How thin is the CBJ prospect pool? They do not have a prospect playing at the World Junior Championships tournament this season. A change in drafting philosophy has us wondering what the plan is here.
As the NHL team flounders in the standings, it's hard to support the Columbus Blue Jackets right now. But, perhaps the worst thing about our current state: the team can't even boast about its prospect pool.
The way Don Waddell has managed his draft picks, combined with a change in drafting philosophy, has us wondering what the plan is here. It seems like this team needs to decide which direction it wants to go.
Are they building for this year? Next year? A few years down the road?
It's pretty tough to tell right now. After giving up another high round draft pick for immediate help on the NHL roster, it seems like Waddell wants his team to take a step forward now.
But, they haven't proven capable of doing that. And, at this point, it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That's at least partially because we can't look into this organization and find much NHL ready talent.
Union and Blue prospect top prospect list is looking blah.
Atop our summer prospect rankings was 2024 first round pick Cayden Lindstrom. Taken 4th overall, he's easily the most important non-NHLer in the system. Unfortunately, at the moment, I'm not sure any of us would rank him at the top any longer.
He's back healthy and playing hockey, but to say that he's giving us hope would be quite a stretch. In 11 games for Michigan State, he has just 1 goal and 2 assists. As a 19 year old high first round pick, that's not entirely encouraging.
Of course, the back injury that caused him to miss an entire year of hockey is the blame. But that's an issue in its own right. In hindsight, did the team pick the wrong guy?
The best answer to this question might be to look no further than the players picked around him. Ivan Demidov, taken one pick behind Cayden, has 9 goals and 30 points to lead all NHL rookies. Beckett Sennecke, taken one pick ahead, sits just two points behind him.
Cayden is the same age as Adam Fantilli was when he played his rookie season for the Columbus Blue Jackets-a year after he'd won the Hobey Baker award. Clearly, it's not impossible for top NHL prospects to produce at the NCAA level.
I'm not ready to call this a completely wasted pick just yet. However, at this point, we're starting to have some concerns about the big man's future. Not even getting a sniff from Team Canada for this U20 tournament is not a good sign for a guy taken this high in his draft class.
The next two prospects on our summer list are also first round picks who won't be playing at the World Juniors. Jackson Smith is off to a decent enough start in the NCAA-but he was overlooked for players both younger and older than himself.
Meanwhile, Pyotr Andreyanov would almost certainly star in this tournament if not for team Russia's ongoing ban from the IIHF. At this point, he's probably the top prospect in the system.
Other top prospects are too old for the WJCs.
After the top three in our prospect rankings, you have to go all the way to #9 to find another player that is eligible for the U20s. That's goaltender Evan Gardner, who has a sub-.900 save percentage in the Western Hockey League so far this season.
The only other eligible player inside of our top-15, is 10th ranked prospect Charlie Elick, whose offensive game doesn't bring nearly enough to even get him a sniff at this tournament.
While I would argue that the team's overall prospect pool is still pretty good, one thing is clear: the change in draft philosophy since Jarmo Kekalainen has left, has taken away some of the excitement for the future.
Don Waddell has opted to draft more big, low event types of players. Whether that pays off in the long run or not, will have to wait to be seen. By the time we know, it will be too late to change it.
But, it's worth noting that for a team that is at the bottom of the conference; not seeing anyone in this tournament is a pretty bleak feeling.