tough customer who has the potential to be a decent power forward for the Jackets in a few season picking up 20+ goals and assists last season with the Ottawa 67s. Petr Straka led all QMJHL rookies in scoring last year picking up 64 points in 62 games(64GP 28-36-64) while picking up two rookie of the year awards in the QMJHL. The last forward is Nick Sucharski, Sucharski was selected in the 2006 NHL draft probably making him one of the older players in the tournament. Sucharski is leaving Michigan State after being part of the 2006 National Championship team scoring the game winning goal to put the Spartans into the Championship game. Now like i said this is just a guess of who I think will be up there and if i'm right the Jackets will have to invite a few more players since i've only named 11 forwards.
DEFENSEMEN
Now the only player I'm sure will be playing in the tournament is Brandon Archibald (only because I asked him on Twitter). Archibald has been very busy this summer the 4th round pick has already taken part in the CBJ's Development Camp, the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp and he still has this camp, the Blue Jackets main camp and the Greyhounds camp to go. Anton Blomqvist is the lone European prospect the Blue Jackets have on Defense. With European prospects it's kind of hard to find stats and info but I did find this quote from hockeysfuture.com interesting, "He had been labelled as somewhat inconsistent while playing in the junior ranks, but has been able to step up considerably upon being promoted to the men’s team". Steven Delisle is the one of the many defensive prospects making their professional debut this season. Here's Hockeysfutures take on Delisle it seems they think he would good to put with a offensive defenseman kind of like the Jurcina-Russell combination last season "While Delisle boasts great size, he uses it more for his positional play, rather than throwing his weight around on a regular basis – picking his spots rather than over-committing. He is generally not suited to an offensive role, and would be a great complement to an offensive defenseman in a pairing, providing sound decision-making ability and strong positional play in his own end." Cody Goloubef is leaving the University of Wisconsin a year early to begin his pro career. Goloubef was part of a Wisconsin defensive group where almost every member was a 1st or 2nd round pick. Austin Madaisky draft stock rose after a midseason trade from the Calgary Hitmen to the Kamloops Blazers. Madaisky picked up 18 points in 39 games with the Blazers. John Moore is the Blue Jackets top prospect, this will be his second Traverse City tournament after playing in last year's only picking up 1 assist. Moore will probably take on a bigger role in this year's camp as one of the leaders as one of only 8 holdovers from last year's team. Dalton Prout was selected in this year's draft as a 20 year old. Prout is another tough guy on this Blue Jacket's team picking up 121 penalty minutes with the Barrie Colts while aslo picking up 26 points and being a +26. Theo Ruth or as he'll always be known as player we got for Sergei Fedorov is a physical stay at home defender picking up 130 penalty minutes playing at Notre Dame. David Savard is the Blue Jackets most offensive defenseman and is another player back from last year's squad. Savard had a rough tourney last year being a -3 in 2 games last year. The Jackets might add another defenseman but I don't think they should with 9 defenseman making the trip including the 5 rookies making their pro debuts most likely with Springfield and whatever ECHL team the Jackets hook up with.
GOALIES
The goaltending duo the Jackets are sending to Traverse City is the biggest of the teams that have announced their rosters. Gustaf Wesslau(6'4") is making his North America debut after starring in Sweden the last few years. Blue Jackets fans that went to Development Camp got to see Wesslau backstop Team Berry to a McConnell Cup championship. Mathieu Corbeil (6'6")has been playing on a brutally bad Halifax Mooseheads team, the team won more games in the 07-08(42) season than the team has won the last two years combined(39). Now when you look at his all-time record(11-50-3) don't think the Blue Jackets drafted a bust most of the sites I found believe the kid is a bit of a project but has a lot of potential. Now the Jackets have brought 3 goaltenders to this tournament before so they may add another.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
Of the 5 rosters that have been officially announced and my makeshift guess above there are 11 first round picks in the tournament. As I said Ryan Johansen is the highest pick in the tournament. Hurricanes prospect Zac Dalpe is the only player with Ohio ties in the tournament. Dalpe is leaving OSU after his sophomore season putting up 70 points in 76 games. Best name of the tournament Michal Jordan of the Hurricanes team(bummed he's not wearing 23)
TOURNAMENT NOTES
Of the 5 rosters that have been officially announced and my makeshift guess above there are 11 first round picks in the tournament. As I said Ryan Johansen is the highest pick in the tournament. Hurricanes prospect Zac Dalpe is the only player with Ohio ties in the tournament. Dalpe is leaving OSU after his sophomore season putting up 70 points in 76 games. Best name of the tournament Michal Jordan of the Hurricanes team(bummed he's not wearing 23)
PLAYERS FROM LAST YEAR'S TEAM
Matt Calvert 4GP 5-2-7
Tomas Kubalik 4GP 1-1-2
John Moore 3GP 0-1-1
David Savard 2GP 0-1-1
Anton Blomqvist 3GP 0-0-0
Steven Delisle 2GP 0-0-0
Steven Delisle 2GP 0-0-0
Tyler Murovich 2GP 0-0-0
Kyle Neuber DNP
Ive said this before but if you're on Twitter follow both @en4cer45 and @CBJprospects for live as it happens updates from the tournament and this blog for hopefully game recaps(pray for free wifi in the hotel)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Your 2010-11 Springfield Falcons (The Final Version)
Time for another update in what has become a series of blogs about who I think will be part of the 2010-11 Springfield Falcons (seriously I thought I'd be done after one of these with maybe 1 update). Anyway since my last update the Jackets have signed 4 players to 1 year two-way contracts and hired a coach while the Falcons signed a player out of juniors.
