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Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented
by fan Tracks. Here's your source of

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information and analysis to help you win
your fantasy hockey league. Talk off hot,

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a step hit on, stay lock. Here's your hosts, Jesse Sovier

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and Victor Nuno in Fantasy Hockey Live, back once again to talk fantasy hockey.

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This is Jesse Severe of Fan Trust. That is Victor Nuno of ep

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rnks side Victor. How you doing. I'm doing awesome, Jesse. Yeah,

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it's good to be here. It's
good to be talking fantasy hockey.

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Always good to be talking fantasy hockey. How you doing, my friend?

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Good? We're we're pushing into July. There's all kinds of episodes coming together.

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We're really cruising through this whole season
preview thing. Victor and Victor as

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usual as doing yeomen's work and putting
these together. I think this is the

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last of the first half. We're
this is team sixteen as we put it

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out, I believe, unless my
brain scrambles and they come out in a

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different episode a different order than I
think. So yeah, Victor, it's

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good times. Man. Let's say
that if people wanted to talk more about

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Columbus beyond today, they could do
such by hopping into our free discord.

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All you have to do to get
in the discord is hit Victor or myself

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up Victor Nuno twelve on x Fanhockey
Life on x or email is Fantasyhockeylife at

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gmail dot com. Lots of people, hundreds of crazies in there, preparing

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for the rookie drafts, thinking about
next season, responding to free agency and

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Victor. Wait, there's more.
There are other things that may be available

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for those who desire them, and
what are they so much more, There's

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a whole luxury of things. If
you want to help support the show and

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get extra content. At patreon dot
com Fantasy Hockey Life, you can check

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out our lists, our ranks,
twenty twenty four ranks. You have our

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player cards, so you can look
up whether someone hits blocks, how much

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they shoot, if they get pims, all that kind of good stuff that's

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really hard to find elsewhere. That's
all available as an ultralife. Early also

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get patron casts, which we're going
to be doing soon. In bonus content

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like our top ten lists and all
kinds of cool stuff, So if you

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want to do that and get a
little extra you also can get into the

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Tidy the Tier Dynasty, which is
our great league that we put together that

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we talk about on the show.
And if you want to be with some

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really cool, dedicated fans, that's
a good place to be. You have

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to be a patron to do that. And all that you can find over

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at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey
Life your darns you can. And right

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after this, the other thing you
can find is our team preview of the

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Columbus Blue Jackets. We'd like to
welcome today our guest to talk about the

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Columbus Blue Jackets, Brian Hedger of
the Columbus Dispatch. How you doing today,

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Brian doing good? Finally, good
to be with you guys here in

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the off The Blue Jackets are keeping
people busy this offseason. There's a lot

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cooking. But let's talk about the
team in general. I would have to

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say the season didn't necessarily go great
to start out negative, but Columbus finished

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last in the Eastern Conference, fourth
worst in the NHL. Pascal Vincent is

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out after one season. The longtime
GM has moved on. Two of their

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three highest paid players missed long stretches
of the year. They allowed the second

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most goals in the NHL on the
second most shots against through the eleventh highest

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paid goalie, so in his contracts
got three more years on it. He

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started forty games, and the tief
say percentage was higher when the less expensive

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goalies were in. They ended up
with picked four in the draft, and

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that was a nice chariot the end
of the season. We'll get into the

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individual players, but Brian, geez, where does this franchise go next?

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Let's question. One of those people
that's busy being kept busy by this team

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is myself. This has not been
the most fun offseason for a beat writer

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because you're just basically going from one
story to the next. But it's hard

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to say right because they haven't even
hired a coach yet. Like they decided

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that Pascal Vincent had one year left
on his two year contract that he ended

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up signing out of a rush before
last season, literally three days before training

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camp last year when Mike Babcock was
forced to resign in that debacle, so

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he had a year left and it
was basically you gotta figure it was probably

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not a lot of money because it
was a first year head coach filling in

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that kind of thing. And he
decided to move on from him. I

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personally felt that they were a lot
better than look record wise. Last year.

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You take out the last I want
to say, six weeks after the

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trade deadline, they traded away two
of their key line guys in Rozovic and

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Pete, and then they endured like
a just another ridiculous rash of injuries.

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It took out Ken Johnson and a
bunch of other guys who were contributors,

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and they lost a bunch down the
stretch. But before that, if you

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take it between like November to that
point in and it was marched, they

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were a pretty good team. They
were actually weren't that bad. Their biggest

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struggles were just closing out games.
They had a young team and didn't know

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how to put their foot on people's
throat once they had a lead in the

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third period. The question is about
going forward. So now there's no more

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Pascal Vincent. He's gone there trying
to find a new coach, and for

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three weeks we thought for sure it
was going to be Todd McClellan, who

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was fired from the Los Angeles Kings
mid season, and he has a year

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left in his deal. He's more
of a defensive guy. He's a veteran

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who's been This would have been his
fourth. He pulled out last week,

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let's put it that way. So
he pulled out of the start. Things

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broke down last week. So unless
they circle back and could meet his contract

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requirements, it's not going to be
Tom McCollum. But he was more of

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a veteran guy. That's what the
new and they also have a new president

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of hockey operations and general manager who
haven't even mentioned yet with Don Waldell who

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flipped over from the Carolina Hurricanes,
who's leading this search now for the coach

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and who made the decision on passcal
Vincent. Dell wants experience, is what

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he says. In the head coaching
department. McClellan going to fit that perfectly,

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but the salary and stuff broke down
in the years or whatever, so

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he's out. That's going to leave
Dean Evison, who coached the Minnesota Wild

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for the past four plus seasons until
he got fired last season, or Jay

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Woodcroft. Those are the next two
names on the list. The next two

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finalists. The Croft was with Edmonton
they had obviously had really terrible start last

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season. He got replaced by No. Block. We saw what happened,

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the Oilers made a run to the
Cup final. Whatever those two guys mean.

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So when we look at the blue
jacket for next season, assuming the

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pick will be one of those two
guys, to me, those are diametrically

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opposite coaches. So you got Dean
Everson, who's like the stern tricked another

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defensive minded kind of guy who wants
to keep pucks out of the net and

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play tight defense. And not that
Woodcraft doesn't. But Woodcraft is more of

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a he's younger, he's forty seven. He's more of a he's seen as

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like your younger players, code developmental
guy, offensive minded, that kind of

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thing. In fact, his career
arcs sound like Pascal Vincent, who they

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just fired, and neither one of
them. Everson has five four plus years

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in the in the NHL head coaches
position, all with the wild Woodcraft has

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two plus as a head coach in
the NHL, all with the Edmonton.

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So it'll be one of those two. And if it's not one of those

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two, that is back to the
drawing board, going back to those twelve

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names that Waddell originally started with,
and among those twelve names, one maybe

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keep in mind potentially would be Bob
Hartley, but we're far from that point

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right now. It seems to be
Everson or Woodcraft or the choices. And

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like I said, this team could
go one of two ways for each one

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of those guys. They could be
a really they could become a real defensive

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type team under Everson next year,
or maybe they try and explore more of

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the offensive side with Woodcraft. It's
going to depend on where they go now

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really quick. One last thing personnel
wise, they did sign We'll talk about

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it, I'm sure, but they
did sign Sean Monaghan and the hope there

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is that you know, reuniting him
with Johnny Gudreau, will you know,

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hopefully spark Johnny Gudreau's comeback season and
w will be his third year with lud

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Yeah, let's see, you know
what, I'll throw both of them at

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shit together. Herenni Gudreau sixty points
led the team last year. Two point

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three six per sixty were the lowest
of his career. Two point three six

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the second lowest with two point sixty
five. Basically, he had a rough

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time in about half his production of
his last year in Calgary, twelve goals

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down from his career high of forty, but of course he didn't have much

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help. I can't believe the guy
had only two hits in the entire year,

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Johnny Gudreau. And then over to
Sean Monahan. He's got a big

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contract now, he's soon to be
thirty years old, and he's going to

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be the first time in the United
States team for in year twelve of his

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career, he led the league with
eighty three games played due to his trade

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last year and for Fantasy fifty nine
points was the best since before the pandemic.

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So Monahan had a little bit of
a comeback. He's locked up to

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a decent contract for somebody who's going
to be getting first line center minutes.

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And like you say, there are
there's history with these two guys, Gadrow

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and Monahan. What are you expecting
from these guys next year? Everything looks

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great on paper, right when you
put two guys who played together for a

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long time in one place back together. They're both older, I'll say that

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than they were when they last played
together. And also Sean Bunahan, he

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did play eighty three games last year, which very commendable to him. But

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if you look at like the previous
two and a half years before that,

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he barely played it all for Montreal
and Calgary before that, with a bunch

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of injury. He had a lot
of I think it was growings in just

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all kinds of stuff that you know, hip, you know hip and growing

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injuries that needed surgery. So it'll
be interesting to see how like a full

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eighty three game season impacts him coming
off that going into this startup. What's

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a five year contract with the Blue
Jackets. But I said, if you

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look at it on paper, the
guys are really close friends. I know

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that they've got they'll probably have instant
chemistry. You would think that Monahan would

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spot directly right in that top line
just because of the relationship to Gudrow and

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that Gadrow is gonna stay in the
top line. But I've done this job

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a long time, and I've also
seen years where we think something's gonna happen.

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We thought Max Delmi was gonna be
the first or second line center here

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pro when they got that trade with
Josh Anderson, and that didn't work out.

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He was barely the third line center
here At times, sometimes it just

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doesn't work out. So we're gonna
have to see once they get into camp

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and see how they look and preseason
and all that. But I do think

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that I think that it could spark
Gudrow a little bit. I also think

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Gudrow I'll be interested in interested to
see what kind of attitude he brings,

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an approach he brings into camp,
because the end of season, he went

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out talking about how he was gonna
approach this offseason differently. He was gonna

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work a little harder. The year
before, he'd spent more time with his

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family and he got newborn, young
children and that kind of thing, and

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nothing against that, but he looked
at that and said, you know what

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I am, I'm going to really
dedicate myself this offseason to really coming back

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strong next year. So I'll see. It'd be interesting to see if he's

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more proactive and aggressive next year as
opposed he to his first two years in

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Columbus. Yeah. Boone Jenner the
captain put up another sneaky nice season for

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my purposes, because when he was
healthy for Fantasy two and a half shots,

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two hits and a block per game, thirty five points and fifty eight

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games projects out to about a fifty
point pace, which is very Boone generoush

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his shots were high quality. He
was actually second on the team in individual

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expected goals despite only playing fifty eight
games. This was that for missing six

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weeks in the middle of the season
with a broken jaw. His ice time

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was the highest average on the team
when he was out there with another centerman

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on the team. Daily faceoff actually
shows him as a third line winger right

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now. So is that where he's
going to be even though he had the

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most average on my ice report.
So my mind's blown right now. What

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is Boone Jenner's season? What do
you expect from it? What do you

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think he's going to be doing.
He could be anywhere from the first line

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center to third line wing. Like
you said, it's just so unpredictable right

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now. Because he is super versatile. He can play either side, he

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can play down the middle. He
went, he's their best at face offs,

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but he's used a lot. Coaches
fall in love with him when the

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tight game and they got big time
face offs, they got to win defensive

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zone or like penalty kills, that
kind of stuff. If you're looking for

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a guy fantasy wise, I think
he's always He's every year. He should

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be like one of your biggest bargain
pickups ever because people don't think of him

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as a producer. But if you're
looking for different categories and stuff like,

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he's gonna fill pretty much every category
except for maybe like penalty minutes or whatever

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if you have it here in one
of those leagues. And one thing that

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he has learned to do really well, I think the last I want to

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say three years or so, is
he really plays around the net like he

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is. He his ability to tip
pucks, stand in the low slot and

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tip them and redirect pucks and things
like that and then get loose change off

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rebounds and things like that and then
put them home. He's among the league's

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best at that. And that's why
his goal toal if he could stay healthy

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the almost that's part of the reason. Like last year you mentioned the broken

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jaw that happened while he was trying
to tip a puck a guy, it

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got deflected up, hit him right
in the jaw and broke his jawn.

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Is out for six weeks or something
like, what are his numbers look like

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if he's healthy for four or five
of those six weeks and he only misses

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one week instead of six, and
he's had back injuries in the past as

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well, which is always a concern
as far as durability. But when he

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is healthy, he's gonna give you
every category you need if you're looking from

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a fantasy stat standpoint, and I
think that I don't think that changes a

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ton. His ice time will change
if he drops down the line up,

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obviously, but I don't think it'll
change as much as me people may think

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because he's so important. Whatever coach
comes in here, they're gonna look at

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their line roster and be like,
I need somebody who can win face offs,

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and it's gonna be either Monahan or
Jenner because your other options are Cylinder

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Fantilly. I guess Corrally's an experienced
guy as well on the fourth line,

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but it's mainly gonna be Boone and
probably Monahan and for the first two options

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for that, and then Cylinder Fantili
is just not there yet as far as

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being old enough and experience enough to
win a ton of face offs and be

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dependable defensively. Boone's gonna get a
lot of ice time no matter where he's

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at. It's just going to depend
on kind of his roles is going to

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depend on how well they look down
the middle. Yeah, for sure.

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Ed now the guy everybody wants to
know about. Of all the things that

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went wrong for Columbus last year,
Patrick lyone might have been the biggest thing

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that went wrong. He made it
two months into the season, notching half

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a point per game with a very
unline ash, two shots per game,

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very low. Then he broke his
classical. Then he wanted to the player

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assistant program and missed the rest of
the season. The record recently of guys

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coming back from that program again,
I don't want to say anything negative in

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terms of people getting assistance and things
like that. A lot of guys coming

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back from that program have struggled to
make an impact, but everybody's different.

