Five CBJ Prospects You Should Watch Outside of the NHL
We’ve spent a lot of time this summer speculating about which prospects might make the Blue Jacket roster. But for this week’s Friday Feature, we’ll take a look at five CBJ prospects you should watch outside of the NHL.
These are players that, realistically, we don’t think have any shot at making this team. Barring any surprises, each player mentioned in this article will be developing elsewhere as they continue their path towards stardom. Best of all, I think all five of these guys could be just that: future NHL stars.
We’ll start our list off with one of the newest Blue Jacket prospects: forward Gavin Brindley. Brindley stepped into the system as the 5th ranked prospect on our list, and he’ll be returning to the University of Michigan this fall for another season of NCAA hockey. He won’t have Adam Fantilli around to help carry the offensive load, but the Wolverines are still a stacked, highly talented roster – and Gavin will be expected to help lead the way offensively.
Though undersized (listed at 5’9″, around 170 pounds), Brindley goes into the difficult areas of the ice and works tirelessly to win puck battles and create offense. He’s the kind of player that makes something happen each and every time he’s on the ice because of his overall competitive nature and wide breadth of capabilities.
I fully expect him to take a step forward and improve upon his freshman season – which was solid enough. He scored 12 goals and 38 points in 41 games for the Wolverines last season; and if he can continue his upward trajectory, I think there’s little doubt that he could be one of the most dynamic players in college hockey this season as a sophomore. I also expect him to star for team USA at the World Junior Championships – he’ll be a standout player there.
Maybe the best thing about following Brindley is that you can go out and watch him play live. The Wolverines will play against the Buckeyes in Columbus at some point (schedule yet to be released), which will give you a chance to gaze into an exciting future Blue Jacket. If you have the means to catch his games on TV or in person, do it. He’s a fun player to watch.
It’s a little tougher to catch Canadian junior hockey games from Columbus, but not impossible. If you subscribed to their digital streaming services this season, there are a few players you can keep an eye on. Two of them look like future stars.
We can’t talk about Canadian junior prospects and not kick things off with winger Jordan Dumais, the fourth ranked prospect on our list. Like Brindley, he’s in that 5’9″, 170 pound range – but also like Brindley, he’s an electrifying player who can score in bunches. He proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt last season, finishing second in the entire CHL in scoring (four points behind some guy named Connor Bedard); with 54 goals and 140 points in just 64 games played.
Dumais was named league MVP and led his team all the way to the Memorial Cup tournament as an 18 year old, which is a rare feat in the QMJHL/CHL. He’s a sneaky player who sits off in the weeds as the play develops, only to find himself in the perfect spot at the perfect moment; where he can dish off a quick pass for a scoring chance, or finish the play himself. He has a wide array of skills that makes him a dangerous player from anywhere in the offensive zone.
Related Story. Prospect Watch: Jordan Dumais Has an All-Time Year. light
Unfortunately, due to the NHL/CHL transfer agreement, he’s unable to play in the American Hockey League this season. Which really is too bad, because he doesn’t have much left to prove at the junior level. Still, he’ll return to Halifax this fall, to lead a team that lost a lot of its talent due to age this summer. It will be fascinating to see if he can keep up the same production levels with less help around him. If he does, there’s no doubt in my mind that he could repeat as MVP – and star for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships.
If you follow the Western Hockey League as I did for so many years (highly recommend), you can watch the third ranked prospect on our list: defenseman Denton Mateychuk. I feel like Denton gets overlooked by his own fanbase because he didn’t have the flashy success at the pro ranks or productivity increase that some of the other prospects did last season. But, make no mistake, he’s a legitimate player, who would easily be the top prospect for a lot of NHL teams.
He’s listed just shy of 6’0″, around 190 pounds; so don’t expect him to be a big, physical bruiser in the NHL. But, he’s an elite skater (yes, I said elite) who uses his edges to turn and pivot, with or without the puck. He’s not perfect defensively, but he understands gap control and how to use his skating and stick to defend; and he has surprising strength that makes him effective regardless where the play takes him.