So with those additions I figured let's do a full reset and start from scratch. Now some stats and opinions will be repeated from my first blog, but I did some digging and found some new stuff as well. Also after the player's name I'm putting their height and weight with their age.
The Blue Jackets and Syracuse Crunch ended their 10 year affiliation this season; sending both clubs on a search for a new AHL affiliate. The Crunch settled on the Anaheim Ducks, while the Blue Jackets pulled a Columbus Clippers signing a 1 year affiliation (with an option) with the Springfield (MA) Falcons. Now what do I mean by pulling a Columbus Clippers? Well, anyone remember the 2 seasons the Clippers were affiliated with the Washington Nationals, just waiting for the Cleveland Indians affiliation with Buffalo to end. Who are the Jackets waiting on…well another Cleveland team of course. The Jackets are hoping to become affiliated with the Lake Erie Monsters once there affiliation ends with the Colorado Avalanche in 2 years.
But any way a quick affiliation/history lesson on the Falcons. This affiliation change is probably the best thing to happen to the Falcons in a long time. Springfield was the only AHL team last season to not win 30 games and missed the playoffs for the seventh straight season; the club has only made the playoffs once in the last 9 seasons. When the Falcons joined the AHL in 1994 they were affiliated with the last 2 NHL franchises to relocate, being affiliated with the Hartford Whalers until their move to Raleigh and the team remained affiliated with the Winnipeg Jets. The teams remained affiliated even after the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes. The last 5 seasons the Falcons were affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning (05-07) and the Edmonton Oilers (07-10).
The Falcons figure to be a young team next season with 8 players making their professional debuts, 1 making his North American debut and 2 more will be playing in their first full professional seasons after playing in the AHL late last season.
The Falcon's veteran leadership will come from Center Derek MacKenzie(5'11" 185, 29). This will be MacKenzie's 10th AHL season and 4th with the Blue Jacket's organization. MacKenzie has played in 550 AHL games scoring 147 goals and 185 assists for 332 points. MacKenzie is a threat on special teams picking up 22 power play goals and 27 shorthanded goals over the last 4 seasons. MacKenzie was the Crunch's leading scorer(47 GP 17-30-47) and captain last season picking up 30 assists for the second consecutive season. Last season also included Mackenzie reaching new highs in both games played and points in the NHL before a knee injury ended his season. Trevor Frischmon(5'11 197, 29) is coming off back to back 25 point seasons(75 GP 7-18-25), more of a playmaker than a goal scorer with 56 of his 73 career points being assists. Frischmon has played for a Blue Jackets affiliate since he came out of Colorado College in 2006, finally earning a contract before last season where he made his NHL debut.
Tomas Kana(6'0" 202, 22) rocketed his way up the Blue Jackets depth chart last season. Playing in Alaska of the ECHL when the Jackets acquired him, pretty much as a throw in on a minor league deal from what I’ve read. He was then assigned to Syracuse and developed into a top six forward while also adding some grit to his game with the help of housemate/teammate Jon “Nasty” Mirasty in Syracuse. Kana finished with 28 points in 50 games while making his NHL debut, playing in the Blue Jacket’s last six games picking up his first two points in a game against Detroit. I think 10-11 is a make or break season for Maxim Mayorov(6'2" 187 21), it’s the final season of his entry level deal. For those of you that don’t know Mayorov was the 4th best rated European prospect in the 2007 draft, but slipped to the 4th round due to the lack of a transfer agreement with Russia. Mayorov has back to back 30 point seasons while also getting into at least a few games with the Blue Jackets every year.
The biggest forward on the Falcons will be Tom Sestito(6'5" 228, 22) at 6’5 who was plagued by injuries last season but still managed to score a career high with 10 goals. Sestito was a teammate of Jared Boll’s in Plymouth of the OHL where he scored 42 goals in his final season of junior. Sestito has spent more time in the penalty box then on the ice in the 4 NHL games he’s played in (24PIM, 21:17 TOI) picking up 17 penalty minutes in his NHL debut during the 2008 season. Sestito has picked up 508 in his AHL career making him one of the toughest customers on this years Falcons. One lucky thing is that some Falcon’s fans won’t have to buy new jerseys since Tom’s older brother Tim played for the team from 2007 to 2009. Another family connection is Chad Kolarik(5'11" 185, 24) whose brother Tyler was a 5th round pick of the Jackets in 2000. Kolarik who was picked up in a trade deadline deal ended up leading the Crunch in goal scoring with 26 also picking up 15 points in 17 games with the Crunch.
The final forward returning from last year's AHL team is Mike Blunden(6'4" 211, 23). Now Blunden was more a Blue Jacket than a member of the Crunch last season, playing in 40 NHL games compared to 25 AHL games last season. The Jackets just signed Mike to a two-way deal and I think he has a shot at making the team as a 4th liner but if he doesn't he'll be playing in his 6th AHL season making him one of the most experienced players on the team. Blunden needs only 1 point to reach 100 points in his AHL career.
The only free agent signing at forward the Blue Jackets did this summer was center Kyle Wilson(6'1" 201, 25). Wilson has played with the Hershey Bears the last 4 seasons, also making his NHL debut last season with the Capitals picking up 2 assists in 2 games. Wilson while with the Bears was a consistent 20+ goal scorer including a high of 30 in 07-08, he's also a 30 assist threat reaching that plateau every year except last year when he still had 29. Wilson while at Cornell(02-06)picked up 101 points during his career including 41 his senior year.
