Columbus Blue Jackets: Top 5 Performing Prospects

Columbus Blue Jackets prospects have played just over a month. Who in the farm has stood out?

For many of the Columbus Blue Jackets prospects, the hockey season is more than a month old. European prospects have been playing meaningful games since late September. Most of the young corps of Jackets is in Cleveland and their season started just after the Jackets.

But as October comes to an end we have seen a significant chunk of games from the CBJ farm system and there are several bright spots for the organization. A plethora of players are helping the Cleveland Monsters get off to one of their better starts in recent memory. The Monsters are second in their division with a 6-3-1 record in their first ten games.

Gabriel Carlsson, Eric Robinson, Zac Dalpe and Paul Bittner are all putting up big numbers in Cleveland for the Monsters. The move to the Eastern Conference of the AHL has worked out nicely for the Jackets AHL affiliate.

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While the Monsters have had a good start, we are going to focus our top five prospects of the opening month on players at the junior level. Cutting this list down to five was a tough proposition as the Jackets farm system is off to a hot start.

The top three were fairly easy for me at least to rank. There were two other candidates for the top five that I left out and there are very good arguments for them to be in. But at the end of the day decisions had to be made. Let me know at the end if you agree or disagree with my list in the comment section.

Lets get started with a popular prospect that you might see next year.

#5: G Elvis Merzlikins,

• Drafted: 2014 3rd Round #76 Overall
• Born: 4-13-1994 Riga, Latvia. 24-years-old
• Team: HC Lugano, NLA, Top Swiss League

Columbus Blue Jackets fans have heard this guys name plenty with the uncertain future of long time netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. Elvis Merzlikins has picked up right where he left off after a record setting 2017-2018 campaign.

Through 12 starts, Elvis has a .932 save percentage for HC Lugano. Thats good for third best in the NLA. His 2.27 goals against average have him fourth in the league. The Latvian had one of the most impressive 17-18 seasons for a goalie anywhere in the world and this season he is building on that.

The Jackets top two netminders are both on expiring contracts and in the case of Sergei, the chances for return are not high at the moment. Joonas Korpisalo is getting plenty of opportunities in net with the Jackets this year but, although he is winning, he isn’t inspiring a ton of confidence going forward with his .897 save percentage and 3.47 goals against average.

There is a clear opportunity for Merzlikins in the organization in the near future. His contract with HC Lugano expiries at the end of this year and he is expected to make his move to North America to start the 2019 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Cleveland Monsters.

#4: D Andrew Peeke

• Drafted: 2016 2nd Round, #34 Overall
• Born: 3-17-1998 Parkland, Florida. 20-years-old
• Team: University of Notre Dame, Big Ten

The season for Andrew Peeke stared off with Notre Dame naming him the captain for the 18-19 season. The honor comes after a solid sophomore season for the defenseman who also played at the World Junior Championship for Team USA.

Peeke has come out on fire for the Fighting Irish who are a preseason favorite to win the Big Ten and compete for a National Title after falling just short in 2018. Peeke, who historically hasn’t put up huge scoring numbers, has found an offensive touch this season. Through six games the 6’3″ 200 pound defenseman has one goal and five assist. His six points is almost half of his season total from the previous two seasons when he finished with just 14 points in 40 games.

Peeke has been projected as a prototypical second pair d-man with a great vision and hockey sense and solid enough skating ability. The offensive firepower was never apparent in his game, although he has a killer shot that he just never utilized enough.

He still isn’t shooting enough for many people’s liking, but the scoring is coming which is a surprise to many. Peeke, and the Fighting Irish, are primed to win the national title this year with offensive numbers like this from their captain.

#3 F, Emil Bemstrom

• Drafted: 2017 4th Round, #117 Overall
• Born: 6-1-1999 Nykoping, Sweden. 19-years-old
• Team: Djargardens IF, SHL

Although the young Emil Bemstrom isn’t pictured above, he will soon look to join the group of Swede’s who are filing the trophy case in Stockholm. Emil, a 2017 Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick, is off to a good start to his season and has put himself in a great position to represent his home country at this year’s World Junior Championships.

Emil spent last season in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second tier professional league, and has graduated up to the Elite League this season. Through 12 games the rookie has seven goals and three assist for Djurgardens IF. His 10 points are good for 10th most in the league.

Even more impressive, Emil is leading all players under the age of 24 in scoring as a young 19-year-old. Bemstrom has been named to Sweden’s Four Nation’s team, a good look at who will represent the country at the World Junior Championships.

Bemstrom is joined on the Djargardens squad by fellow Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Jonathan Davidsson, who was one of the final players cut from the Jackets roster in preseason camp. The two will be critical components to Djargardens as they look to win the title in the SHL this season.

#2: G, Veini Vehviläinen

• Drafted: 2018 6th Round, #173 Overall
• Born: 2-13-1997 Jyväskylä, Finland. 21-years-old
• Team: Karpat, Finnish Liiga

The Columbus Blue Jackets some great goalie prospects in the pipeline and Veini Vehvilainen might be the best of them all. He certainly is playing the best to start the year.

Vehvilainen was drafted by the Jackets in his last year of eligibility after he had one of the most impressive seasons of any goalie in the world. He had the best save percentage and goals against average of any goalie in the World Junior Championships last year.

He also was the best goalie in the entire Liiga with a save percentage of .925 and a goals against average of 1.89 in the regular season. Vehvilainen went on to carry Karpat to the Liiga title with a .933 save percentage and a 1.55 goals against average in 17 playoff games.

This year he is by far and away the best goalie in Finland. Through 13 starts he has a .945 save percentage and a 1.22 goals against average. That is almost a full goal lower than the second best goalie in the league and .020 higher of a save percentage. He also has pitched four shutouts so far. Just crazy numbers for Vehvilainen.

Veini’s dominate start to the year is only outshined by one player in the Columbus Blue Jackets system.