Gavin Brindley Named B1G Player of the Year, a Well-Earned Honor

We continue to look forward to the future for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Right now, it's about the only positive we have.

A big part of that future is playing NCAA hockey for that team up north. Last summer's second round pick (#34 overall), Gavin Brindley certainly fix into this team's future plans up front.

Since being drafted by the Jackets, his stock has done nothing but rise. And it was already pretty high.

Brindley is tied with teammate Rutger McGroarty for the most points in the conference (51), but he's been scoring goals at a much higher rate (24 to Rutger's 16).

Through 36 games, he's tied for 6th in the nation in points, and 5th in goals. He sits amongst some serious top prospects like Cutter Gauthier, Will Smith, Macklin Celebrini, Ryan Leonard, and Gabriel Perrault in both columns.

Yesterday, Brindley was selected as Big 10 Conference Player of the year.

All of this in his sophomore season, while being one of the more reliable two-way players on the Wolverines' roster. Not bad for a guy who stands just 5'9" and weighs just 170 pounds or so.

Brindley joins some pretty notable recent winners, as well. In the last ten years, this award has been given to the likes of Matthew Knies, Cole Caufield, and Kyle Connor, amongst others.

Brindley's tenacious style of play means he can slot anywhere in the lineup for the Jackets at some point in the future.

Whether his scoring translates and he becomes a top-six fixture; or he becomes "just" a two-way bottom-six player, Brindley looks every bit the part of an important future piece for the Blue Jackets.

The only question I have here is, how quickly does he want to turn pro?