The Falcons could have 5 rookies at forward this season. Those 5 are Matt Calvert, Tomas Kubalik, Tyler Murovich, Chris Francis and Kyle Neuber. Matt Calvert(5'9" 164, 20) could have signed with the Blue Jackets last season but decided to return to his junior/hometown team the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Kings were hosting the Memorial Cup meaning they receive an automatic bid in the prestigious tournament. Now while the Wheaties(team nickname) did make it to the championship game they ran into a juggernaut called the Windsor Spitfires led by No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall and current CBJ assistant coach Bob Boughner. Matt just missed scoring 100 points (72GP 47-52-99) this season finishing fourth in the league, now when you look at those numbers know this Matt played on probably the best line in the WHL. The line was made up of Calvert and 2 1st round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft they combined to score 113 goals, 174 assists and a combined +124. Calvert also served as a co-captain last season.
Tomas Kubalik(6'2" 189, 20) came over from the Czech Republic to play with Victoriaville of the QMJHL picking up 75 points in 58 games with the Tigres; he missed time this season while playing with the Czech National Team at the World Juniors Tournament picking up 9 points in 6 games. Kubalik finished tied for 10th in the league scoring just behind future Falcons teammate David Savard. Kubalik even though he's listed as a right wing Kubalik took almost 400 faceoff winning 58% off them. Now Neuber I’m not sure of, I haven’t heard anything about the Jackets signing him but he did play 1 game with the Crunch last season. Kyle Neuber(6'2" 225, 21) drafted in 2009 draft is a potential enforcer for the Jackets, Neuber picked up 526 penalty minutes in 4 seasons in the OHL. Also I some OHL reporters say Neuber possesses “one of the most devastating uppercuts they have ever seen”. If that’s true I can’t wait to see it in Nationwide even if it is just in the preseason.
Here's a video of Neuber from Canucks camp in 2008 (The Jackets drafted him as a 20 year old)
Tyler Murovich and Chris Francis are the only two players signed to AHL only deals. Murovich an Francis will be 2 of the smallest players for the Falcons, both being listed at 5'9" and only about 10 pounds separating them. Tyler Murovich(5'9" 185, 20) played in 5 games last year with the Crunch picking up 6 points in those games. Now Murovich isn't quite a point per game player but he's pretty close picking up 63 in 68 games last year when he was the captain of the Saginaw Spirit(OHL). Now we all remember the loud huh?/smattering of applause that happened when the Blue Jackets selected Portland Winterhawks Center Ryan Johansen 4th overall in June? Well maybe if more Jackets fan checked the Falcons website more they would've seen it coming! I say this because a little over a week before the draft the Springfield Falcons had a press release announcing the signing of Winterhawks center Chris Francis(5'9" 190, 21). Now does this mean nothing probably, but it is kind of a weird coincidence huh? Francis finished 12th in the WHL in scoring with 82 points last year, 56 of them being assists. Francis's career numbers are just as good picking up 189 points in 279games, the only problematic number was a whopping -93 over his 4 seasons.
Those are the 13 forwards that could start the season in Springfield, now on to the defense.
Does everyone remember the old TV show called Growing Pains? Well that might be a good title to keep in mind when thinking about the Falcons defense. Of the 11 potential Falcon’s defenseman I came up with, 5 that could be making their pro debuts after college and junior careers and 3 have played in 3 or less AHL seasons. Hopefully the Falcons can get more offense off the backend then the Crunch did last season with Nick Holden leading the returning D with 23 points. Of the 5 only 2 didn’t score 20 points and Jonathan Sigalet just missed scoring 19 points.
Jonathan Sigalet(6'1" 185, 24) if he plays in Springfield he’ll be the team’s most experienced defenseman; this will be his 6th full AHL season after coming out of Bowling Green. Sigalet led the Crunch in +/- last season with a -2 (yeah it was that kind of a season for the Crunch). Last season was the first season in the AHL that Sigalet wasn't a + player.
The only defenseman from the Crunch to wear a Blue Jacket’s jersey last season was Grant Clitsome(5'11" 185, 25) (giggle quickly then move on). As a 9th round pick (just a heads up the NHL draft now has only 7 rounds) it’s probably amazing that he’s played in the NHL at all, let alone picking up multiple points in his NHL debut(only the second one ever-Voracek). He’s the 2nd lowest draft pick ever to play for the Jackets, Andej Nedorost selected 286th overall is the lowest (Clitsome was selected 271st). Nick Holden was supposed to compete for the 7th defenseman spot on the Jackets until a summer bout with Mono ended that and possibly led to Clitsome making his debut. Holden is a big body with a scoring touch; he just hasn’t found it in the pros yet, Holden still holds the record for most points in a season by a defenseman for his junior team the Chilliwack Bruins. Holden and Clitsome will be competing again for the 7th defensive spot on the Jackets this preseason.
