Prospect watch: Newly signed Jack Williams brings projectable traits to the Blue Jackets

Hockey season across North America is coming to an end. This is the time of year when amateur players are finishing their NCAA or CHL seasons and turning pro. Some of them are drafted players whose rights are held by an NHL team, such as Blue Jackets prospect Luca Pinelli, who was assigned to Cleveland yesterday.

Others are unsigned players who are free agents. This is the case with Northeastern University forward Jack Williams, who the Blue Jackets signed to a two-year entry-level contract yesterday afternoon. He's an interesting addition to the prospect pool.

Over the last several drafts, the Jackets and their scouting staff have targeted specific archetypes of players. Often that's mean small, skilled forwards and large, rangy defensemen. Williams misses both of those trends, to a certain extent.

He's not a big guy, listed at 5'11", 175 pounds; but he isn't as small as, say, Luca Pinelli, Jordan Dumais, Gavin Brindley, or James Malatesta. That said, there are similarities in his game to some of these guys, probably Dumais more than the others.

Like Dumais, Williams likes to sit in the weeds and strike quickly when you aren't expecting it. He is a bit more of a sniper, preferring to use his quick and accurate shot. This is his most projectable trait. He can score from a lot of different angles and locations all over the offensive zone. Whether it's the one-timer or a quick wrister, he gets it off and on target before the defense or opposing goaltenders can react.

He's a smart player who understands transitional hockey, and he works hard on both sides of the puck. In the clips I've seen, he's often playing above the puck - which will be very popular with Dean Evason. He's also touted as a strong leader on and off the ice, serving as captain this season for the Huskies. We heard a lot of the same things when the Blue Jackets signed Eric Robinson as an undrafted NCAA player a few years back.

I think that's a fair comp for Williams. While he and Robinson play vastly different styles; I think this is a guy that we can expect to come in and play some NHL minutes late this season and not hurt the team. Williams has a little bit more scoring upside than Robinson did, but I don't think it's enough to call him a future top-six forward.

More likely, I think he could settle into a bottom-six role, be reliable on both sides of the puck, and provide some secondary scoring for this team down the road.

Guys like Williams are always worth a shot.

Jack Williams was eligible for the 2020 NHL Draft, and spent that 2019-20 season with Muskegon of the USHL. He put up conservative numbers; with 6 goals and 13 points in 44 games. The next year, his offense blossomed a little bit, jumping to 38 points in 52 games. But it was his 19 year old season with the Lumberjacks that really stood out; where he scored 18 goals and 59 points in 58 games, while serving as captain.

He transitioned to the NCAA later than some of the more highly touted prospects, but he made an immediate impact with Northeastern. In three seasons with the Huskies, he totalled 39 goals and 94 points in 106 games played - all while emerging as a leader and earning the "C" on his jersey this season.

The Blue Jackets hope they have found a diamond in the rough. It's very possible that Williams is a late bloomer who could turn out to be an NHL player for them. Everything I'm seeing and hearing is positive from an on and off ice viewpoint, so it makes sense that they took a shot on him. He'll fit right into the culture being built within the CBJ system, and his traits should make him competitive enough to battle for a job right away.