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I'm not sure what there is to
make of Line's year, really because he

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was gone for so much of it
and hurt for so much of it.

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But what are you expecting from Line
this year? And is he gonna stay

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a Blue Jacket? By those are
like almost impossible to answer, right because

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everything is so much uncertainty around that
situation. I just checked with Don Modell

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today Blue Jackets GM, just to
say, hey, is anything up?

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Is there anything changed with Lion as
its status quo? Is he still in

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the program? Is he out?
And the answer is he's still in the

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program. And until he is at
the program, he cannot to other teams.

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And if you can't talk to other
teams, yes you can be traded,

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but what are the odds that a
team is gonna invest anything worthwhile that

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would make the Blue jacket sign off
and say yeah, that's a good trade

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for us, or it's an okay
trade. They're not going to give him

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away. It's just not gonna happen. They're not going to give him away,

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especially with that kind of raw talent. So they gotta wait until he's

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out of the program to be able
to talk to other teams. His agent

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can talk to other teams, and
he is is from what I'm told,

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talking to other teams. That's fine, but those teams are going to need

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to talk to Patrick, and that's
not happening until he's out of the program.

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And there's no set time frame for
him to graduate or what you would

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call from the program or to be
released from the program. So it's all

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up in the air. Now.
Now, let's hypothesize for a second.

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Right, Let's say, okay,
he's gonna get released. Let's say they

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can't find a deal that don Whdel
feels comfortable make at this state the game.

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That means they're going to have a
hard conversation with Patrick Lyone and his

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agent and say, do you only
if you really want out of here?

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Do you really want to get out
of here? Do you want your you

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want a new fresh start somewhere else. That's fine, we're gonna We're gonna

253
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,079
help you, but you got to
help us as well by coming back and

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00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:22,519
playing like Patrick Lyone for a while. You need to show other gms that

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00:18:22,599 --> 00:18:26,960
you have your stuff together, that
you can be the guy that everyone thinks

256
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,359
you can be. And if he
does that, I guarantee you he will

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be moved quickly because other teams will
want to cash in on that, and

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the Blue Jackets will get something worthwhile
and everyone will be happy. But like

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you said, come players coming out
of that program not a great history right

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now. I would never I'm not
gonna bet against Patrick lion A just because

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of the raw talent though, like
the guy has scored forty plus goals in

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the past, he's still pretty young. He's only twenty six years old or

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00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,680
even that old, twenty five,
twenty six and when he has been healthy

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here, which is very rare so
far in the what three or four years

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00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,680
he's been here, I can't believe
he's been here that long, to be

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honest with you, but he has
been, and when he has been healthy,

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for most of that time, he's
been a pointed game player. He

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hasn't just been a goal scorer.
He's actually set up goals as well.

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I think he's proven something here as
well for teams that are looking for somebody

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00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,799
that can be more than just a
goal scorer. But I think a lot

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of gms just say, look,
man, we just need you to put

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the puck on the net. If
you can just get back to being that

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00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,319
guy, we'd love to have you
on the team. So it's all gonna

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depend on how he comes out of
the program, when he comes out of

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the program, and how he looks. I think I have a feeling that

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he's gonna have to stay here for
a little bit to prove his value in

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a trade. But that's just me
talking and we'll see what happens. So

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you already mentioned Adam fan Hilly,
and the rookie ended up with the sixth

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00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,119
most time on ice of any CBJ
forward, youah the fifth most power play

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00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,920
time on ice and as well as
the most points per game. The conflaceration

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00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,559
made him miss the rest of the
season after late January. Y five point

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00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,640
pace should be encouraging, though.
I would think, especially with his high

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number of hits and blocks per game, he has a really high perperal floor.

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Brian, what do you think we
can see from Fantilli next season?

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Do you think he can take another
step increase those points a little bit?

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Again, he has to stay healthy
as well, but that and that has

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00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,200
been a challenge for all Blue Jackets, the last threat, I want to

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00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,240
say, three years. They got
to take a look at that. And

289
00:20:22,279 --> 00:20:26,240
I don't know if there's just all
luck or if there's something that they can

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00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,599
adjust within the walls of Nationwide Arena. They have to do something to keep

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healthy. But assuming hell, I
do think that he can build on that.

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He is a really talented player.
There's a reason why he was rated

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00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:42,079
so high at the top of the
twenty twenty three NHL Draft. Everyone talked

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00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:47,599
a lot about Macklin Celbrini this year
in the twenty four draft, and rightfully

295
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:49,759
so. Is the number one overall
pick. He stood out over the rest

296
00:20:49,799 --> 00:20:53,680
of the field, especially among forwards. I think that you could make a

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00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:59,200
really strong argument that had Fantilly been
available in this year draft, there would

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00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,599
have been a real kind of fifty
to fifty coin flip type situation as to

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00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,599
which one of them would have gone
first. That's how good Adam Fantilli is.

300
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,599
It's what we were hearing last year
about last year's draft being very special

301
00:21:12,039 --> 00:21:15,440
in that you also had Leo Carlson, when you also had Will Smith,

302
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,319
though, and Connor Bernard obviously was
out of the world, and he was

303
00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:25,200
the number one on that pick or
in that draft, like those four guys,

304
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,200
plus maybe even Mischkoff will see how
he looks this year. He's coming

305
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:32,079
in for Billy. But those four
or five guys, scouts looked at them

306
00:21:32,079 --> 00:21:37,359
and said, in most other draft, if those guys were singled out and

307
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:41,119
put into those other drafts, they
would be like the number one overall pick.

308
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,440
And Fantilli was one of those guys. So you're looking at a guy

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00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,119
who, even though he was drafted
third, I looked at him as a

310
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:52,240
guy who he's got talent of a
number one overall And what he did last

311
00:21:52,279 --> 00:21:56,400
year was impressive. Again, though
he's a rookie, or he was a

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00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,880
rookie and he only got half a
season because he had his the calf injury,

313
00:22:00,039 --> 00:22:03,720
getting the laceration. From what I've
been told is physically he's bouncing back

314
00:22:03,759 --> 00:22:08,400
fine, I is what I'm hearing. And he's a great skater. It's

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00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,279
gonna be interesting to see where they
play him though, And I don't think

316
00:22:11,319 --> 00:22:15,240
it's the end of the world if
he spends a little bit of time on

317
00:22:15,279 --> 00:22:18,160
the wing. If he has to
play on the wing, excuse me,

318
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,839
just to get his grounding and get
some of those point totals up and stuff

319
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,480
without having to worry about all the
defensive stuff in the D zone as a

320
00:22:26,519 --> 00:22:30,839
centerman, and then steadily work his
way back into be He's gonna be a

321
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,440
center. Eventually, he will be. He'll be a dominant center. But

322
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,759
when you're young like that in the
NHL, sometimes it's not bad to play

323
00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:42,920
wing, and it's always good to
show versatility because that's how you get more

324
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,119
ice time when you got coaches,
and the guy can be like, maybe

325
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:48,599
he's struggling at the center here for
a second, but we can still play

326
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,119
him on the wing on the top
line. So we'll see where he plays.

327
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,240
I think he's got a top six
spot, but again that's going to

328
00:22:56,359 --> 00:23:00,480
be determined by whatever coach comes in
here, but depending on who he plays

329
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,319
with. They have some finishers,
they've all got to grow together because a

330
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:10,200
lot of those finishers are young as
well. Yeah, definitely speaking of some

331
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,759
of those finishers and one of to
point pose a points, pick'em to you

332
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:19,000
kill Marchenko, Yegor Tchennikov and Dmitri
Varonkov. These three were pretty exciting.

333
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,640
Mark Chenko first RFA is where he
is right now, fourth on the team

334
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,039
with forty two points. He led
the team with twenty three goals and led

335
00:23:27,079 --> 00:23:30,119
all fours and shots on goals even
though it was just under two hundred shots,

336
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,200
and he increased his point pace from
thirty five to forty four, and

337
00:23:33,279 --> 00:23:37,039
unlike last year, he didn't try
to win the Cy Young Award, getting

338
00:23:37,039 --> 00:23:41,680
a few more assist than he did
previously. Chinnikoff, maybe we call this

339
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:45,160
his mini breakout. Definitely a step
forward. He more than doubled his career

340
00:23:45,519 --> 00:23:48,960
high in points from thirteen to twenty
nine. His sixteen goals were good enough

341
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,599
for fifth on the team, and
he signed a bridge deal two point one

342
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,680
million for a couple of years.
That's pretty nice, and he'll be an

343
00:23:53,759 --> 00:23:59,559
RFA after that. And then Varonkov
probably the most surprising. He played seventy

344
00:23:59,559 --> 00:24:03,160
five games is a rookie. Previous
games played high in the KHL was fifty

345
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:04,599
four, so that was good that
he was able to play so many.

346
00:24:04,839 --> 00:24:10,839
I heard early on there was worries
about or the signs that he maybe wanted

347
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:12,599
to go back to Russia, but
he stuck it out and it ended up

348
00:24:12,599 --> 00:24:17,079
going really well for him six and
the team in scoring just under two minutes

349
00:24:17,079 --> 00:24:19,279
per game on the power play at
thirty seven point pace. So here we

350
00:24:19,319 --> 00:24:25,119
go. We've got these three Russias, Chennikov, Marchenko and Varonkov, and

351
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:27,359
they play a lot together, which
is obviously a little hard to separate them.

352
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:32,359
But who do you think between the
three gets the most points? I

353
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,079
think the most points. Again,
it's going to be another installment in my

354
00:24:37,319 --> 00:24:41,400
ongoing theme here for this podcast to
stay healthy, blue jackets, and you

355
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:47,079
got a shot to compete, and
specifically with these three that pertains to Igor

356
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:51,000
Chennikov that Chinnikov. A lot of
people don't really pay a whole ton of

357
00:24:51,079 --> 00:24:56,279
attention to Columbus if you look at
what he's doing from a pro rated standpoints,

358
00:24:56,319 --> 00:25:00,400
pretty good and he's got a lot
more potential in there. But he's

359
00:25:00,559 --> 00:25:04,400
always injured like he is. He's
always running into injuries so far in his

360
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,200
young career that limits him. Every
time. It seems like he keeps,

361
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,960
he gets going and you're like,
oh, here comes Chinnikov, here comes

362
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,079
the breakout that he's out, But
I don't of it. Like last year,

363
00:25:15,079 --> 00:25:18,240
I think it was a concussion the
end of the season prematurely, and

364
00:25:18,279 --> 00:25:21,480
before that it's been a knee injury
and some other stuff. What I'll say

365
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:26,680
about him is again he's that the
third overall pick type talent like our second

366
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,680
overall should say, like lion A
was. But when you look at Chinnikov,

367
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,519
the guy his what really takes people
by surprise on him that they don't

368
00:25:33,559 --> 00:25:40,599
realize he's so good at is his
foot speed. His foot speed is elite,

369
00:25:40,799 --> 00:25:44,559
like he is a really good skater, and he's a powerful skater.

370
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:48,880
He's become a very powerful skater by
adding muscle in the lower half, but

371
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,440
he's also added a lot of muscle
and bulk in the upper half since he

372
00:25:52,559 --> 00:25:56,920
came over here. He's put together
like he like it's he's a power forward,

373
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,440
Like he's not your traditional power forward
going to run people through a wall,

374
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,240
but he will steam steam engine right
around you and carry the puck and

375
00:26:06,279 --> 00:26:10,400
take it right to the net.
And then he's getting better at finishing and

376
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:15,160
burying. And he also has a
rist shot that he's had it clocked a

377
00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:19,799
risk shot now a slap shot has
been clocked upwards of ninety eight miles an

378
00:26:19,799 --> 00:26:25,599
hour before. That's pretty fast for
a risk shot and heavy. And then

379
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:30,279
his slapper is one timer can reach
over one hundred. He's got a great

380
00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:33,519
shot, he's got great speed,
got strength, he can see, he

381
00:26:33,519 --> 00:26:36,799
can actually make plays. So I
think if he stayed healthy, I would

382
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:41,799
pick him out of those three to
have the most points. But it would

383
00:26:41,799 --> 00:26:45,880
be close with Marchenko because Tenko is
a goal scorer or he's got to get

384
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,480
back to scoring goal like he's a
goal scorer. But that guy can also

385
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:53,480
make plays as well. He's an
underrated passer as well. He's another big

386
00:26:53,519 --> 00:26:56,759
body. I know he can take
pucks to the net and probably do so

387
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,279
more often as a rookie. He
was taking you dragging guys to the net

388
00:27:00,319 --> 00:27:03,480
with him as a rookie and last
year that kind of fell off a little

389
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:07,359
bit in his game. He's got
to refine that. And then you look

390
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:11,640
at Veronkov, and Varronkov is just
he's massive, He's huge. He's six

391
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,279
foot five, he's I think he
came in last year two hundred and forty

392
00:27:15,279 --> 00:27:19,319
pounds or two forty five. I
would like to see what he weighs when

393
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,519
he comes back to camp this year. If he's like a two twenty five,

394
00:27:23,039 --> 00:27:26,640
he's like a sixty five two twenty
five or two thirty. Look out

395
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,160
for that guy because he'll have an
extra step even to help his skating,

396
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,839
and he can really finish around the
Today's a lot like like a giant version

397
00:27:34,839 --> 00:27:40,079
of Boone Jenner. He can finish
around the net, he screens really well,

398
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,960
and he can play center or wing
as well. So they're those three

399
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,519
guys, but all three of them
have potential to be then the main guy

400
00:27:47,839 --> 00:27:52,920
in that trio. But I think
I would pick Chinnakoff just an edge above

401
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,240
the other two. Yeah, that's
exciting. We just made all fantasy managers

402
00:27:57,319 --> 00:28:02,240
drool by calling him a giant verse'ion of Boone Jenners. So everyone needs

403
00:28:02,279 --> 00:28:06,000
to settle down a little bit after
that. But that's great stuff. Let's

404
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:07,599
move on to the next guy that
we wanted to talk about, and that's

405
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:12,079
Kent Johnson. And Johnson he had
a rough year. He was struggling a

406
00:28:12,079 --> 00:28:15,440
little bit. He went down to
the AHL. He did very well when

407
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,319
he was there. In fact,
when he was down in the HL,

408
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,119
I wrote a piece about how this
might be the best time to acquire him

409
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,079
because he was his stock was pretty
low. Then when he came back,

410
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:27,720
he finished with just a thirty one
point pace, so it was disappointed.