Fans of the Jacket’s Kris Russell will probably enjoy Brent Regner(5'11" 175, 21) whenever he makes it to the NHL. While Regner is a little bigger than Russell both had comparable numbers during their final 2 years in junior, both having 47 points their 3rd year and at least 67 points their final year. Regner seemed to be more of a playmaker in the WHL than Russell with him having 52 assists and picking up 67 points his final year of juniors, while Russell scored 32 goals in his final season before turning pro (hey Kris anytime you want to do that in the NHL that would be great). Now I know these guys were probably playing 25+ minutes in the WHL, so I can only go off the stats I have so take these numbers as you would. I’m expecting a big season from Regner, the only reason I can say this is because Brent added at least 30 points every season in junior including a whopping 41 from his first full season to his second WHL season (6-47-67). The only other defenseman leftover from last season’s Crunch is Michael Ratchuk(5'10 175, 22). Ratchuk was picked up in the trade for Stefan Legien, so far one of the few trades by Scott Howson that I’m not a fan of. I’m going to be honest I haven’t read many positive comments about Ratchuk, from puck-rakers saying he was awful after being picked up to another site saying he was a -8 through 4 games. That’s probably why the Dispatch said he could be switched to forward next season.
The only defenseman the Blue Jackets added might be a familiar name to central Ohio hockey fans, Nate Guenin(6'2" 210, 27) played at The Ohio State University from 2002-06. Guenin became the Falcons most physical defenseman the minute he signed on the dotted line. Guenin is fifth all time in penalty minutes at OSU(400) and has picked up 431 penalty minutes in 275 AHL games while scoring 61 points.
Everyone remember when I brought up growing pains earlier, well these are who I was talking about, the group of 5 rookie defenseman making their professional debuts this season. When the AHL season starts October 8th this group will be made up of 2 19 year olds, 2 20 year olds and the old man of the group 21 year old Theo Ruth. The Hockey News’s future watch issue 4 of the Blue Jacket’s top 10 prospects are among these rookies.
The only rookie defenseman believed to have a shot at making the Blue Jackets out of training camp is 2009 1st round pick John Moore(6'2" 189, 19). Moore played with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL last season picking up 47 points in 61 games including 3 in his OHL debut (2-1-3). Moore was the Ranger's leading scoring defenseman and finished 9th in the league. Moore continued to impress during the OHL playoffs picking up 16 points in 20 games despite his team pulling a Boston Bruins in the OHL’s Western Conference Finals blowing a 3-0 lead to eventual Memorial Cup Champ Windsor. Moore also won the 08-09 Defenseman of the year in the USHL while playing with the Chicago Steel. Now a lot of people think Moore will make the Jackets out of training camp, I’m on the fence; it’s not a negative thing I’m thinking long term. OK say he makes the team is he really better than any of the top six we have right now? (Commodore bashers put your hands down!) That means he makes it as a 7th defenseman where he’ll spend most of the time in the press box or playing 3rd pair minutes when he does play. So I say send him to Springfield where he’ll probably play in all situations and develop properly. Sorry about that went on a bit of a tirade; let me put my soap box away and ill move on.
David Savard(6'1" 200, 19) led all Blue Jackets and QMJHL defensemen in scoring with 77 points in 64 games (13-64-77). Savard won the 2 awards a defenseman can win in the QMJHL while also being named a first team all star and helping Moncton make it to the Memorial cup. The Awards Savard won were the Emile Bouchard Trophy given to the league’s top defenseman and the Kevin Lowe Trophy as the league’s best defensive defenseman. Now you’d think winning the best defensive defenseman award would mean something in any league. Especially since the Q shoots out a superstar forward about every season, winning the award hasn’t led to NHL success only one winner is a NHL player. Now I found this quote describing Savard’s game very interesting “His +32 rating also attests to his outstanding defensive ability. He has a tremendous ability to read and react in his own zone, is hardly caught out of position and is great at clearing the puck when needed, all while exhibiting superb offensive instincts.” Thanks Hockeysfuture.com for the quote. Savard is another player that did what Regner did going from 12 his rookie year to 44 to 77 his 3rd and final season in juniors.
Steven Delisle(6'6" 209, 20) probably has gotten the least press of these rookie defenseman. Delisle is one of the Jacket’s biggest prospects at 6’6 but he uses his size more for positioning than punishing opponents, one site seems to think it’d be a good idea teaming him up with a offensive defenseman (kind of like the Jurcina-Russell combo from last season). Delisle was the captain of Gatineau before being traded to Rouyn-Noranda. Delisle appeared to be good for about 30 points while playing in junior. THEO! Hmm I don’t like it sorry Teddy you’ll never replace Mr. Welsh in Nationwide’s heart. Theo Ruth(6'1" 199, 21) or as he’s probably mostly known as the player we got for Sergei Fedorov is leaving Notre Dame a year early to begin his professional career. Ruth is a stay at home shut down type defenseman that will never be known for lighting up the scoreboard picking up only 17 points during his college career. Cody Goloubef(6'0" 195, 20) was a member of a Wisconsin defensive corps in which almost every member was either a 1st or 2nd round draft pick except the two that haven’t been drafted yet. I got to see Goloubef play at the Frozen Four last season but it was hard to get a read on him with both games being blowouts one for the Badgers and the other they were on the receiving end of. Of the two players coming out of college Goloubef is far more offensive picking up 37 points in 118 career games. So I’ve talked about 11 defensemen who’ll be competing for 7 or 8 spots in Springfield, meaning unlike last season whoever the CBJ hook up with in the ECHL will actually have a few Blue Jackets prospects on the team.
