Columbus Blue Jackets: Off Days Catch Up with Prospects
The Columbus Blue Jackets lull in the schedule gives us time to check up on some future Jackets.
It’s hard to imagine the Columbus Blue Jackets could have any more young players to keep an eye since they have the youngest team in the NHL. But their prospect pool is somewhat deep and has some top end talent to keep your eyes on.
With the World Junior Championship over and the CHL trade deadline passed, junior teams are set and making their playoff pushes. College Hockey is deep in conference play and the race to get a spot in the tourney is tightening up.
Lets take a spin around the world of hockey and check back in with some future Jackets.
QMJHL
The Columbus Blue Jackets have some firepower in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Two of the top 13 scorers in the league are future Jackets. Both Vitaly Abramov and Maxime Fortier are having great seasons in the Q.
Abramov had a quite World Junior Championships for a Russian team that had a quite tournament as well. But he has come back to the Q and continued dominating for his new team, the Victoriaville Tigres. He is scoring at a crazy rate and is second in the entire league in scoring.
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Fortier is also putting up huge numbers in the Q for the Halifax Moosheads. Halifax is one of the favorites to win the Q and go to the Memorial Cup along with Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Fortier, the captain, is one of three players with 45 or more points for Halifax. A deep run from Fortier and the Mooseheads is expected and should tell us alot more about what type of NHLer Fortier can grow to be.
NCAA
One of the top prospects in the pool for the Columbus Blue Jackets is Big Ten defenseman Andrew Peeke. The Notre Dame D-man is coming off a solid showing at the World Junior Championship where he won a bronze medal.
Peeke is big cog in the Notre Dame machine that hasn’t lost since October 26th. He had an assist in the Fighting Irish win over Wisconsin on Friday as well.
Related Story: Peeke Makes WJC Roster
Fellow midwestern collegiate athlete Carson Meyer is not playing as well. The Miami Redhawk forward hasn’t scored a goal since November 24th and only has two assist since then.
Scandinavia
It’s no surprise that the team with the first European general manager has a fair amount of prospects playing in Scandinavia. The Columbus Blue Jackets first pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft continues to develop in Liiga in Finland.
Alexander Texier has picked up his production in the last few weeks after a slow November and December. The 18-year-old is up to 14 points in 37 games against grown men in one of the top leagues in the world. He is fourth in all players under 19 in scoring. He is out injured though for the time being.
Emil Bemstrom, a 2017 4th round pick, has been having a solid year in Sweden. The forward has been moved from the junior ranks in Sweden to the second highest league in the country. He as a respectable five goals and four assist in 22 games.
Related Story: Bemstrom Draft Profile
Rumor has it that he will be with Djurgården next season in the SHL, the top level in Sweden. Djurgården is the current champions of the league.
Plenty of good hockey to watch while the Jackets have a sparse schedule. Be sure to check out some of these youngsters when you can.