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

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