The Crunch’s two main goaltenders were Dan LaCosta and Kevin Lalande and both have been banished to Europe, meaning the Jackets have 2 new AHL goaltenders. Gustaf Wesslau(6'3" 187, 25) (pronounced VESS-lauw) will be making his North American debut this season. For those you that might not know international hockey is played on a rink 15 feet wider than North American hockey, so that could lead to some adjustments in the early parts but that’s probably why he’s came over for development camp. Wesslau finished second in the Swedish Elite League with a .917 save percentage and 3rd with a 2.29 GAA. In helping his team Djurgarden reach the league finals he finished with a 1.80 GAA and a save percentage of .940. Wesslau is rumored to be getting the bulk of the work in Springfield, and with neither goalie from last year being brought back the Jackets needed a backup. The team brought back from Europe David Leneveu(6'1" 187, 27), in fact LaCosta is playing on a tryout with the team Leneveu played last year. Now when you look at his college numbers(46GP 39-5-2 11SO) that's not a typo he was that good at Cornell, he's never been able to come close. Now he was above .500 his last 2 seasons in North America including winning a career high of 20 games with the Iowa Chops in 2008-09. Leneveu played in Austria last year with Salzburg helping them with the league championship going 6-2 with a 2.17 GAA in the playoffs.
Here's a video of Wesslau
The coach of the Falcons is Rob Riley, Riley comes from a hockey Family. Riley's father coached the Black Knights 36 years, Rob the next 18 years compiling a 257-288-33 record (.473 win percentage) in 578 career games from 1986-2004 and now younger brother Brian is at the helm(whoops wrong branch of the service!) Riley's father coached the 1960 Olympic team for the United States first gold medal.
There you have it the first edition of the Springfield Falcon and Columbus Blue Jackets affiliation. The only thing the team has left to decide on, is Riley's assistants and if you think youre getting an update for that you're crazy. The team will have to send a few players to the ECHL my prediction is Ruth, Delisle and maybe a forward depending if the Jackets send downa forward not mentioned in this blog.
As always i thank you for reading, also follow @En4cer45 and @CBJprospects on Twitter in mid September for live as they happen updates from the Traverse City Rookie Camp!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Who would have drafted (2004 Edition)
Time for another @en4cer45 Blue Jackets draft poll!
This time we focus on the 2004 NHL Draft, this was the second of the 3 drafts i've gone to, it was held at the RBC Center home of the Hurricanes. If you ever go to the RBC Center 2 things to know, #1 they have nothing that can compare to our fantatsic Arena District (the closest resturant to the arena i remember is a Wendys a mile or so away). #2 You better be a Scorpions fan because you will hear rock you like a hurricane every chance they get, you also get to see Rick Flair everytime they score a goal (yuck).
Anyway back to the draft, the Blue Jackets originally held the 4th overall pick but good old Ex-GM Doug MacLean decided to swap picks with the host Hurricanes and they selected current Stanley Cup Cup champion and eventual trade bait Andrew Ladd leaving the Blue Jackets to select Alexandre Picard with the 8th pick.
Hopefully you know the drill by now select the player you think we should have selected or if you think Doug MacLean made the right choice. This draft is gonna be a tough one folks, theres a lot of busts in the 10 players you can choose from in this poll.
The first team abbreviation is the team that drafted the player; the second team abbreviation is the player's current team. Lifetime statistics are posted as follows:
Skaters: Position-Games Played-Goals-Assists-Points Penalty Minutes +/-
Goalies: Position -Games Played-Wins-Losses-Overtime Losses-Shutouts
This time we focus on the 2004 NHL Draft, this was the second of the 3 drafts i've gone to, it was held at the RBC Center home of the Hurricanes. If you ever go to the RBC Center 2 things to know, #1 they have nothing that can compare to our fantatsic Arena District (the closest resturant to the arena i remember is a Wendys a mile or so away). #2 You better be a Scorpions fan because you will hear rock you like a hurricane every chance they get, you also get to see Rick Flair everytime they score a goal (yuck).
Anyway back to the draft, the Blue Jackets originally held the 4th overall pick but good old Ex-GM Doug MacLean decided to swap picks with the host Hurricanes and they selected current Stanley Cup Cup champion and eventual trade bait Andrew Ladd leaving the Blue Jackets to select Alexandre Picard with the 8th pick.
Hopefully you know the drill by now select the player you think we should have selected or if you think Doug MacLean made the right choice. This draft is gonna be a tough one folks, theres a lot of busts in the 10 players you can choose from in this poll.
The first team abbreviation is the team that drafted the player; the second team abbreviation is the player's current team. Lifetime statistics are posted as follows:
Skaters: Position-Games Played-Goals-Assists-Points Penalty Minutes +/-
Goalies: Position -Games Played-Wins-Losses-Overtime Losses-Shutouts
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Blogs on the Dark Blue Jacket site.
Before starting this blog the great Dark Blue Jacket posted one of my draft polls and a blog about what I think the 3rd jersey sould look like.
2000 Draft Poll
http://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2010/01/who-would-you-have-drafted-incl-2000.html
New 3rd Jersey Blog
http://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-post-about-those-third-jerseys.html
2000 Draft Poll
http://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2010/01/who-would-you-have-drafted-incl-2000.html
New 3rd Jersey Blog
http://darkbluejacket.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-post-about-those-third-jerseys.html
Monday, June 21, 2010
Who would you have drafted (2003 Edition)
I know I just posted the 2001 draft poll a few weeks ago but I figured with the draft coming up let's post another! I'm skipping the 2002 Draft, but if you think we should have drafted someone else feel free to leave the player you think we should of drafted as a comment with your address so we can send the asylum workers to pick you up you nut. (Rick Nash was selected in 2002). You know the drill select the player you think the Blue Jackets should have selected or if you think Doug MacLean made the right choice.
