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Columbus Blue Jackets Prospects Update – October 8th

By William Espy

MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 02: Vladislav Gavrikov #6 of Team Russia looks on prior to a face-off in a quarterfinal round during the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships against Team United States at the Bell Centre on January 2, 2015 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team Russia defeated Team United States 3-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 02: Vladislav Gavrikov #6 of Team Russia looks on prior to a face-off in a quarterfinal round during the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships against Team United States at the Bell Centre on January 2, 2015 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team Russia defeated Team United States 3-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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The Columbus Blue Jackets are off to a solid start at the NHL level and so are many of their top prospects. The present is certainly exciting, but it appears like the future will be even better.

The Cleveland Monsters are home to a majority of the Columbus Blue Jackets top prospects, however there isn’t much to report from Cleveland. They struggled in their opening game on Saturday as they were defeated by the Rockford Icehogs, 4-0.

Outside of Cleveland, the most interesting player to keep an eye on this season will certainly be Vitaly Abramov of the Gatineau Olympiques in the QMJHL. He’s only played one game so far this season, however it was a good one. He tallied a goal and two assists in his season opener as he attempts to become a back-to-back QMJHL MVP, something that only Sidney Crosby has ever done.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2017 second-round draft pick Alexandre Texier has gotten off to a bit of an iffy start in his first season in Finland’s top professional league, Liiga. He scored three goals in the first 10 games, but didn’t do anything of note in the last two contests. He also has not recorded an assists to this point. The Blue Jackets’ only other prospect in Liiga is Veeti Vainio, who is yet to play a game this season.

Robbie Stucker is playing his first season in the USHL with the Chicago Steel and has scored one goal and three assists in two games so far as a defenseman. Kale Howarth is playing in his third season with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCHL and has posted a total of 17 points, 10 of which are goals, in 10 games.

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Over in Sweden, Emil Bemstrom has scored 10 goals with six assists for a total of 16 points with Leksands IF’s junior team. Daniel Zaar, who has made the jump back to Sweden after two seasons in Cleveland, has had a solid start to his season with four points in six games.

Vladislav Gavrikov almost made the jump to North America by signing with the Blue Jackets this offseason, but instead decided to re-sign in the KHL and play for SKA St. Petersburg in order to play in the 2018 Olympics. So far to this point, he has two assists in 16 games.

As for goaltenders, Daniil Tarasov has played 10 games in the Russian MHL while holding a 1.81 goals against average and a save percentage of .918. Elvis Merzlikins is returning to the National League in Switzerland for the fifth straight season, and has been fairly impressive to this point. He’s posted a 2.22 GAA and a .932 save percentage in his first nine games.

While many prospects have yet to make their mark in the short amount of time they’ve had to this point, expect many of them to pick it up in the coming months as they become used to the leagues they play in.

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