411
00:28:27,759 --> 00:28:30,319
He didn't tear it up in the
NHL like he did in the AHL,

412
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,160
like some of us were hoping he
would. But he still has a ton

413
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,160
of talent. He still only has
one hundred and thirty NHL games to his

414
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:41,119
name. He's still only twenty one
years old. What do you think is

415
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,200
going on with Ken Johnson? How
does the organization feel about him? Is

416
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,359
he on the trade block? What
kind of upside do you think is still

417
00:28:48,359 --> 00:28:52,279
there for Ken Johnson? I'd be
really surprised if he was on the trade

418
00:28:52,279 --> 00:28:56,279
block, to be honest with you, yeah, I was. Well.

419
00:28:56,319 --> 00:28:59,480
I was on my way out to
the draft in Vegas. I talked to

420
00:29:00,039 --> 00:29:03,640
one of the Blue Jackets coaches within
their system, and I can tell you

421
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:10,079
they absolutely love Ken Johnson. They
think that Ken Johnson's ceiling is extremely high

422
00:29:10,799 --> 00:29:15,480
and that he's a young player and
young players don't always make it in are

423
00:29:15,559 --> 00:29:19,640
as far as right away. And
he's also he's slightly built. They've put

424
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,319
some muscle on him, they've put
some bulk on him, they're trying to

425
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,519
get him to eat a little more. It's all genetic right with him,

426
00:29:26,519 --> 00:29:29,160
where he like, I wish I
had his genetic by the way, where

427
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,240
it'd be easy to stay nice and
then and healthy and everything. I think

428
00:29:33,279 --> 00:29:37,359
we all wish that we had Ken
Johns genetics, but he wishes he had

429
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:38,480
it the other way. He wishes
he had a little bit of mind where

430
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,400
he could just put on ten pounds
with no problem. So because of that,

431
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,799
he's struggled a little bit in board
battles, puck battles, that kind

432
00:29:45,799 --> 00:29:52,000
of thing. And he's not the
most elite skater either as far as speed.

433
00:29:52,359 --> 00:29:56,119
He's a very intricate skater. He
uses his edges really well. And

434
00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,359
one but the one thing that that
coaches really love about Ken Johnson in a

435
00:30:00,359 --> 00:30:04,519
blue jack of system. Is he
has a really innate ability to shield the

436
00:30:04,559 --> 00:30:10,480
puck and to be a puck possession
guy, even though he gets swarmed around.

437
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,519
The problem is he gets pushed off
the puck because not big enough right

438
00:30:12,559 --> 00:30:17,079
now, When that changes and he
gets a little more strength and he stays

439
00:30:17,119 --> 00:30:19,759
on the puck and stuff like that
and he's not easily muscled off, he's

440
00:30:19,799 --> 00:30:25,960
going to be a real problem for
people to defend because he sees the ice

441
00:30:26,799 --> 00:30:30,680
probably better than most of his teammates
even and that's also a problem too.

442
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,279
You got to find teammates that are
able to play with him and anticipate and

443
00:30:33,359 --> 00:30:38,279
read what he's reading, because he's
seeing the game two or three moves ahead,

444
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,240
and a lot of times it doesn't
translate if you've got teammates that aren't

445
00:30:42,279 --> 00:30:45,519
seeing the game two or three moves
ahead or whatever. It's like chess or

446
00:30:45,559 --> 00:30:48,720
whatever. So I think he's gonna
be really good. I don't I would

447
00:30:48,759 --> 00:30:52,160
be. That's not to say they
won't trade him, but I would be

448
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,880
very surprised if they did unless they
got something really good in return. And

449
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,279
like, how do you get that
out of him? I think you just

450
00:30:59,319 --> 00:31:02,599
have to play him. He's coming
off a shoulder injury as well, which

451
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:07,799
was very unfortunately tore a Labram just
on a meaningless face off with two seconds

452
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,440
left and ago in a game that
they were losing in New York. That

453
00:31:11,559 --> 00:31:15,640
was a shame because it just ended
his season prematurely. But a lot of

454
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,359
these guys, we look at it
and we say, oh, young guys.

455
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,079
We hear a lot about him in
the draft, right we hear about,

456
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:22,599
oh, they're so good, and
then we see him at Michigan or

457
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:27,759
Boston College or Boston They're amazing and
all this stuff. The NHL is a

458
00:31:27,799 --> 00:31:33,279
whole different ecosphere. It's just a
whole different world. And unless your name

459
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:38,359
is Connor McDavid or Connor Bdard or
some of these like really elite standouts,

460
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,920
you're not gonna look real good the
first two or three years a year in

461
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:47,359
the NHL just not gonna happen.
Like the vast majority of guys, it

462
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,559
takes them a year or two to
really like figure things out. And I

463
00:31:49,599 --> 00:31:52,880
think that's where Kent Johnson is right
now. I think he's gonna be a

464
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,519
really good player. It's just a
matter of win. And so how do

465
00:31:56,559 --> 00:32:00,559
you predict that hard to predict that. But if he came in and had

466
00:32:00,559 --> 00:32:04,880
a breakout season this upcoming year wouldn't
surprise me in the least. And if

467
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,000
he continued to struggle, wouldn't surprise
me in the least. Like I think

468
00:32:08,039 --> 00:32:12,319
that or somewhere in the in between. He's one of those uncertain ones.

469
00:32:12,319 --> 00:32:15,400
It's gonna be hard to predict.
Yeah, I think the upside is huge,

470
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,559
and I think it's a great by
low window. I fully agree.

471
00:32:19,039 --> 00:32:21,519
Let's move over to the defense now, and of course we're gonna start with

472
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,119
Zach Wrensky. We already talked about
how the Blue Jackets had a bit of

473
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:29,440
a down season, but don't tell
Warnsky that he definitely had a massive positive.

474
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,680
He had his career high in points, a fifty seven point pace of

475
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:37,000
sixty seven, and that was with
the talent not being the best around him

476
00:32:37,039 --> 00:32:42,079
either. It was pretty incredible what
he was able to achieve. This young

477
00:32:42,119 --> 00:32:45,480
group should be getting better and better. We've talked about some of the additions,

478
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,240
potentially even greener pastures. If you
look at the last four years,

479
00:32:49,319 --> 00:32:53,359
Warensky is tenth in goals four per
sixty according to Evolving Hockey, this guy

480
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,240
knows how to put the puck in
the net, especially for a defenseman.

481
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,880
Brian, I think my question for
you is this pek Warenski or do you

482
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:06,680
think he could get to yoc Carlson
Heights. I think Ken, I really

483
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,319
do. If you look at like
you mentioned the pro rated numbers there being

484
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:16,920
like tenth or whatever that his games
played up against pretty much every other defenseman

485
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:22,960
in the NHL from his draft class
since they've been in the NHL, Like

486
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:27,680
most of the guys in his draft
class have probably played a full season's worth

487
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,160
the games more than he has,
and that's because he's had numerous injuries.

488
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:36,119
He's had shoulder injuries that if he
had won two years ago, that kept

489
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,319
him out for all but thirteen games
of the season, right. He had

490
00:33:38,359 --> 00:33:42,960
ones before that that kept him out
for half season. When I first got

491
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,680
here to Columbus in twenty seventeen eighteen, he was like in his second full

492
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,559
pro season, and I think he
played most of that season and his shoulder

493
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,519
heart because he had He's had multiple
shoulder injuries, which is not good if

494
00:33:54,559 --> 00:33:59,559
you're like looking at it from the
long term. Can he stay healthy prospect?

495
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,960
However, last year he stayed fairly
healthy, and he did miss some

496
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,280
time with a sprained ankle, like
a high ankle sprain a couple of weeks,

497
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,920
and he also battled. This was
all gives set in all kinds of

498
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,360
career highs and assists last year,
but he could not beat a goalie for

499
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:20,840
the first three quarters of the year
last year. He didn't. He just

500
00:34:21,039 --> 00:34:22,719
was not. The puck wasn't going
in for this guy. And that was

501
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:27,920
really odd to see because Zach Warinski, if there's one thing that he really

502
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,280
knows how to do, it scored
goals. As a defenseman. He can

503
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,360
really put the puck in the net. That's it was shocking, like he's

504
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,280
getting a ton of assists, which
is great, but where are the goals?

505
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,199
There were no goals. And then
steadily he was working his way back

506
00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:45,480
from that season long soulder injury,
shaking rust off, and finally it just

507
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,840
popped, like it just came back
and it was like, Oh, there's

508
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,280
Zach Warinsky and it was just like
goal every other game type of stuff.

509
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:58,480
Like he really poured it on at
the end of the season and showed you

510
00:34:58,679 --> 00:35:02,039
what he can really become. Oh, once again, injuries, if he

511
00:35:02,079 --> 00:35:07,440
can stay healthy, this is a
guy who I do think he can put

512
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,880
himself, at least scoring wise,
among the elite defensemen in the NHL.

513
00:35:12,039 --> 00:35:16,559
The big question for me is going
to be who plays with him right Who's

514
00:35:16,559 --> 00:35:20,960
gonna be his partner of the right
side. You can argue, and I

515
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,960
think very successfully, that since the
Seth Jones trade in twenty one that sent

516
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:31,199
Seth Jones to the Chicago Blackhawk,
they have not found an adequate defense partner

517
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:36,519
for him, or they haven't found
a regular defense partner for him. He

518
00:35:36,639 --> 00:35:39,239
used to just be It was like
set in Stone. It was Wrenski and

519
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:44,239
Jones for three or four years,
and you knew what you were getting from

520
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:46,760
each one of them. And Jones
knew that even though his numbers were,

521
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:52,280
his offensive numbers were being held back
a bit. He knew that for the

522
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:54,480
team to be really good, Zach
had to score some goals, and so

523
00:35:54,559 --> 00:36:00,280
he would hang back and play more
defense and just control everything back there,

524
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,159
get some assists, and Zach would
almost be like a fourth boward time,

525
00:36:04,199 --> 00:36:07,519
so it'd be almost like four to
fours just buzzing around his own and trying

526
00:36:07,519 --> 00:36:13,119
to score a goal. And since
Seth has left, it hasn't been that

527
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:15,000
is quite as easy for Zach to
do that there's been. There was one

528
00:36:15,039 --> 00:36:19,360
season he did score twenty. I
can't remember if that was the year that

529
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,480
seth or not. They're all running
together on me now in my aging brain.

530
00:36:22,599 --> 00:36:27,039
But who has been his main defense
partner? He hasn't had one.

531
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,760
So I'm looking forward to next year
and I'm like, who's it gonna be?

532
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:34,800
Like, who's It's not gonna be? Erica Branddon Erica Brandson has slotted

533
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,519
pretty much perfectly into the third pairing
on the right side as a veteran,

534
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:43,480
older, kind of aging, grizzly
defenseman. Probably not gonna be David year

535
00:36:43,639 --> 00:36:46,760
Jack. He is not ready for
first line minute to the NHL. You

536
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:50,679
could maybe even make the argument that
he might not even be ready for a

537
00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:52,800
ton of minutes in the NHL.
He might be more of a third pairing

538
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:54,920
type guy. But they don't really
have a spot to put him on the

539
00:36:54,920 --> 00:37:00,480
third pairing. So I'm expecting Yurcheck
to be on the second pairing with prover

540
00:37:00,559 --> 00:37:04,960
Off, and I'm expecting Damon Steverson
to go up and play first pair of

541
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,320
minutes with Warenski, and I think
that can work. But I think Steverson

542
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:15,519
is more. He's another guy who
probably slots perfectly on a really good team

543
00:37:15,639 --> 00:37:19,679
into the second pairing, So they
don't really have that Seth Jones type of

544
00:37:19,679 --> 00:37:24,280
guy on the right yet until you're
a check develops and that could affect Warenski's

545
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,920
numbers if he's got to hold back
a little bit because whoever he's playing with,

546
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,440
he can't really trust them his mud
as far as defensively, Yeah,

547
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:35,559
I could limit him a little bit, but I think that the end of

548
00:37:35,639 --> 00:37:37,480
last year was encouraging for me,
and I do expect a big year from

549
00:37:37,559 --> 00:37:40,119
Zach who stays healthy. Yeah,
there's a lot of good stuff there.

550
00:37:40,159 --> 00:37:43,320
And you mentioned one of the guys
I wanted to ask you about. You

551
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,920
mentioned David Yerichek, And obviously he's
been disappointed in the amount of playing time

552
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:51,559
that he's had, but as you
mentioned, it's a big jump coming to

553
00:37:51,639 --> 00:37:54,039
the NHL, especially playing top flne
minutes. I watched some of those games

554
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:57,400
when he did play in the NHL. Some of them look good, some

555
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,599
of them looked awful. There's a
lot of in between there. He got

556
00:38:00,599 --> 00:38:04,039
turnstiled a few times. I know
that there's high hopes long term for this

557
00:38:04,119 --> 00:38:07,039
young man. Do you think that
the upside is still future top pairing type,

558
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,480
Maybe not this year down the road
a little bit. How are we

559
00:38:09,519 --> 00:38:14,239
feeling about Eric check And do you
think there's any chance that they move him

560
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:16,760
because he's been a little disgruntled.
There's always a chance, I guess of

561
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:21,159
that. But it's the guy who
drafted him no longer there, right,

562
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,679
like one of the guys Philly's searing, the Amazon gutting director. At least

563
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:29,360
Carnow is there, but the armokeek
Linen who drafted him is no longer the

564
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,559
DM. And but I'm sure that
Don Wadell doesn't have quite the allegiance to

565
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,559
him as one of his own draft
picks, So we'll have to see where

566
00:38:37,599 --> 00:38:39,920
that goes on that. But that
doesn't mean Don doesn't like him either.