The first team abbreviation is the team that drafted the player; the second team abbreviation is the player's current team. Lifetime statistics are posted as follows:
Skaters: Position-Games Played-Goals-Assists-Points Penalty Minutes +/-
The first team abbreviation is the team that drafted the player; the second team abbreviation is the player's current team. Lifetime statistics are posted as follows:
Skaters: Position-Games Played-Goals-Assists-Points Penalty Minutes +/-
Update on your 2010-11 Springfield Falcons
So i did that wacky little thing I've heard people talk about called RESEARCH!!! and I found out that the Syracuse Crunch had a few more free agents then i originally thought. Overall the Blue Jackets have 6 unrestricted free agents,4 that I mentioned in my blog and two that i didn't. Of the two I didn't mention one is heading to Russia and the is well Nathan Paetsch. The four I did mention are Derek MacKenzie, Trevor Frischmon, Greg Moore and David Liffiton. MacKenzie has already signed on for the next season. The other three might not be so lucky, I'm guessing Liffiton is gone because one less defenseman in Springfield means an open spot for one of the young defenseman making their debut. Now Frischmon and Moore I don't know, I asked the great Eric Smith of Hockeybuzz he said maybe on Frischmon but he doubted the rest. So take these facts into what I said in my blog and that will give you a good idea of the first team the Falcons will field this season.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Your 2010-11 Springfield Falcons
The Blue Jackets and Syracuse Crunch ended their 10 year affiliation this season; sending both clubs on a search for a new AHL affiliate. The Crunch settled on the Anaheim Ducks, while the Blue Jackets pulled a Columbus Clippers signing a 1 year affiliation (with an option) with the Springfield (MA) Falcons. Now what do I mean by pulling a Columbus Clippers? Well, anyone remember the 2 seasons the Clippers were affiliated with the Washington Nationals, just waiting for the Cleveland Indians affiliation with Buffalo to end. Who are the Jackets waiting on…well another Cleveland team of course. The Jackets are hoping to become affiliated with the Lake Erie Monsters once there affiliation ends with the Colorado Avalanche in 2 years.
But any way a quick affiliation/history lesson on the Falcons. This affiliation change is probably the best thing to happen to the Falcons in a long time. Springfield was the only AHL team last season to not win 30 games and missed the playoffs for the seventh straight season; the club has only made the playoffs once in the last 9 seasons. When the Falcons joined the AHL in 1994 they were affiliated with the last 2 NHL franchises to relocate, being affiliated with the Hartford Whalers until their move to Raleigh and the team remained affiliated with the Winnipeg Jets. The teams remained affiliated even after the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes. The last 5 seasons the Falcons were affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning (05-07) and the Edmonton Oilers (07-10).
But I’m rambling and this isn’t the point/reason for this blog. The point of this blog is to get an idea of who’ll be on the Falcons this coming October. Now obviously any trades or free agent signings could change where players end up starting the season.
The Falcons figure to be a young team next season with 7 players making their professional debuts, 1 making his North American debut and 2 more will be playing in their first full professional seasons after playing in the AHL late last season. At center the Falcons have the 3 oldest players on the team. The two graybeards of the Falcons will be a pair of 29 year olds in Trevor Frischmon and Derek Mackenzie. Frischmon (75 GP 7-18-25) is coming off back to back 25 point seasons, more of a playmaker than a goal scorer with 38 of his 50 points being assists. Frischmon has played for a Blue Jackets affiliate since he came out of Colorado College in 2006, finally earning a contract before last season where he made his NHL debut. Now Derek Mackenzie is scheduled to become a UFA on July 1st but according to puck-rakers on June 10th he’s close to signing a new two-year two-way deal. Mackenzie (47 GP 17-30-47) was the captain of the Crunch last season and the team’s leading scorer despite playing in 30 less games than 2nd leading scorer Greg Moore. Last season also included Mackenzie reaching new highs in both games played and points in the NHL before a knee injury ended his season. 26 year old Greg Moore (78 GP 19-22-41) is a consistent scorer at the AHL level scoring at least 25 points every season of his career high including a 66 in 07-08, with 19 goals Moore just missed having his third consecutive 20 goal seasons.
Tomas Kana rocketed his way up the Blue Jackets depth chart last season. Playing in Alaska of the ECHL when the Jackets acquired him, pretty much as a throw in on a minor league deal from what I’ve read. He was then assigned to Syracuse and developed into a top six forward while also adding some grit to his game with the help of housemate/teammate Jon “Nasty” Mirasty in Syracuse. Kana finished with 28 points in 50 games while making his NHL debut, playing in the Blue Jacket’s last six games picking up his first two points in a game against Detroit. I think 10-11 is a make or break season for Maxim Mayorov, it’s the final season of his entry level deal. For those of you that don’t know Mayorov was the 4th best rated European prospect in the 2007 draft, but slipped to the 4th round due to the lack of a transfer agreement with Russia. Mayorov has back to back 30 point seasons while also getting into at least a few games with the Blue Jackets every year.
