Cleveland Monsters successful playoff run falls short, but will still be a huge lesson for future Blue Jackets
The Cleveland Monsters fell in overtime of game 7 against the Hershey Bears. While they weren't able to win it all, there are a lot of positives to glean from this playoff run.
The Cleveland Monsters' season ended in heartbreak.
After battling back from a 3-0 series deficit and forcing game 7, the Monsters fought to the very end. Down 2-1 late in the third period, they forced overtime on James Malatesta's first career AHL playoff goal.
It seemed like their destiny was to overcome the odds and win this series. But that wasn't the case. Hershey scored in overtime, taking the game 3-2, winning the series in dramatic fashion.
Garrett Roe. OT winner. #RepeatTheRoar 🐻 pic.twitter.com/ncXTZcLw28
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) June 13, 2024
It's not easy to glean positives or call a seven game series loss a "good thing", but in the case of tis year's Monsters, it's definitely not all bad. For the future of the Columbus Blue Jackets, I would argue that this was actually a great outcome overall.
We have seen this sort of run help the Jackets before, after all. In 2016, the Monsters (then called the Lake Erie Monsters) won the Calder Cup with a handful of future Blue Jackets on the squad.
On that team were several future NHLers; including Josh Anderson, Sonny Milano, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Zach Werenski, and Joonas Korpisalo. At the time, these were some of the top prospects in the organization. Sound familiar?
It should, because this year's Monsters team included a smattering of top prospects as well. David Jiricek, Luca del bel Belluz, James Malatesta, Stanislav Svozil, Hunter McKown, Jet Greaves, and several others; could all be NHL players in the next few years. The team was bolstered late in their playoff run by top prospect Denton Mateychuk as well.
This experience could be vital for these young players as they progress towards the NHL. But, outside of the experience they gained, there's another reason this playoff run was really important for the franchise as a whole.
Since winning the championship in 2016, the Monsters had made the AHL playoffs only one time - winning just one round in 2019. Simply making the playoffs this year was a building block for the entire organization; but making a deep run was huge.
Winning the whole thing would have been great, but it's possible that not winning could be just as important. On the next slide, I'll talk about my reasoning here.
Every player on the Cleveland roster was probably left with a bitter taste in their mouths after game 7. That could be the fuel that drives them to be better next year and beyond.
Of all of the Blue Jacket prospects that saw their seasons ended on Wednesday night, I think it's safe to say that the majority of them will be back in Cleveland next season. That means that the Monsters will come into next season with more experience overall.
That's the beauty behind this whole run. They were a really young roster this season, with a lot of key players on the roster entering the league for their first or second seasons. Outside of Jiricek, who almost certainly plays in the NHL next year; I believe only Mateychuk, Greaves, and Malatesta have legitimate shots at cracking the Blue Jacket roster full-time.
And, even those last three guys mentioned are going to have their work cut out for them to play in the NHL next season. What this all means is, the Monsters will have a talented, hungry team next year; one that knows what it takes to compete at the highest level in the AHL. They could be a real force in that league next year.
Most importantly, what the young future Blue Jackets are learning, is what it takes to be a champion at the professional level.
We haven’t seen David Jiricek take over like this at the NHL level yet, but if this doesn’t get you excited…pic.twitter.com/xqiZbZWcq9
— Dylan Tyrer (@DylanTyrer) May 31, 2024
Something to remember: hockey players don't get paid to play postseason hockey, and I think a lot of people would be surprised to know that minor league hockey teams can fail in the playoffs for that very reason. Some guys just don't care.
This young group of Monsters showed that they had the will to succeed. That's the kind of seed that needs to be planted within an organization for it to have greater success. At some point, players have to show that burning desire to win.
The prospects in Cleveland not only showed that desire this year - they probably learned a lot from losing, and will have an even greater desire moving ahead.
This is why it's important to have a strong organization, built from the foundation up. The Blue Jackets could reap benefits from this kind of playoff run for many years to come. We've never seen this franchise remain this patient with their prospects - and now we're starting to see what the future in Columbus could really be.
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