567
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:45,079
I think with your check is that
I think what happened is they drafted him

568
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:51,840
sixth overall, and you know,
actually, so they drafted him sixth overall

569
00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:55,400
and that's a high spot. Obviously, he goes to that World Juniors after

570
00:38:55,440 --> 00:39:00,599
that and just has a great tournament, like just an unbelievable tournament. Really

571
00:39:00,639 --> 00:39:04,480
helps Check. Yet I think he
gets them all the way to the gold

572
00:39:04,559 --> 00:39:07,239
medal game, they win the silver. He's clearly the biggest reason for that.

573
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:13,360
So against his peers in that tournament, he was elite, like elite,

574
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,679
and I think everybody saw it and
was like, all right, this

575
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:19,400
dude's ready, like he's ready for
the NHL. Let's bring him up right

576
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,519
now. And he wasn't anywhere close
to ready. It was like that was

577
00:39:22,559 --> 00:39:27,719
against junior competition, and you can't
just go from junior competition to go into

578
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:31,760
the NHL and stopping guys not gonna
happen. And so he had a pretty

579
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:36,039
good year that year in the AHL, but also showed, like you said,

580
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:39,360
there are times when he becomes a
turnstock and in the defensive end,

581
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:44,519
and that's a problem right now.
That doesn't mean he's always going to be,

582
00:39:45,119 --> 00:39:47,400
but this is the process. Young
defensemen take a long time. They

583
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:51,800
take a while longer and not a
long time. They take longer than buwards

584
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:55,320
because they have so many more responsibilities
on the defensive end of the ice.

585
00:39:55,840 --> 00:40:00,880
I'll say this for David Yeertek.
On the offensive end, he makes too

586
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,239
many decisions or he makes too many
mistakes. I think right now, still

587
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,559
where he puts himself in really bad
positions, gets caught out of position and

588
00:40:07,559 --> 00:40:10,079
they got a three on one going
the other way or a three on two.

589
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:15,400
That's not great. However, you
also do want a guy who's aggressive,

590
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,840
and he's got an amazing guy.
He has a really good shot,

591
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:24,320
and he's got good offensive internate,
so he can produce on the offensive end

592
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:28,800
of the ice, and he showed
that in the AHL Playoff. He helped

593
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,519
the Cleveland Monsters get all the way
to the Eastern Conference Final against the Pershe

594
00:40:31,679 --> 00:40:35,920
They may pushed him a seven games
that Hirschy ended up winning it. They

595
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,320
have a bunch of HL veterans,
but he pushed them to seven games in

596
00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:44,000
a lot of those games that were
your check scoring like huge goals at the

597
00:40:44,079 --> 00:40:47,280
end of regulation, basically to push
games to overtime. So offensively, I

598
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:52,079
think he's way farther ahead than he
is defensively, but that's not to say

599
00:40:52,119 --> 00:40:54,039
he won't catch up at some point. I do think this is a year

600
00:40:54,079 --> 00:40:58,800
where he's probably gonna spend I would
think he would spend most, if not

601
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,760
all, of the year in the
NHL and probably play on the second pairing.

602
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,400
I don't know if he'll get power
play minutes he may or may not

603
00:41:05,519 --> 00:41:07,559
on the second pairing, but we'll
have to see. With all that,

604
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:13,000
skating remains an issue for him.
I hope he's working on the skating in

605
00:41:13,079 --> 00:41:16,199
the off season. Although he had
such a long run with Cleveland, his

606
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:20,000
leg has got to be He's got
to recover as well. So how do

607
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,000
you work on like your power skating
when you've played until May or the end

608
00:41:23,039 --> 00:41:28,840
of May. But that's an issue
for him, is like transitions going forward

609
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:32,480
to back, and for a defenseman, that's just so vital and right now

610
00:41:34,079 --> 00:41:37,079
he's not that he's terrible at it, He's not as good as he needs

611
00:41:37,159 --> 00:41:43,960
to be to shut down people in
the NHL love all right, that's awesome

612
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,199
stuff on the defense. Let's move
on to the goalies. The Blue Jackets

613
00:41:46,199 --> 00:41:51,280
were ranked as the thirtieth expected goals
against per sixty and conceded the twenty ninth

614
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:54,960
ranked actual goals per game. We
saw several goalies ten to net obviously was

615
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,800
mainly Mergelikens with forty one games,
and we saw Danielle Tearis off with twenty

616
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,320
five for Spencer Martin had thirteen.
He's moved on now. Jack Grieves still

617
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:07,400
in their system had nine games.
It was supposed to be the redemption season

618
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,559
for Elvis, but it didn't quite
work out. His say percentage was quite

619
00:42:09,599 --> 00:42:14,960
low. He's expected or his goal
save above expected negative one point six Delta

620
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,239
Fenwick was negative. He still has
three more years at five point four.

621
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:21,719
On the other hand, a real
bright spot was done Tarasof with some really

622
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,360
nice goal save above expected in Delta
Fenwick. He's just got one more year

623
00:42:24,519 --> 00:42:29,039
till he's an RFA. So what
do we think about this tandem moving forward,

624
00:42:29,039 --> 00:42:30,880
Brian? I imagine it's going to
be those two, maybe in a

625
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:35,440
slightly different ratio, maybe with a
few more starts for Tarasof. But what

626
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,760
do you think we can expect in
terms of splits of starts and for their

627
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:45,159
performance, Unless then Waddell finds some
kind of trade that he's not expecting.

628
00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:47,039
Somebody comes along and says, hey, I want to give this Elvis a

629
00:42:47,079 --> 00:42:52,039
shot. I don't want to use
the term stuck with him. That's the

630
00:42:52,079 --> 00:42:54,639
way it looks right now, because
he's coming off of two subpar seasons.

631
00:42:54,880 --> 00:43:00,360
Last season, it would be it
was not up to his standards. Sure,

632
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:02,679
I know that, but compared to
the season before, which was like

633
00:43:04,159 --> 00:43:07,480
it was like rock bottom, worst
numbers you could ever have and stay in

634
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:13,280
the NFL's starting goalie with a five
point four million dollar av It was a

635
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,880
really tough season two years ago.
So he did make improvements last year,

636
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,599
just not enough, right, Like
he just didn't get up there enough.

637
00:43:20,159 --> 00:43:22,159
But that's a huge question of what
they're going to do in net and I

638
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:28,159
asked Don Wadel at his introductory press
conference the Sun in June what he planned

639
00:43:28,159 --> 00:43:30,599
to do there, actually it was
late May, and he said, they're

640
00:43:30,639 --> 00:43:36,280
play at this point. They're planning
on just taking another crack at fixing them

641
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,320
because otherwise, if you try and
buy them out, that's three year.

642
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,679
He has three full years left to
five point four So you buy that out

643
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:47,119
now you're talking, you have him
in some respects on the butt the dock

644
00:43:47,199 --> 00:43:52,079
up for another six years and it
just doesn't make sense at this point to

645
00:43:52,079 --> 00:43:55,960
buy him out too expensive against your
cap going forward. So we'll just well

646
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,440
off to ste what they do with
Elvis. I think they're going to try

647
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,159
and fix them. A lot of
it's going to depend on Elvis and whether

648
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:07,719
he is open to working with coach
Nicholas Bastrom. The goalie code. I

649
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:13,039
don't think there was any I don't
think there was any dislike necessarily between the

650
00:44:13,079 --> 00:44:15,239
two of them last year. But
Backstrom was a first year goalie code,

651
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:20,760
he was new to that position.
He's a former NHL golie is I'm sure

652
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:25,320
you guys remember. And Backstrom has
a pretty close relationship going back into the

653
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:30,440
developmental days with Daniel Terosov, so
they have a pretty close working relationship.

654
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:35,880
Elvis didn't quite have that and didn't
he just wasn't open to it. Didn't

655
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,800
seem like he was open to it
because his guy was Manny for Manny Legacy

656
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:43,440
for four years or whatever. So
I'll be interested to see what kind of

657
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,000
approach and attitude Elvis brings back camp, because you got to figure something out.

658
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:52,920
At by four million dollars AAV that's
a huge number for a goalie with

659
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,039
those kind of numbers that you listed, and he's I still say it again,

660
00:44:55,159 --> 00:44:59,760
he's got the kind of contract where
if he plays up to the talent

661
00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:02,559
that he's shown in the past that
led to that five point four, and

662
00:45:02,599 --> 00:45:07,760
he can do that consistently, then
that five point four becomes like a small

663
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:09,239
number and you're like, wow,
we got a great goalie here for five

664
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:14,480
point four million dollar contract, and
if he continues to play like he has

665
00:45:14,599 --> 00:45:16,360
the past two years, you're like, what are we going to do with

666
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:21,639
this guy for another two It's it's
I've never seen it so polar opposite.

667
00:45:22,199 --> 00:45:25,039
And one of the big differences goaltending
wise this year for the Jackets is they

668
00:45:25,079 --> 00:45:29,400
will go to camp and because of
the way and you mentioned it, the

669
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,960
way that that Danil Tarasov played last
season, he has put it, in

670
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:38,159
my opinion, he has put himself
in a great position to challenge Elvis for

671
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:44,039
that number one goal goaltending spot,
like right away, as soon if he

672
00:45:44,159 --> 00:45:46,280
comes into camp and he knocks it
out like he did the way he was

673
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:52,000
playing in the regular season, and
Elvis continues to intermittent and sometimes he's great

674
00:45:52,039 --> 00:45:57,000
and sometimes he's bad. They're gonna
go with tasof like, you're gonna always

675
00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:00,400
go with the most consistent guy who
stops the puck for you, and last

676
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:05,679
year that was Daniel Tarasov when he
was healthy. But again there's that phrase

677
00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:07,599
again. When he was healthy,
he gets injured a lot too, unfortunately,

678
00:46:08,039 --> 00:46:10,880
so that'll be an interesting It's a
huge part of their whole deal.

679
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:16,559
Like Don Waldel came in, like
yarmokeck line in for him talking about how

680
00:46:16,559 --> 00:46:20,639
he thinks it's not as big of
a turnaround thing as people think it is,

681
00:46:20,679 --> 00:46:23,280
and that they can be they compete
faster than people think. If that's

682
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:27,679
the case, you're gonna have to
get better goaltending. Then you got the

683
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:30,639
last two or three years, and
you're also gonna have to get better defense

684
00:46:31,199 --> 00:46:35,719
and those two things. Still,
I just don't see how they shoed those

685
00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:39,280
things up enough to really be a
serious contender at this point. But we're

686
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:43,440
gonna see what happens. That's why
they play the game, so we'll see

687
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,719
what happens. Alrighty sir, You've
given us a lot of great information on

688
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:52,320
the Columbus Blue Jackets. More news
is breaking all the time on this team

689
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,519
right now into the summer. How
can people keep up with your work?

690
00:46:55,559 --> 00:47:00,800
Brian? You can follow me on
Twitter at iron Hedger just at symbol b

691
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:05,880
R I A n h E d
G E R. I do some stuff

692
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:08,800
on Instagram, I guess just Hockey
Hedge, but it's mostly just on Twitter

693
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:13,480
for covering the Jackets. I will
say this, I'll give you a bonus

694
00:47:13,519 --> 00:47:16,000
real quick before we go, a
bonus fantasy play. Okay, guy that

695
00:47:16,039 --> 00:47:21,159
we didn't talk too much about today, I think Cole Sillinger is going to

696
00:47:21,199 --> 00:47:24,760
have a breakout season next year.
That guy did every single thing that you

697
00:47:25,159 --> 00:47:32,000
want a center to do except score
enough goals, and he's got the If

698
00:47:32,039 --> 00:47:37,400
you look at why he was drafted
twelve overall in twenty one, it wasn't

699
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:43,119
because of all those intangibles that he
has added since coming to the NHL.

700
00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:45,280
It was because of his shot,
because he could score. He had a

701
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:50,000
great risk shot, and he could
score and beat goalies. He's learning how

702
00:47:50,039 --> 00:47:53,119
to do that and this is already
going to be his fourth NHL season.

703
00:47:53,119 --> 00:47:57,960
I don't think people realize that.
Man, it's gone quickly. He's almost

704
00:47:58,039 --> 00:48:02,280
a veteran and he's only twenty years
old. I could see Cole having a

705
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:07,000
breakout year and he's another one you
want to talk about, another kind of

706
00:48:07,039 --> 00:48:12,679
like a Boon Jenner clone who has
basically learned at the foot of Boone Jenner

707
00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:15,719
and has soaked up every single thing
he can from Boone in the locker room.