The biggest forward on the Falcons will be Tom Sestito at 6’5 who was plagued by injuries last season but still managed to score a career high with 10 goals. Sestito was a teammate of Jared Boll’s in Plymouth of the OHL where he scored 42 goals in his final season of junior. Sestito has spent more time in the penalty box then on the ice in the 4 NHL games he’s played in (24PIM, 21:17 TOI) picking up 17 penalty minutes in his NHL debut during the 2008 season. One lucky thing is that some Falcon’s fans won’t have to buy new jerseys since Tom’s older brother Tim played for the team from 2007 to 2009. Another family connection is Chad Kolarik whose brother Tyler was a 5th round pick of the Jackets in 2000. Kolarik who was picked up in a trade deadline deal ended up leading the Crunch in goal scoring with 26 also picking up 15 points in 17 games with the Crunch. The lone Crunch forward to not see time with the Jackets was Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman; the 6’3 Smotherman is a strong physical presence who seems to be good for 30 points every season. One site I checked seems to think his offense has regressed since potting 20 goals during the 07-08 season.
The Falcons could have 4 rookies at forward next season; those 4 are Matt Calvert, Tomas Kubalik, Kyle Neuber and Tyler Murovich. Now a lot of people this fan included believe Calvert will make the big club after an impressive training camp last season and at least according to the latest Dispatch chat he already has a fan in new coach Scott Arniel. Kubalik came over from the Czech Republic to play with Victoriaville of the QMJHL picking up 75 points in 58 games with the Tigres; he missed time this season while playing with the Czech National Team at the World Juniors Tournament picking up 9 points in 6 games. Now Neuber I’m not sure of, I haven’t heard anything about the Jackets signing him but he did play 1 game with the Crunch last season. Neuber drafted in 2009 draft is a potential enforcer for the Jackets, Neuber picked up 526 penalty minutes in 4 seasons in the OHL. Also I guess some OHL reporters say Neuber possesses “one of the most devastating uppercuts they have ever seen”. If that’s true I can’t wait to see it in Nationwide even if it is just in the preseason. Murovich at the moment is the only player I know that is exclusively signed to an AHL deal, Murovich is pretty much a point per game player picking up 52 points in 54 games with Saginaw and 6 points in 5 games with Syracuse last season.
Here's a video of Neuber from Canucks camp in 2008 (The Jackets drafted him as a 20 year old)
Other than Mackenzie the only other free agents at forward are Sestito, Kolarik and Smotherman. All are RFAs and according to a puck-rakers post in June Sestito and Kolarik will be qualified. There wasn’t a mention of Smotherman but since it was only his 1st season with the organization I’m guessing he’ll be qualified as well. One other restricted free agent is Mike Blunden. Now the team will probably sign him to a two-way contract, I think Mike will make the Jackets as a 3rd-4th liner.
Does everyone remember the old TV show called Growing Pains? Well that might be a good title to keep in mind when thinking about the Falcons defense. Of the 11 potential Falcon’s defenseman I came up with, 5 that could be making their pro debuts after college and junior careers and 3 that have played in 3 or less AHL seasons. Hopefully the Falcons can get more offense off the backend then the Crunch did last season with Nick Holden leading the returning D with 23 points. Of the 6 only 2 didn’t score 20 points and Jonathan Sigalet just missed scoring 19 points.
Jonathan Sigalet if he plays in Springfield he’ll be the team’s most experienced defenseman; this will be his 6th full AHL season after coming out of Bowling Green. Sigalet led the Crunch in +/- last season with a -2 (yeah it was that kind of a season for the Crunch). David Liffiton is the only other defenseman with the more than 3 years experience in the AHL. David Liffiton is far more physical player than Sigalet even though both had similar point totals last season. Liffiton’s 118 penalty minutes were 4th on the team second behind Sestito among the players mentioned in this blog. Liffiton and Sigalet will be the veteran leaders of the Falcon’s defense.
The only defenseman from the Crunch to wear a Blue Jacket’s jersey last season was Grant Clitsome (giggle quickly then move on). As a 9th round pick (just a heads up the NHL draft now has only 7 rounds) it’s probably amazing that he’s played in the NHL at all, let alone picking up multiple points in his NHL debut. He’s the 2nd lowest draft pick ever to play for the Jackets, Andej Nedorost selected 286th overall is the lowest (Clitsome was selected 271st). Clitsome is the team’s lone free agent on defense and after last season’s strong play he’ll definitely be qualified. Nick Holden was supposed to compete for the 7th defenseman spot on the Jackets until a summer bout with Mono ended that and possibly led to Clitsome making his debut. Holden is a big body with a scoring touch; he just hasn’t found it in the pros yet, Holden still holds the record for most points in a season by a defenseman for his junior team the Chilliwack Bruins. Holden and Clitsome will be competing again for the 7th defensive spot on the Jackets this preseason.
Fans of the Jacket’s Kris Russell will probably enjoy Brent Regner whenever he makes it to the NHL. While Regner is a little bigger than Russell both had comparable numbers during their final 2 years in junior, both having 47 points their 3rd year and at least 67 points their final year. Regner seemed to be more of a playmaker in the WHL than Russell with him having 52 assists and picking up 67 points his final year of juniors, while Russell scored 32 goals in his final season before turning pro (hey Kris anytime you want to do that in the NHL that would be great). Now I know these guys were probably playing 25+ minutes in the WHL, so I can only go off the stats I have so take these numbers as you would. I’m expecting a big season from Regner, the only reason I can say this is because Brent added at least 30 points every season in junior including a whopping 41 from his first full season to his second WHL season (6-47-67). The only other defenseman leftover from last season’s Crunch is Michael Ratchuk. Ratchuk was picked up in the trade for Stefan Legien, so far one of the few trades by Scott Howson that I’m not a fan of. I’m going to be honest I haven’t read many positive comments about Ratchuk, from puck-rakers saying he was awful after being picked up to another site saying he was a -8 through 4 games. That’s probably why the Dispatch said he could be switched to forward next season.