With that said, he’s most exciting with the puck on his stick. Mateychuk is a one-man breakout, more apt to turn off of plays and reset if he doesn’t like the way it’s forming. He can hold onto the puck seemingly at will and buy time for his teammates to run set plays – or just skate it up the ice and create offense himself. He’s exactly the kind of defender you want when you have a puck possession team, and I think there’s no doubt that he’ll fit right into Mike Babcock’s system, if the coach is still around when he makes the NHL roster.
Look past his flat productivity year over year; the Western Hockey League is a tough league to produce in. Mateychuk’s game matured a lot this season, adding polish to his already solid all-around game. He’ll return to the Moose Jaw Warriors this fall, acting as captain for the second year in a row – and I think he’ll certainly be on one of the top defense pairings for Canada at the World Juniors. He’s an exciting player to watch if you can see him play; he has a little bit of Cale Makar to his game.
Roughly half of the top-20 prospects from our list will be on the Cleveland Monster roster at some point this season – several of them probably full-time. It was hard to choose just two players to keep a keen eye on from this list as potentially up to six of the top-ten prospects for the Jackets could spend their seasons there.
Luca del bel Belluz, Corson Ceulemans, maybe even David Jiricek or Dmitry Voronkov could be on this list. But there are two guys I wanted to mention specifically here; mainly because I’m curious to see if their scoring will translate from the CHL to the professional ranks fairly quickly.
First, let’s talk about reigning QMJHL playoff and Memorial Cup MVP, winger James Malatesta. He comes in at #10 on our list of top prospects, but if his goal scoring keeps up with the Monsters this season – and a few guys graduate from our list – he’ll be a top-five prospect for the Blue Jackets by Christmas.
Another one of those 5’9″ wingers, the stockier Malatesta scored 37 goals and 66 points in 55 games with the Quebec Remparts last season, before adding 14 goals in 18 playoff games – then an additional 5 goals in 4 Memorial Cup games. Tally that all up and you get 56 goals in 77 games, which is an incredible feat at any competitive level of hockey.
He’s more of a pest on the ice, crawling under the opponents’ skin, taking them off of their game, and then completely derailing them by adding a skillset that allows him to score goals in a variety of ways, in any situation. Opposing teams and their fans are going to hate him, but he will be a fan favorite for the home team wherever he plays because of his scrappy attitude. You know how we all hate Brad Marchand? James Malatesta plays the game in a similar style – if his offense can carry over, I think he can be that kind of player in the NHL.
Also making the jump from the CHL full-time this fall is defenseman Stanislav Svozil. Svozil dominated the Western Hockey League from the back end last season, playing for the Connor Bedard-led Regina Pats, where he scored 11 goals and 67 assists for 78 points in 56 games. He also captained Czechia at the World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in the process.
At 6’0″ and 180 pounds, he’s a mid-size defender who plays a very flashy game. He likes to join the rush and at times plays like a fourth forward, with the smooth hands, slick passing ability, and a penchant for chipping in with goals. Defensively, there’s a lot of maturing required here, but he loves to step up and throw a big hit; which will make him an instant fan favorite for the Monsters this fall.
Like Malatesta, if Stanislav can carry over his offense, he’ll be a big rising asset in the system. We ranked him sixth on our list, and with the expected graduations of Adam Fantilli and David Jiricek, there’s a chance he could push for a top-three spot by Christmas – depending on how the guys ahead of him do.
If you can catch a Cleveland Monsters game this year, it should be a great season to do so. They’re going to be stacked with a strong group of prospects, many of whom will be future mainstays on the Blue Jackets. It’s an exciting time for the organization as the fruits of their struggles will start to show real results at the professional level – and we think these kids are going to be early difference makers.
Next. How the Blue Jackets Stack Up Against the Metro. dark