708
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:20,159
On the ice, it's Cole Cylinger
every day. Just keep that ad

709
00:48:20,159 --> 00:48:22,199
in the back. That's a sleeper. Yeah, they filed for arbitration,

710
00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:27,519
right, they have not settled on
arbitration on his contract, right, he's

711
00:48:27,559 --> 00:48:30,719
not eligible for arb so they're they
but he is on signed. You correct

712
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:37,039
that he's an RFA right, Yeah, and Johnson's an RFA two. But

713
00:48:37,119 --> 00:48:40,760
he has almost zero go like bargaining
chips except for holding out or asking for

714
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:45,639
a trade because he he can't even
sign an offer sheet somewhere, whereas Cole

715
00:48:45,679 --> 00:48:50,719
can spend an offer sheet with somebody
if they wanted to try and force things

716
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:53,760
along. Marchenko did file for arbitration, and he's the old They only had

717
00:48:53,800 --> 00:49:00,559
three guys file for arbitration. Two
of them have settled with Jack Greeves and

718
00:49:00,199 --> 00:49:05,800
uh Jake Christensen. So Jake Christensen
may he may actually be in the top

719
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:08,480
sticks this year for depends on the
third period. But Marchenko is the one

720
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:12,800
that filed for RB and he has
not settled, and I think he's looking.

721
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:15,760
I think they're looking for a long
term deal, so we'll see where

722
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:19,679
that one goes. Yeah, the
drama will not end soon, So the

723
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:22,440
only way to keep up is to
follow Brian Edger on X so, thank

724
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:25,880
you so much. For coming on
today and enlighten us about these Columbus Blue

725
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:30,719
Jackets. Sir Kill, thanks for
having me anytime. We'll be back right

726
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:46,079
after this. Wilson Ben, that's
a good fired pas. Oh my goodness,

727
00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:54,679
long with a quick grab. Now
it's your weekly goalie talk. But

728
00:49:54,800 --> 00:50:00,239
Kat Silverman, Kat's instincts. Welcome
back to Kat's Instincts with Kat Silverman and

729
00:50:00,599 --> 00:50:05,159
gold Mag talking Columbus Blue Jackets goalies. And of course that's going to start

730
00:50:05,159 --> 00:50:09,760
with Daniil Tarasov. We were lucky
enough to see some Tarasov in the NHL

731
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,840
this season, so arguably we shouldn't
even talk about him, but we're going

732
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:16,599
to twenty seventeen third round pick six, five hundred and ninety six pounds now

733
00:50:16,599 --> 00:50:21,000
twenty five. He played the most
games he ever has in the NHL this

734
00:50:21,039 --> 00:50:24,519
past season, and he looked pretty
good. Previously, you talked about how

735
00:50:24,519 --> 00:50:28,400
the situation was tricky with him and
the team being bad in corporate solo.

736
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,239
This season, he really did quite
well in terms of his overall numbers.

737
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:38,000
He still had a little bit under
expected for his Delta Fenwick and that was

738
00:50:38,039 --> 00:50:43,679
a little bit worse on the power
play Penally Kill shorthanded, but overall,

739
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:46,679
you know, it was a pretty
strong season. His hockey prospecting is trending

740
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:51,000
really nicely. He's been in the
seventy three and sixty six percent the last

741
00:50:51,039 --> 00:50:54,159
two years being an NHLer, and
he's got a really nice comp here to

742
00:50:54,159 --> 00:50:58,039
took a rask, which is obviously
a pretty lofty goal there, Cat,

743
00:50:58,079 --> 00:51:01,559
So what do your instincts tell us
now about Neil Tarasov, oh Man,

744
00:51:01,679 --> 00:51:07,960
Obviously there's a huge asterisk by any
player in that Columbus system right now,

745
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:13,800
just because they've been bad, like
bad, and they thought that they had

746
00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:19,880
their goaltending really set for a while, and Elvis Muslikans has really struggled.

747
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,199
Corpusolo was for a while there.
They it seemed like they had a little

748
00:51:22,239 --> 00:51:25,440
bit of a log jam for any
other prospects. Obviously, Corpusolo is now

749
00:51:27,599 --> 00:51:30,480
out of their system and out of
Autowa's system too. Good luck to Boston

750
00:51:30,559 --> 00:51:35,320
next year. With that, I
think Tarazov is probably their best bet moving

751
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:38,719
forwards. He still looks a goaltender
that I don't necessarily want to see them

752
00:51:39,199 --> 00:51:45,280
riding heavily. He's got a very
fluid style. He's obviously a very long

753
00:51:45,360 --> 00:51:50,199
limbed, linky goaltender who relies on
being pretty athletic, having good instincts,

754
00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:55,239
good reflexes. That's not necessarily something
that you want to drive into the ground

755
00:51:55,320 --> 00:52:00,800
because when you are so reliant on
getting that timing right, are so reliant

756
00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:06,719
on making sure that you're not overstretching
anything or giving yourself any physical limitations,

757
00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:09,599
your game's not quite as structured as
some of the more quote unquote robotic looking

758
00:52:09,639 --> 00:52:17,800
goaltenders that overworking fatigue from playing seventy
seventy five games a season can really take

759
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:22,119
its toll much more aggressively, and
it can show up in the numbers much

760
00:52:22,159 --> 00:52:28,280
faster for those guys who have a
tendency to overslide a little bit and have

761
00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:30,800
a tendency to really make them more
aggressive play whether they need to or not,

762
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:37,320
which is something that you see from
Tarasov. I think he looks about

763
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:43,039
as good as he could have behind
Columbus. And when you take a look

764
00:52:43,039 --> 00:52:47,840
at the goaltenders that they rolled out
last year, which they really they almost

765
00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:52,360
pulled a Philadelphia they had I believe
it was five different goaltenders appear in at

766
00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,199
least one game throughout the season.
He outside of Malcolm Suban, who appeared

767
00:52:55,199 --> 00:53:02,960
in one game, was statistically I
would argue their best goaltender in the system,

768
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,159
But that doesn't mean that I want
to see him as their clear cut

769
00:53:08,199 --> 00:53:15,119
starter moving forward. If that really
makes sense. Yeah, there's some skepticism

770
00:53:15,119 --> 00:53:19,639
there. I understand. We have
one more year until he's an RFA and

771
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:22,960
three more years of Elvis at his
five point four million unmovable cap hit.

772
00:53:23,079 --> 00:53:28,320
As the president of KOPS has said, let's move on to the other guy.

773
00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:30,280
Jack Greeves, undrafted signee. Last
year, you talked about how his

774
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:34,679
technique was good, he had a
great attitudes rolled with it. This season,

775
00:53:35,039 --> 00:53:37,679
he got another nine games after his
won the previous season, and he

776
00:53:37,719 --> 00:53:42,840
looked overall pretty good nine to eight
save percentage. Then GA was high in

777
00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:46,880
the AHL, though he was quite
good. His GAA and say percentage much

778
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:52,679
better, and overall his delta Fenwick
in the NHL was low, but you

779
00:53:52,679 --> 00:53:55,039
could see that on the penalty kill
he was outstanding. He well performed that.

780
00:53:55,159 --> 00:53:58,000
So maybe he just needed to be
challenged more. I don't know.

781
00:53:58,199 --> 00:54:00,639
But one of the funny things is
that when one of Jag Greaves's main comp

782
00:54:00,679 --> 00:54:06,159
here in the hockey prospecting model is
Elvis murs Likins, which is pretty hilarious.

783
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:08,159
So what do your instincts tell us
about Greeves? Have they changed it

784
00:54:08,199 --> 00:54:13,559
all? After seeing him in some
NHL action, I like him. I

785
00:54:13,599 --> 00:54:16,119
thought he looked good. He had
some gameplay there. Obviously not as many

786
00:54:16,159 --> 00:54:23,119
games as we saw from Ether,
Elvis or Tarosov there, but the same

787
00:54:23,199 --> 00:54:28,039
sort of thing that I My opinion
of him hasn't really changed, just because

788
00:54:28,079 --> 00:54:30,840
he still looks like a guy who
goes out there says, what do you

789
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:37,840
need from me tonight? If that's
playing HL games, He's cool, sounds

790
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:43,280
great. Love it. If it's
playing NHL games behind an unwinnable team in

791
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:46,000
a tough game, he's sure,
sounds great. I'll do it. And

792
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:52,039
it shows up in his numbers because
he doesn't have it. Didn't look like

793
00:54:52,119 --> 00:54:54,760
he took a steep nosedive at any
point throughout the season. He really just

794
00:54:54,800 --> 00:55:00,360
dis rolled with the punches, which, given how little pro experience he has,

795
00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:04,880
is something that we could have very
easily seen. I do think that

796
00:55:05,519 --> 00:55:12,400
having Elvis as a comp is a
nice thing to have, just because prior

797
00:55:12,559 --> 00:55:19,119
to obviously the fireworks tragedy that seems
like it really rattled the Blue Jacket system

798
00:55:19,119 --> 00:55:22,320
as a whole. Resilicans seems like
he was doing really well for the team,

799
00:55:22,559 --> 00:55:24,920
whether the team in front of him
was giving him a lot to work

800
00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:30,559
with or not. And so if
we take just the on ice performance and

801
00:55:30,599 --> 00:55:34,559
take a look at what Jag Grieves
can do, that'd be awesome if they

802
00:55:34,559 --> 00:55:39,360
have that in their system. I
don't know if he's going to rise above

803
00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:44,360
Tarasov, and obviously, like you
said, they have musicians on a deal

804
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:49,239
that is relatively unmovable at this point, they really only have one open spot

805
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:52,719
at the NHL level full time.
And I don't know if he continues to

806
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:55,280
play well, if he wants to
stay as an AHL, or he might

807
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:59,320
end up getting moved out of the
system if he continues to perform with some

808
00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:04,039
consistency. But even if he ends
up getting moved out of the system,

809
00:56:04,079 --> 00:56:07,079
that's a really good bargaining tip to
have because there are a lot of teams

810
00:56:07,119 --> 00:56:09,239
that are scrambling for good goaltending right
now. Best case, he ends up

811
00:56:09,239 --> 00:56:13,000
being a good goaltender for the Blue
Jackets. Worst case ends up being a

812
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,880
good goaltender for someone else. And
I think either way he's got He's shown

813
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:21,639
us enough so far that it looks
like he's got some good NHL potential there,

814
00:56:21,639 --> 00:56:24,199
and I think those nine games are
not going to be always see him

815
00:56:24,199 --> 00:56:30,119
at the NHL level moving forward.
You think he's a future starter one A,

816
00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:31,360
one B. What do you think
his upside is? Back up?

817
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:36,719
I'd say right now, he looks
like a really good replacement level starter or

818
00:56:37,119 --> 00:56:43,320
a really good handom backup, So
almost like a Laura Besois who's not going

819
00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:47,719
to be your fifty to sixty game
a year guy, but can really help

820
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:53,599
elevate your team to a lengthy playoff
run. But I do think he's a

821
00:56:53,599 --> 00:56:57,559
little ways away from that. I
think we need to see just a little

822
00:56:57,599 --> 00:57:00,920
more. I think not and I
want to see a goaltender go through a

823
00:57:00,960 --> 00:57:06,039
ton of struggle, but we haven't
really seen him go through a full season

824
00:57:06,079 --> 00:57:08,880
of the NHL grind, and I
think he's going to take a little bit

825
00:57:08,880 --> 00:57:13,800
of an adjustment when he does move
to the NHL full time, which I

826
00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:19,199
think he's close to it. Awesome, thanks for giving us your instincts on

827
00:57:19,239 --> 00:57:35,719
the Columbus Blue Jackets, Coalies,
Dig the Dynasty, Dig Columbus flu Jack

828
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:39,800
in the edition. The CBJS took
Caden Lindstrom at pick four in this year's

829
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:45,719
draft, and the system is tied
for number six in Victor's organizational rank.

830
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:50,199
So let's go through the top three. It starts with the no brainer Victor.

831
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:53,840
Who's Columbus's no brainer prospect? Let's
dent in Mattaychak, of course,

832
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:58,480
twenty twenty two to twelfth overall pick
five to eleven, one hundred and ninety

833
00:57:58,519 --> 00:58:01,440
two pounds, left handed, d
seventy five points and fifty two games as

834
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:06,360
he led his Moosejaw Warriors to the
WHL championship and a Memorial Cup appearance.

835
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:09,599
He was the WHL Defenseman of the
Year and the WHL Playoff MVP, amongst

836
00:58:09,599 --> 00:58:14,400
some other accolades. Pretty good stuff. As we're recording this, it's actually

837
00:58:14,480 --> 00:58:17,000
his birthday, so happy birthday.
He's always been young for his draft class,

838
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:21,440
and so he's finally twenty and that
means that next year he should be

839
00:58:21,679 --> 00:58:25,039
in either the NHL or AHL.
He did actually play a few games in

840
00:58:25,119 --> 00:58:29,800
the AHL in the playoffs for the
Cleveland Monsters. He actually looked pretty down

841
00:58:29,800 --> 00:58:32,800
good from what I saw too,
So he looks like he might be pretty

842
00:58:32,800 --> 00:58:36,840
pro ready. I would imagine he
needs some AHL seasoning, though I would

843
00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:39,159
doubt he'd be with the NHL team
the whole year, but maybe he gets

844
00:58:39,199 --> 00:58:42,559
at least nine games or something like
that. Maybe a little bit more,

845
00:58:42,800 --> 00:58:45,800
we'll have to see. Looking at
his tracking data from Mitch Brown, it's

846
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:50,800
as outstanding as you would think.
Both offensively and defensively are pretty great.

847
00:58:51,039 --> 00:58:53,039
A lot of expected goal, a
lot of expected assists, great transition,

848
00:58:53,199 --> 00:58:58,559
great impact on the game, great
expected primary point involvement, game score,

849
00:58:58,599 --> 00:59:01,320
all that kind of stuff is really
good. Not to mention, he was

850
00:59:01,719 --> 00:59:07,599
similarly great at the World Junior Championship, which Canada was a little bit underwhelming

851
00:59:07,760 --> 00:59:10,039
at this showing, but he was
awesome. I think that was really a

852
00:59:10,079 --> 00:59:15,239
big coming out party for him in
particular, but overall during the regular season

853
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:19,079
he was great as well. Looking
at his FHL player card, you can

854
00:59:19,119 --> 00:59:22,559
see that he shoots a lot P
sixty and his blocks are pretty good.