Everyone remember when I brought up growing pains earlier, well these are who I was talking about, the group of 5 rookie defenseman making their professional debuts this season. When the AHL season starts October 8th this group will be made up of 2 19 year olds, 2 20 year olds and the old man of the group 21 year old Theo Ruth. The Hockey News’s future watch issue 4 of the Blue Jacket’s top 10 prospects are among these rookies.
The only rookie defenseman believed to have a shot at making the Blue Jackets out of training camp is 2009 1st round pick John Moore. Moore played with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL last season picking up 47 points in 61 games including 3 in his OHL debut (2-1-3). Moore continued to impress during the OHL playoffs picking up 16 points in 20 games despite his team pulling a Boston Bruins in the OHL’s Western Conference Finals blowing a 3-0 lead to eventual Memorial Cup Champ Windsor. Now a lot of people think Moore will make the Jackets out of training camp, I’m on the fence; it’s not a negative thing I’m thinking long term. OK say he makes the team is he really better than any of the top six we have right now? (Commodore bashers put your hands down!) That means he makes it as a 7th defenseman where he’ll spend most of the time in the press box or playing 3rd pair minutes when he does play. So I say send him to Springfield where he’ll probably play in all situations and develop properly. Sorry about that went on a bit of a tirade; let me put my soap box away and ill move on.
David Savard led all Blue Jackets and QMJHL defensemen in scoring with 77 points in 64 games (13-64-77). Savard won the 2 awards a defenseman can win in the QMJHL while also being named a first team all star and helping Moncton make it to the Memorial cup. The Awards Savard won were the Emile Bouchard Trophy given to the league’s top defenseman and the Kevin Lowe Trophy as the league’s best defensive defenseman. Now you’d think winning the best defensive defenseman award would mean something in any league. Especially since the Q shoots out a superstar forward about every season, winning the award hasn’t led to NHL success only one winner is a NHL player. Now I found this quote describing Savard’s game very interesting “His +32 rating also attests to his outstanding defensive ability. He has a tremendous ability to read and react in his own zone, is hardly caught out of position and is great at clearing the puck when needed, all while exhibiting superb offensive instincts.” Thanks Hockeysfuture.com for the quote. Savard is another player that did what Regner did going from 12 his rookie year to 44 to 77 his 3rd and final season in juniors.
Steven Delisle probably has gotten the least press of these rookie defenseman. Delisle is one of the Jacket’s biggest prospects at 6’6 but he uses his size more for positioning than punishing opponents, one site seems to think it’d be a good idea teaming him up with a offensive defenseman (kind of like the Jurcina-Russell combo from last season) . Delisle was the captain of Gatineau before being traded to Rouyn-Noranda. Delisle appeared to be good for about 30 points while playing in junior. THEO! Hmm I don’t like it sorry Teddy you’ll never replace Mr. Welsh in Nationwide’s heart. Theo Ruth or as he’s probably mostly known as the player we got for Sergei Fedorov is leaving Notre Dame a year early to begin his professional career. Ruth is a stay at home shut down type defenseman that will never be known for lighting up the scoreboard picking up only 17 points during his college career. Cody Goloubef was a member of a Wisconsin defensive corps in which almost every member was either a 1st or 2nd round draft pick except the two that haven’t been drafted yet. I got to see Goloubef play at the Frozen Four last season but it was hard to get a read on him with both games being blowouts one for the Badgers and the other they were on the receiving end of. Of the two players coming out of college Goloubef is far more offensive picking up 37 points in 118 career games. So I’ve talked about 11 defensemen who’ll be competing for 7 or 8 spots in Springfield, meaning unlike last season the Gwinnett Gladiators will actually have a few Blue Jackets prospects on the team. We all these young guys I think it will make any camp these guys are in very interesting starting with CBJ Development Camp in late June.
The Crunch’s two main goaltenders were Dan LaCosta and Kevin Lalande, both are restricted free agents and from everything I’ve read it’s the end of the road for Mr. LaCosta. LaCosta posted a record of 7-15-1 with one shutout in 26 games. The 7 wins were his lowest total since winning just 5 in a season when he split time in both the AHL and ECHL. Kevin Lalande has gone 34-29-3 with 3 shutouts since being picked up at the 2009 trade deadline, with him just barely staying over .500 last season going 25-24-2 in 55 games played, a career high. Lalande is the smallest goaltender the Blue Jackets have at 5’11. Now for the rookie, Gustaf Wesslau (pronounced VESS-lauw) will be making his North American debut this season. For those you that might not know international hockey is played on a rink 15 feet wider than North American hockey, so that could lead to some adjustments in the early parts but that’s probably why he’s coming over for development camp. Wesslau finished second in the Swedish Elite League with a .917 save percentage and 3rd with a 2.29 GAA. In helping his team Djurgarden reach the league finals he finished with a 1.80 GAA and a save percentage of .940.
Here's a video of Wesslau
So there you have it folks who I think will start the AHL season in Springfield with a few extras. Barring any trades the 12 forwards I named should be there. Now of the 11 defenseman I named I think Ruth, Goloubef and Delisle will be the 3 down in Gwinnett. The reason I think that is two of them are coming out of college hockey and Delisle being that big could still use some more seasoning.
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