18-19 Most Valuable Prospect
While most impressive prospect is a more accurate title for this award, well go with most valuable to stick with the theme. Although the Jackets haven’t been drafting high in the first round lately and even traded their 2017 1st round pick away, the prospect pool is fairly impressive considering the average pick position.
This year it has been great to see the success of 2018 7th round pick Trey Fix-Wolansky with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL. He is second in the league in scoring and as team captain, is leading a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in two season to an impressive 21-14-4-3 record.
In Europe, Alexandre Texier is playing top line minutes for Liiga’s Kalpa and was a key cog in their Spengler Cup win in Davos. Fellow Liiga player Veini Vehviläinen has dominated in net for Karpat and is looking like a steal as a 6th round pick. His 1.40 goals against average and .940 save percentage are tops in the Finland.
But the title has to go to 2017 4th round pick Emil Bemstrom. Bemstrom has shined in the SHL this year for Djurgardens. His 12 goals in 24 games are tops amongst players under 20 in the competitive Swedish league and tied for third in the entire league.
Bemstrom also was Sweden’s best forward at the World Junior Championship. Although the team was ousted by Switzerland in a quarterfinal upset, Bemstrom scored four goals and two assist over the tournament to lead the Swedes. He was the team’s second best player after defenseman Erik Brannstrom and one of the best goal scorers in the entire tournament.
Bemtsrom now returns to Stockhom where he will look to continue his great season alongside fellow Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Jonathan Davidsson. the 19-year-old has had a true coming out to start the 2018-2019 season and is well deserving of the top prospect of the first half award.
The first half has been a good start to the season for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Who do you think will be the team’s second half MVP’s? Let us know in the comments.