855
00:59:22,639 --> 00:59:25,400
His hits are closer to average though
overall. His bass should be pretty good

856
00:59:25,519 --> 00:59:30,320
rates out as a seventieth percentile,
which is pretty nice. And of course

857
00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:32,400
the scoring looks really great in junior. We'll have to see if that translates

858
00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:37,400
to the NHL. Looking at some
of his other play driving metrics, really

859
00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:40,960
just top notch and just about everything
play driving, transition game creating, high

860
00:59:42,039 --> 00:59:45,639
ENDURR chances and great puck battles and
puck work. So overall he looks fantastic

861
00:59:45,719 --> 00:59:49,960
Jesse. But how does he look
to the eye of our FHL scout is

862
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:55,239
the question? Good question, indeed, our FHL scout Sasha Laguarde has this

863
00:59:55,280 --> 01:00:00,719
to say about Denton. He is
in terms of skating and a pressive skater

864
01:00:00,840 --> 01:00:05,559
in all sense of the word.
His mobility separates him from other prospects in

865
01:00:05,599 --> 01:00:09,800
the Jackets prospect pool as he's an
elite transporter of the puck. His edgework

866
01:00:09,880 --> 01:00:15,880
and fluid mechanics are improved over the
past two years as well. His confidence

867
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:20,559
in this tool allows him to carry
the puck with swagger, passing and handling

868
01:00:20,719 --> 01:00:25,199
above average distributor does a really nice
job finding streaking players in transition. He

869
01:00:25,239 --> 01:00:30,760
also possesses a very tidy first pass
out of the zone. All in all,

870
01:00:30,920 --> 01:00:34,559
his passing will be the bread and
butter's offensive game in the NHL.

871
01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:38,679
He has no problem passing into space
in transition or in tight spaces. His

872
01:00:38,760 --> 01:00:43,559
handling is not elite, but he
creates the vision with his feet more than

873
01:00:43,639 --> 01:00:46,280
his hands. He needs to clean
up his retrievals on his backhand, but

874
01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:51,039
will not struggle working himself out of
trouble. Just to be clear, he's

875
01:00:51,079 --> 01:00:54,760
not a dangler by any means,
Sasha says in regard to his shooting,

876
01:00:55,239 --> 01:00:59,559
Sasha didn't see him too much from
him in terms of his shot, but

877
01:00:59,679 --> 01:01:01,639
when he did attempt some shots from
the point, he often leaned on his

878
01:01:01,679 --> 01:01:06,880
wrist shot which found openings to get
to the net. Sasha thinks his biggest

879
01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:10,639
strength is getting pucks through traffic,
as he's able to make small adjustments right

880
01:01:10,679 --> 01:01:15,679
before his release to ensure they get
through. As he progresses in the pro

881
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:19,840
game, he will probably be known
for finding guys in the slot of cross

882
01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:22,280
ice. Teams will have to respect
the fact that he can get pucks through

883
01:01:22,360 --> 01:01:28,920
efficiently, which will open up other
options for him. Hi Q probably his

884
01:01:29,039 --> 01:01:35,039
best tool from the skating Mattaichuk is
an extremely intelligent player, hardly makes the

885
01:01:35,079 --> 01:01:39,480
wrong read offensively, has almost mastered
the awareness of when to activate and when

886
01:01:39,519 --> 01:01:43,840
to stand his ground. He has
the great poise with the buck knows how

887
01:01:43,880 --> 01:01:49,559
to manipulate pace, and his vision
is off the charts as consistent I would

888
01:01:49,639 --> 01:01:52,599
like for him. That is,
Sasha would like for him to focus more

889
01:01:52,599 --> 01:01:57,559
on defensive positions, specifically during cycle
plays, as he sometimes forgets to check

890
01:01:57,599 --> 01:02:01,360
behind him for incoming or pinching players. But overall, Sasha is extremely impressed

891
01:02:01,400 --> 01:02:05,599
with the ability to process the game
at a very high level, which will

892
01:02:05,599 --> 01:02:10,480
only lead to more offense from Mitaichuk
as he matures defense above average though his

893
01:02:10,639 --> 01:02:15,360
high level scanning habits and off puck
decisions, he needs to work a tiny

894
01:02:15,400 --> 01:02:19,599
bit on his gap at the blue
line and his cycle defense, but he's

895
01:02:19,639 --> 01:02:23,480
too smart to not adjust as he
gets older. He anticipates plays well.

896
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:29,039
He has a very active stick,
and Mitaichuk does not shy away from battles

897
01:02:29,079 --> 01:02:30,719
in front of the net. As
he gets older, he'll need to be

898
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:36,159
more efficient in his board battles,
using his body to position himself better.

899
01:02:36,320 --> 01:02:40,719
Right now, Mitaichuk defers the stick
checks and poke checks instead of engaging physic

900
01:02:40,719 --> 01:02:45,920
physically, so the best asset was
skating or IQ. Biggest concern was the

901
01:02:45,920 --> 01:02:52,719
physicality. The top tier outcome ninetyieth
percentile would be a top four power play

902
01:02:52,880 --> 01:02:58,159
quarterback. One. That would be
because the elite brain and skating ability mixed

903
01:02:58,159 --> 01:03:02,920
with a nice toolkit of top tier
V and passing the fiftieth percentile tier roll

904
01:03:04,159 --> 01:03:08,840
middle power middle six with powerplay upside. That's if he doesn't develop a physical

905
01:03:08,880 --> 01:03:13,480
element to his game, then he
could get exploited on the four check in

906
01:03:13,559 --> 01:03:16,920
the NHL. Sasha doesn't actually believe
he will falter. He's just too smart

907
01:03:16,960 --> 01:03:24,039
to do that. In the stylistic
comparable a less physical Chris Latang Mason Black,

908
01:03:24,079 --> 01:03:28,760
the NHL ranking put out the poll
as he always does for us,

909
01:03:29,320 --> 01:03:34,239
and it's blue jacket on blue jacket
violence here because it's Denton Mitchai Chuck versus

910
01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:40,320
David erecheck in terms of this and
the people half broken, and David Eurichek

911
01:03:40,679 --> 01:03:46,599
has come out ahead fifty seven to
forty three over Denton Mittaychuck Victor. Pretty

912
01:03:46,599 --> 01:03:51,760
hard to compete with David Yurchek.
It's already in the NHL. But how

913
01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:53,719
do you see these two breaking down? Do you like your check still better

914
01:03:53,760 --> 01:03:59,079
than Denton? I do? And
as you said, that's unfair. You're

915
01:03:59,079 --> 01:04:03,039
comparing a for sure current NHL or
I know that he didn't play the entire

916
01:04:03,119 --> 01:04:09,119
season in the NHL, but David
Yichuk is clearly ahead of where Denton is.

917
01:04:09,199 --> 01:04:13,599
He's played professionally since his draft season, and he's looked really good in

918
01:04:13,639 --> 01:04:17,840
the AHL. And he's only got
forty seven NHL games, but he's certainly

919
01:04:18,840 --> 01:04:24,079
more experienced and looks like he's ready
to break out into a larger role.

920
01:04:24,159 --> 01:04:28,079
So hard to overcome that. I
would definitely take Yerichak here. I think

921
01:04:28,119 --> 01:04:33,119
I've said this before on comparing these
two. It's unfortunate that Mitaichuk is behind

922
01:04:33,599 --> 01:04:39,039
Yetichek because he's such a strong defenseman. But overall, I think that you

923
01:04:39,119 --> 01:04:42,760
have to be happy with Mitaichuk,
and I would be very happy. I

924
01:04:42,800 --> 01:04:45,719
am very happy to have him on
several of my teams. But if you

925
01:04:45,719 --> 01:04:47,239
compare these two head to head,
he's not going to be able to overcome

926
01:04:47,559 --> 01:04:50,639
Yerichek. And they are different handedness, so maybe that'll help. Depending on

927
01:04:51,159 --> 01:04:55,760
what kind of offensive structure and different
pairings, they could be the top pairing

928
01:04:55,760 --> 01:04:59,519
together for a long time, depending
on what happens with Wrensky and other guys

929
01:04:59,519 --> 01:05:02,280
on the team. So yes,
Mataichuck is great, but No, I

930
01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:06,280
wouldn't take him over Yidychek. It
is interesting to look at the hockey prospecting

931
01:05:06,320 --> 01:05:12,320
between these two because Mataichuk currently and
they're both the D plus two. Mataichuk

932
01:05:12,400 --> 01:05:17,440
has a higher equivalency based on his
WHL scoring, whereas Yedichuk has increased his

933
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:20,960
scoring every year, but he's up
to fifty two percent compared to Mitachuk seventy

934
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:25,280
three percent of being a star.
This is where you have to have a

935
01:05:25,280 --> 01:05:28,599
little bit of looking at the league
that they're in and how difficult it's been,

936
01:05:28,960 --> 01:05:30,880
and I think it's been more of
an uphill battle for yery Chuck's I

937
01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:35,360
still like him better. Looking at
Mitaichuk versus some other comps, I still

938
01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:39,400
think he looks quite a bit like
Zach Wrensky, which is funny. They

939
01:05:39,400 --> 01:05:43,119
are both left handed. Karnsky's a
little bit taller and obviously way more established

940
01:05:43,159 --> 01:05:46,320
in the NHL, but that's interesting
that maybe he could end up looking similar

941
01:05:46,360 --> 01:05:50,360
to Wrensky in terms of his long
term production. Looking at the j fresh

942
01:05:50,400 --> 01:05:54,880
card, Mitaichuk just eleven percent chance
of being a star for eighty five percent

943
01:05:54,960 --> 01:05:58,159
chance of being in NHL. Are
so a little bit less optimistic, but

944
01:05:58,519 --> 01:06:03,880
in general that's what these cards are
are. Indeed, Victor the next guy

945
01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:06,840
the need to know prospect has come
up a couple times over the years.

946
01:06:06,840 --> 01:06:12,079
Here who is our need to know? This is going to be Jordan dumay

947
01:06:12,840 --> 01:06:16,960
and do May twenty twenty two,
ninety sixth overall five to nine. He

948
01:06:17,119 --> 01:06:19,760
was five eighty five to nine at
the time. He's still only five nine

949
01:06:20,039 --> 01:06:24,119
hundred seventy four pounds right shot,
right wing. Thirty seven points and twenty

950
01:06:24,199 --> 01:06:27,360
one games for Halifax. He was
cut short due to an injury. He

951
01:06:27,400 --> 01:06:30,480
had one assist and one goal in
five games at the U twenty World Junior

952
01:06:30,559 --> 01:06:33,800
Championships. Definitely someone that Canada was
looking to rely on a little bit more

953
01:06:33,840 --> 01:06:36,679
and fell a little bit short of
those expectations, so that was a little

954
01:06:36,719 --> 01:06:40,920
bit frustrating. He should be in
the HL next season, as he's already

955
01:06:40,960 --> 01:06:44,679
twenty, so that'll be a really
important season for him to see if he

956
01:06:44,719 --> 01:06:48,920
can translate that scoring to the professional
ranks. I we'll see what happens with

957
01:06:49,000 --> 01:06:54,000
that. Looking at his World Junior
Player card for Mitch Brown, you can

958
01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:57,519
see that the defense was pretty underwhelming. The offense in terms of the expected

959
01:06:57,559 --> 01:07:00,840
assists and slot passes for sixty he
was actually he just wasn't converting a lot.

960
01:07:01,039 --> 01:07:04,239
There's some optimism here that you can
gain from that small sample size,

961
01:07:04,599 --> 01:07:09,280
which was just the five games tracked, But there were some positive there.

962
01:07:09,280 --> 01:07:12,079
It wasn't all doom and gloom as
much as some people might have made it

963
01:07:12,159 --> 01:07:15,440
out to be for Dumee and wanting
him to be one of the fall guys

964
01:07:15,440 --> 01:07:18,679
for the team. He was doing
his best and it was pretty good.

965
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:23,760
Theyre just weren't converting. Looking at
his FHL player card, you can see

966
01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:27,480
that dume doesn't really hit at all. His blocks are a little less an

967
01:07:27,519 --> 01:07:30,920
average, and he isn't like the
biggest shooter. He's like in the eightieth

968
01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:34,360
percentile, which is pretty good,
and overall his baths should be subpar.

969
01:07:35,000 --> 01:07:38,400
The big thing for him is the
scoring. He's more of a points only

970
01:07:38,480 --> 01:07:41,119
kind of play, and the question
is whether that scoring will translate to the

971
01:07:41,119 --> 01:07:44,079
pros we are going to see you
next season. Some of his other numbers

972
01:07:44,079 --> 01:07:46,719
are really underwhelming, like some of
his transition game and the FHL player card

973
01:07:46,840 --> 01:07:51,119
and puckwork puck battles are a little
bit lower. But one thing he does

974
01:07:51,199 --> 01:07:55,239
do consistently is get pucks to the
high danger area. So that's nice.

975
01:07:55,440 --> 01:07:58,599
Well, let's hear a little bit
more about Jordan Dumay from our EVERGEL Scout

976
01:08:00,119 --> 01:08:04,639
FHL Scout, Sasha is back to
talk Jordan Dumay. His skating always will

977
01:08:04,639 --> 01:08:09,559
be somewhat of an uphill battle for
DeMay, according to Sasha, especially following

978
01:08:09,599 --> 01:08:15,079
a significant sports hernia surgery leading to
a hip problem. He needs to work

979
01:08:15,119 --> 01:08:18,520
on all of his elements such as
edgework, explosiveness, and straight line speed,

980
01:08:19,119 --> 01:08:24,840
passing and handling. The passing and
playmaking is what made d May shine

981
01:08:24,880 --> 01:08:28,920
throughout his draft year. Sees lanes
very well, is very daring in his

982
01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:33,079
playmaking game altogether. His intelligence allows
him to anticipate plays very well, and

983
01:08:33,119 --> 01:08:38,359
his vision is enhanced by his confidence
to exploit those holes in the defense.

984
01:08:38,720 --> 01:08:43,399
Whether it's leaving the puckinsoft diyes for
his teammates to skate into or finding someone

985
01:08:43,439 --> 01:08:45,680
across the ice for a one timer, Dumay is always looking for the best

986
01:08:45,720 --> 01:08:49,399
play. Shooting. Do May's shot
is not much of a threat, and

987
01:08:49,479 --> 01:08:54,479
it was something Sasha was looking forward
to watching progress this season. However,

988
01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:57,720
there isn't a lot of strength behind
it, and he has to be incredibly

989
01:08:57,760 --> 01:09:00,880
accurate to beat goalies clean. He
will have to develop an NHL level shot

990
01:09:00,960 --> 01:09:05,920
in order to supplement his playmaking game. The IQ very intelligent, high IQ,

991
01:09:06,079 --> 01:09:11,680
high anticipation. In the offensive zone, there are flashes of high end

992
01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:16,520
manipulation and vision in sustained pressure situations
more than in transition. You may have

993
01:09:16,680 --> 01:09:20,439
some poise with the puck and has
just enough handling skill to be able to

994
01:09:20,479 --> 01:09:25,560
exploit those gaps In the defense.
However, there are giant question marks about

995
01:09:25,560 --> 01:09:29,920
his ability to properly apply as tools
at the pro level due to his flaws

996
01:09:30,479 --> 01:09:32,920
for checking. Not the best or
consistent for checker, as he lacks the

997
01:09:32,960 --> 01:09:38,760
physical skills in skating to angle off
players. He has the intelligence to learn

998
01:09:38,840 --> 01:09:41,720
any system at the pro level,
which will help in the long run,

999
01:09:41,840 --> 01:09:45,680
but there are lots of instances where
Dumay just doesn't make it to the correct

1000
01:09:45,680 --> 01:09:50,520
positions. On defense, Sasha grades
him as average, nothing spectacular, but

1001
01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:55,720
nothing that will hinder him overall.
Again, his awareness is the best tools,

1002
01:09:55,760 --> 01:10:00,119
so we can adapt to end zone
coverages, switches and cycles. He

1003
01:10:00,159 --> 01:10:03,479
has great retrieval analytics to support the
fact he can get pucks off the wall

1004
01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:08,840
and break out efficiently, but will
never be the breakout monster due to his

1005
01:10:08,960 --> 01:10:13,880
lack of foot speed. So the
best asset was the IQ biggest concern skating

1006
01:10:13,920 --> 01:10:18,039
and physical skills. The top outcome
that Sasha can foresee would be a middle

1007
01:10:18,079 --> 01:10:23,479
six winger because of a lack of
true dynamism skating ability to keep up with

1008
01:10:23,520 --> 01:10:27,319
the best players. Could be a
nice complimentary piece, but will need to

1009
01:10:27,399 --> 01:10:31,000
fine tune a lot of his tools
to match the median outcome. Third line

1010
01:10:31,079 --> 01:10:35,479
checker with some offensive upside A checker
don't check, and there's a world where

1011
01:10:35,520 --> 01:10:40,960
Dumay doesn't become an impact offensive player, but can learn his smarts. Leonard

1012
01:10:40,960 --> 01:10:45,159
is Smart's to become an effective third
or fourth liner. Stylistic comparable a slower

1013
01:10:45,279 --> 01:10:51,239
version of Jonathan Druon and Mason Black. The NHL ranking put out the comparable

1014
01:10:51,319 --> 01:10:56,920
Jordan Dumay versus Bradley Nadeau, And
how did that one come out? Victory?

1015
01:10:56,960 --> 01:11:00,920
I'll tell you Nadeau sixty one to
thirty nine over do May Victor.

1016
01:11:01,119 --> 01:11:06,000
Is that how you would rack up
these two? Yeah? I think so.

1017
01:11:06,119 --> 01:11:11,199
I like Nado a lot, and
I and you may have heard it

1018
01:11:11,239 --> 01:11:14,840
in my voice. I'm pretty skeptical
of do May and how he's going to

1019
01:11:14,880 --> 01:11:19,039
be able to translate all of this
to the professional ranks. He still gets

1020
01:11:19,079 --> 01:11:21,520
pushed around a little bit. You
can see him, you know, with

1021
01:11:21,600 --> 01:11:25,960
puck battles. He loses them a
little bit. So he's crafty and he's

1022
01:11:26,079 --> 01:11:28,680
you know, has good visions.
Some of the things that Sasha mentioned really

1023
01:11:28,760 --> 01:11:30,680
some things are really good. But
then you know, are all those things

1024
01:11:30,760 --> 01:11:33,199
going to be able to work professionally
and he's going to be able to hold

1025
01:11:33,199 --> 01:11:38,239
his own physically. I think there's
still some big questions about that. Nadou,

1026
01:11:38,399 --> 01:11:41,159
on the other hand, went from
the BHL to the NC Double A,

1027
01:11:41,359 --> 01:11:44,079
and we were worried a little bit
about how he was going to be

1028
01:11:44,119 --> 01:11:46,880
able to translate his points. What
didn't have a problem at all. He

1029
01:11:46,920 --> 01:11:51,479
had forty six points in thirty seven
games almost yeah, just about just over

1030
01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:55,279
a little over half a goal per
game, which was pretty great. Lots

1031
01:11:55,279 --> 01:11:58,960
of assists, so he looked pretty
good in his NC Double A production.

1032
01:11:59,760 --> 01:12:01,359
But both these guys are a little
bit undersized and a Doe's five to ten.

1033
01:12:01,479 --> 01:12:03,960
He has that calling card of shot
and he's able to get it off,

1034
01:12:03,960 --> 01:12:08,520
and he's able to succeed against a
little bit bigger, stronger competition.

1035
01:12:08,680 --> 01:12:14,000
So I'm taking na Dough actually pretty
easily in this comparison. Looking at hockey

1036
01:12:14,079 --> 01:12:18,159
prospecting between the two, it's actually
pretty interesting because they're similar. Do May

1037
01:12:18,600 --> 01:12:23,560
is during their D and D plus
one season they actually had the exact same

1038
01:12:23,800 --> 01:12:27,680
star potential twenty one to forty six
percent. That's where Nadeau still is and

1039
01:12:27,720 --> 01:12:30,239
his Draft plus one seasond May and
his Draft plus two season went down from

1040
01:12:30,239 --> 01:12:33,039
forty six to forty one percent chance
of being a star, but both still

1041
01:12:33,079 --> 01:12:38,199
really high. Both still really high
NHL our probability. Nado a little bit

1042
01:12:38,239 --> 01:12:41,439
earlier in his progression and do May
a little bit farther down the funnel,

1043
01:12:41,439 --> 01:12:45,079
which is another reason to potentially not
prefer him, because you have a little

1044
01:12:45,079 --> 01:12:48,439
bit more proof of concept to what
he could be and there's some discouraging signs

1045
01:12:48,479 --> 01:12:51,720
there do May. In terms of
his other comps, I think one that

1046
01:12:51,760 --> 01:12:57,039
actually is pretty appropos is Ryan Ray
Whitney, who was a Shark's draft pick

1047
01:12:57,199 --> 01:13:00,840
forever ago, one of their first
and he ended up being a pretty good

1048
01:13:00,840 --> 01:13:03,840
producer and he was also a smaller
guy but really dynamic and had some really

1049
01:13:03,880 --> 01:13:08,640
good skill, and I think that's
a pretty good realistic outcome for Jordan Dumay

1050
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:12,279
if everything breaks right. There's also
a bunch of guys who are just didn't

1051
01:13:12,279 --> 01:13:15,720
make it that are some reasonable comps
for do May. So there's a wide

1052
01:13:15,760 --> 01:13:20,560
swath still of what he could be
in courtant including replacement level or just about

1053
01:13:20,600 --> 01:13:25,920
nothing to something pretty good. In
terms of his j fresh card, do

1054
01:13:26,079 --> 01:13:28,920
May six percent chance of being a
star, thirty seven percent chance of being

1055
01:13:28,960 --> 01:13:33,800
an NHL are it's pretty pessimistic still
in that model as well, Jesse very

1056
01:13:33,800 --> 01:13:40,359
good and Victor who is to keep
your eye on prospect This is Gavin Brindley

1057
01:13:40,479 --> 01:13:45,640
and Brinley twenty twenty three to thirty
fourth overall. He is also five nine

1058
01:13:45,680 --> 01:13:47,520
like to May, one hundred and
sixty eight pounds, so definitely still undersize,

1059
01:13:47,560 --> 01:13:51,279
hasn't really grown since being drafted last
year, but and a right shot,

1060
01:13:51,359 --> 01:13:55,439
right wing, but he's still he
plays a different style, which is

1061
01:13:55,600 --> 01:13:59,239
something that I think is a little
bit more translatable to the NHL. He

1062
01:13:59,319 --> 01:14:02,039
also is our. He signed by
Columbus, so that was interesting. So

1063
01:14:02,079 --> 01:14:04,640
it was do May by the way, but he they signed him. They

1064
01:14:04,680 --> 01:14:10,800
signed Britley pretty early. He went
back to Michigan this season and had a

1065
01:14:10,840 --> 01:14:15,760
pretty outstanding season with the Wolverines.
He had thirty eight points in forty one

1066
01:14:15,800 --> 01:14:18,159
games last season. This season,
he had fifty three points in forty games

1067
01:14:18,439 --> 01:14:21,520
for the Maze and Blue. Looking
really good at ten points in seven games

1068
01:14:21,520 --> 01:14:25,359
for USA and route to that World
Junior Gold he was definitely one of the

1069
01:14:25,359 --> 01:14:29,520
best players on that team. At
times. He looked pretty fantastic with Nazarre.

1070
01:14:30,439 --> 01:14:33,279
He also played five games in the
World Championship for USA with one assist.

1071
01:14:33,399 --> 01:14:36,279
So a little bit experienced playing against
bigger, stronger guys, and he

1072
01:14:36,319 --> 01:14:40,239
made his NHL debut. He played
one NHL game and so that was playing.

1073
01:14:40,279 --> 01:14:44,880
He played a lot of different ITS
teams this season. Earlie Prospects has

1074
01:14:44,960 --> 01:14:47,039
him listed as playing for the Blue
Jackets next year. I'm not sure that

1075
01:14:47,159 --> 01:14:50,359
he will. He's definitely gonna compete
for a job in camp and there's a

1076
01:14:50,399 --> 01:14:55,239
pretty good chance that he could make
the team in the bottom sixth role or

1077
01:14:55,319 --> 01:14:57,880
he could be in the AHL.
He is an October fifth birth date,

1078
01:14:57,920 --> 01:15:00,760
so he's really old for his draft
class and he has eligible to play in

1079
01:15:00,760 --> 01:15:02,840
the HL this upcoming season, so
he's pretty much done with college. He

1080
01:15:02,920 --> 01:15:06,640
signed, so he's done with college
and it's basically HL or NHL for him.

1081
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:11,199
Looking at his Mitch Brown player card, you can see is there's some

1082
01:15:11,279 --> 01:15:15,279
things are really elite with Gavin Brindley. His controlled entries are off the charts

1083
01:15:15,600 --> 01:15:19,760
excellent, really good, transition game
actually overall defensively pretty good as well,

1084
01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:25,439
ninetieth percentile transition eighty second for defense. So some of his other things like

1085
01:15:25,479 --> 01:15:30,439
advantages created and XG build up are
also pretty good, and his expected goals

1086
01:15:30,439 --> 01:15:32,840
are pretty good, but actually his
expected assists and slot passes are low,

1087
01:15:32,880 --> 01:15:36,039
so overall his offense took a little
bit of a hit at fifty nine percent

1088
01:15:36,079 --> 01:15:40,680
tile, which is interesting. Looking
at his FHL player card, he scores

1089
01:15:41,279 --> 01:15:45,399
goals and assists pretty high relative to
the league, and he also shoots hits

1090
01:15:45,439 --> 01:15:47,840
and blocks a fair amount even though
he was a smaller guy. His bash

1091
01:15:47,920 --> 01:15:51,079
projects to be elite. I'm just
not sure how much the scoring is going

1092
01:15:51,119 --> 01:15:55,840
to translate. But overall, his
perferal coverage looks strong and a lot of

1093
01:15:55,840 --> 01:15:58,720
his other metrics, like his transition
game and play driving look really good.

1094
01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:02,600
But let's hear a little bit more
about Bridley from my Rachel scout. Let's

1095
01:16:02,600 --> 01:16:08,680
do indeed, Sasha is back for
one more For Gavin Brindley skating elite,

1096
01:16:09,199 --> 01:16:14,560
much fun to watch and carry the
puckkin transition. He moves so effortlessly and

1097
01:16:14,640 --> 01:16:17,800
it allows Brindley to be a very
complete player. His edges are fantastic.

1098
01:16:17,880 --> 01:16:23,520
He is super agile. There aren't
many players who possess the skating ability that

1099
01:16:23,560 --> 01:16:28,000
Brindley has and it is the key
pillar to his game. Passing and handling.

1100
01:16:28,079 --> 01:16:31,399
Above average distributor with a knack,
defined soft eyes for his teammates,

1101
01:16:31,520 --> 01:16:36,239
able to make passes on his forehand
and backhand in transition, and relied upon

1102
01:16:36,399 --> 01:16:41,760
to be a distributor on the power
play. Brindley's handling isn't his best tool,

1103
01:16:41,840 --> 01:16:45,479
but he has enough skill to make
any pass he chooses. All in

1104
01:16:45,520 --> 01:16:49,159
all, his passing is one of
his sneaky good qualities. Shooting. His

1105
01:16:49,239 --> 01:16:54,279
shot is improved over the last year
to the point where Michigan felt comfortable moving

1106
01:16:54,319 --> 01:16:59,239
into the bumper spot on occasion.
Brindley shot isn't overpowering, but his release

1107
01:16:59,319 --> 01:17:02,560
mechanics are would allow him to get
puck's past goaltenders, He'll have to find

1108
01:17:02,560 --> 01:17:06,840
a way to get more shooting opportunities
off the rush, but there has been

1109
01:17:06,880 --> 01:17:13,119
a big improvement in this area of
his game. IQ extremely intelligent two way

1110
01:17:13,119 --> 01:17:15,960
hockey player who can become one of
the high end defensive centers in the league

1111
01:17:16,079 --> 01:17:20,560
once he reaches his full potential.
He has a knack of finding teammates through

1112
01:17:20,600 --> 01:17:26,600
methodical reads and anticipation. When there
is sustained pressure in the offensive zone,

1113
01:17:26,680 --> 01:17:30,159
Brindley is constantly moving, which allows
him to get open and with that improved

1114
01:17:30,199 --> 01:17:33,439
release, he has added an extra
layer to his game that wasn't really there

1115
01:17:33,600 --> 01:17:39,199
in his draft year for checking.
The motor makes him an extremely efficient four

1116
01:17:39,319 --> 01:17:42,960
checker, as he's a pest on
the puck. He lacks physical skills to

1117
01:17:43,000 --> 01:17:45,920
move guys around or to pin them
on the boards in order to get reinforcements

1118
01:17:45,920 --> 01:17:50,680
from his f two, but his
smarts kick in, often attacking the proper

1119
01:17:50,800 --> 01:17:57,119
angles defense. Probably the most consistent
part of Brindley's game is his defensive impact.

1120
01:17:57,399 --> 01:18:00,640
He'll be an excellent two way center
as he can get back with ease

1121
01:18:00,680 --> 01:18:04,199
and his off pucked habits are top
notch. He's constantly scanning in the open

1122
01:18:04,239 --> 01:18:10,079
ice and always taking in information.
There's a reason Brindley was once known as

1123
01:18:10,279 --> 01:18:13,079
Swiss Army Knife in his draft year, and he can do a little bit

1124
01:18:13,079 --> 01:18:18,119
of everything, especially killing a power
play in his own zone and best asset

1125
01:18:18,359 --> 01:18:25,359
IQ biggest concern size and physicality.
The top tier outcome well, Sasha says

1126
01:18:25,479 --> 01:18:30,359
two C super smart has the Florida's
defensive game to be relied upon even if

1127
01:18:30,359 --> 01:18:34,399
the offense doesn't meet the full potential. The median outcome a three C too

1128
01:18:34,439 --> 01:18:40,439
good defensively to play on the wings
unless he gets completely overpowered in the NHL

1129
01:18:40,800 --> 01:18:45,000
due to his size and the stylistic
comparable Sasha picks all over more of the

1130
01:18:45,079 --> 01:18:51,720
Chicago Blackhawks. Gavin Brindley in the
Mason Black NHL ranking poll is up against

1131
01:18:53,039 --> 01:18:59,119
Brad Lambert of the Winnipeg Jets,
and the outcome here Brad Lambert just will

1132
01:18:59,119 --> 01:19:01,600
not go away, although Brad Lambert
his stock went up during the year and

1133
01:19:01,680 --> 01:19:09,319
he wins this face off fifty four
to forty six percent victory. You were

1134
01:19:09,319 --> 01:19:14,520
a long term Lambert skeptic. Do
you like Brindley over him or does Lambert

1135
01:19:14,560 --> 01:19:19,199
carry the day? Yeah, I
have been up and down on Brad Lambert,

1136
01:19:19,239 --> 01:19:25,279
just as his production and projection has
been throughout the course of his time

1137
01:19:25,359 --> 01:19:30,159
here. He actually it really has
changed quite a lot, and I believe

1138
01:19:30,199 --> 01:19:33,319
I wrote, yeah, I wrote
a feature on him that's something to look

1139
01:19:33,359 --> 01:19:39,840
at back in April. He has
had a really unique trajectory and it's definitely

1140
01:19:39,920 --> 01:19:44,479
something that I've come around on,
in particular seeing him in the AHL,

1141
01:19:44,560 --> 01:19:48,359
because last season he was mostly playing
for the Seattle Thunderbirds, who are a

1142
01:19:48,399 --> 01:19:51,840
really great team, and he was
just like dominating and it was just hard

1143
01:19:51,840 --> 01:19:56,920
to know if that was him or
somebody else. But the reality is that

1144
01:19:57,000 --> 01:20:00,319
this Seas this past season, he's
been with AHL pretty much the entire season.

1145
01:20:00,359 --> 01:20:02,119
He did play one NHL game,
with fifty five points in sixty four

1146
01:20:02,159 --> 01:20:06,279
games, especially when you're still a
twenty year old and he was nineteen for

1147
01:20:06,319 --> 01:20:10,680
part of the season, is super
special. So I have come around on

1148
01:20:10,720 --> 01:20:13,920
Lambert. I would take him over
Brinley. He doesn't have the size issues.

1149
01:20:13,960 --> 01:20:15,960
He's six foot, he's an excellent
skater, he has a little bit

1150
01:20:15,960 --> 01:20:19,960
more offensive pop than I think we
originally thought. And Brinley, as much

1151
01:20:20,000 --> 01:20:24,359
as I do like him, I
think, as Sasha mentioned, he would

1152
01:20:24,399 --> 01:20:28,600
be a very reasonable bottom, middle
to bottom six checking role type of player,

1153
01:20:29,000 --> 01:20:30,720
energy guy, and I think that's
what he might end up being,

1154
01:20:30,800 --> 01:20:34,319
just because I'm not sure how much
that skill is going to translate. Plus

1155
01:20:34,359 --> 01:20:36,640
just the size issue I think is
just going to be a hurdle that's going

1156
01:20:36,680 --> 01:20:40,960
to be really difficult for him to
overcome as skilled as he is, so

1157
01:20:41,000 --> 01:20:44,319
he might end up just finding that
middle to bottom six role a little bit

1158
01:20:44,319 --> 01:20:46,840
more. And I have more faith
than Lambert being able to overcome that.

1159
01:20:47,000 --> 01:20:51,079
It's looking at the hockey prospecting though, you would not believe that because Britley's

1160
01:20:51,079 --> 01:20:56,880
star potential is twenty fifth percentile and
or twenty five percent and his NHL probably

1161
01:20:57,000 --> 01:21:00,119
sixty seven percent, and Lambert in
this model is zero zero zero zero percent

1162
01:21:00,399 --> 01:21:04,159
in the first three years of him
in this model, So that's pretty terrible.

1163
01:21:04,399 --> 01:21:06,960
It's obviously higher than that based on
what he's doing, but he has

1164
01:21:08,000 --> 01:21:12,159
such a low equivalency in the LIGA
and then in the WHL that it just

1165
01:21:12,319 --> 01:21:15,840
an In Byron's model, it just
doesn't forgive that. So it looks pretty

1166
01:21:15,840 --> 01:21:19,720
bad in that model. Looking at
the other projections, other comparables for Gavin

1167
01:21:19,720 --> 01:21:24,159
Brinley, there's some interesting ones.
Most of them are pretty average to replacement

1168
01:21:24,199 --> 01:21:28,720
level guys. Svenn Bercie is someone
I think he could end up looking at.

1169
01:21:28,720 --> 01:21:30,199
Bertie was a little bit taller than
him, but he ended up being

1170
01:21:30,199 --> 01:21:33,560
an average producer and then flamed out. So that was that and it ended

1171
01:21:33,600 --> 01:21:36,560
up being what Brinley is. But
I think Bertie didn't have as much of

1172
01:21:36,560 --> 01:21:41,720
a B game as Brinley does.
Brinley has definitely more of that all around

1173
01:21:42,000 --> 01:21:45,039
checking type of game that can help
him survive in the NHL, but it

1174
01:21:45,039 --> 01:21:48,520
won't really help your fantasy team all
that much. Looking at the j Fresh

1175
01:21:48,520 --> 01:21:53,479
card, it likes him thirteen percent
of being of being a star, fifty

1176
01:21:53,520 --> 01:21:57,199
three percent chance of being an NHL
aer, so overall pretty good and that's

1177
01:21:57,199 --> 01:21:59,600
going to do it for the Columbus
Blue Jacket to dig. If you're a

1178
01:21:59,640 --> 01:22:02,399
patron, you can listen to Top
ten Prospect Recap per Team on Patreon,

1179
01:22:02,399 --> 01:22:04,680
and if you're interested in doing some
scouting with us, shoot me a DM

1180
01:22:04,720 --> 01:22:10,439
on Twitter, Discord, or email
us. We'll be right back to close

1181
01:22:10,520 --> 01:22:24,239
up with John. A reminder everybody, our show's brought to you by fantracks

1182
01:22:24,279 --> 01:22:27,119
dot com. You can move leagues
over there, start new leagues, ten

1183
01:22:27,119 --> 01:22:30,640
different sports to play the most options. We're scoring salaries, contracts, rookie

1184
01:22:30,680 --> 01:22:33,760
eligibility. You know how customizable it
is. You want to play in the

1185
01:22:33,800 --> 01:22:39,920
league and say I want players to
only be able to play ten NHL games

1186
01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:43,119
before they lose rookie eligibility, which
means they can't be put in the green

1187
01:22:43,159 --> 01:22:45,960
slots anymore. You can do that. You want it to be one hundred

1188
01:22:45,000 --> 01:22:47,439
games, fine, You want it
to be a thousand games, fine.

1189
01:22:47,880 --> 01:22:50,800
You want to make it so that
the only players who can go down there

1190
01:22:50,840 --> 01:22:55,279
are players who are currently in the
minors, and it doesn't matter how many

1191
01:22:55,279 --> 01:22:58,199
games they played. That's fine too. You can do all those things.

1192
01:22:58,640 --> 01:23:01,640
You can start up your leagues right
now, no waiting around. You could

1193
01:23:01,680 --> 01:23:06,079
start basically the day after the regular
season ends. Your seasons, and for

1194
01:23:06,279 --> 01:23:10,880
Dynasty that's important. We got off
season trades to make people. You can

1195
01:23:10,920 --> 01:23:14,880
set it up so that your rookie
drafts only include rookies. That's nice.

1196
01:23:15,199 --> 01:23:17,760
Some most platforms you're not going to
be able to do that. Also,

1197
01:23:17,840 --> 01:23:24,079
lots of fantasy content on fan tracks
HQ as in articles. They're not a

1198
01:23:24,119 --> 01:23:28,479
ton off season of Fantasy Hockey,
not yet a whole ton, but you

1199
01:23:28,520 --> 01:23:30,199
can look forward to those coming,
and there's plenty of other sports if you're

1200
01:23:30,199 --> 01:23:35,199
into those. There's a whole team
at FHL. Content curator Kevin Adams has

1201
01:23:35,239 --> 01:23:40,840
been helping with show prep. Ryan
Simon, Kraftzer and Tim Ay are your

1202
01:23:40,880 --> 01:23:45,640
commissioner team for the growing tidy leagues. Jeremy he's our lead scout. Jason

1203
01:23:45,800 --> 01:23:50,239
helps with prospect ranks. Brandon's the
website guru. He's a scout. He

1204
01:23:50,239 --> 01:23:55,960
helps with the prospect ranks, visualization, visualizations, the Great Fantasy Hockey Live

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01:23:56,039 --> 01:23:58,920
player cards you're starting to see out
there and you can get if you're a

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01:23:58,920 --> 01:24:02,800
patron. He got some skills you'd
like to lend the show. Victor would

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01:24:02,840 --> 01:24:05,960
love to hear from you. He's
always looking to do more and cool things.

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Hit him up in the discord,
on email or on x. We're

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01:24:11,600 --> 01:24:15,039
brought to you by Daber Hockey,
Daber Prospects, Victors and editor. I

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01:24:15,119 --> 01:24:18,239
even do a little bit over there
follow Victor's work there as well as this

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01:24:18,319 --> 01:24:23,920
other podcast, Dauber Prospects Report with
Peter Harlan. They're going through an off

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01:24:23,960 --> 01:24:29,439
season series right now on Team prospect
Ranking, some of a kind of covering

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01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:33,680
a few of the prospects in different
teams in the NHL. You can also

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01:24:33,760 --> 01:24:38,039
check out Victor's articles at EP Ringside. He's part of the fantasy team with

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01:24:38,079 --> 01:24:42,319
Cam Robinson Mike Clifford. I do
a solo show called Dynasty Sports Life.

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01:24:42,359 --> 01:24:45,880
I talk for different Dynasty Sports sometimes
multiple at the same time. You can

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01:24:46,039 --> 01:24:50,840
check out the episode that released yesterday
as of this release, and that was

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01:24:51,159 --> 01:24:58,319
about fantasy football and guys who are
different We Matt Cooper and I from Couch

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01:24:58,319 --> 01:25:02,000
Scouts value differently from star to padyps. Follow us on x at Fan Hockey

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Life is Me at Victor Nuno twelve
is Victor. You should rate and review

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01:25:06,479 --> 01:25:11,079
us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
wherever else you get pods. That helps

1222
01:25:11,119 --> 01:25:15,119
us to find listeners who can listen
back to all thirty two of these previous

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01:25:15,159 --> 01:25:18,880
once they're all in the books.
Thank you for listening to everybody. Until

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next time, keep living that fantasy
hockey life.