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Speaker 4: Live talking once again with you. Is Jesse Severe Fan
Tracks and that there's Victor Nunio, the Fantasy Hockey Doctor.
Speaker 2: Victor, how you doing today?
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm doing awesome, Jesse. Definitely, at the end of
a long day of recording. It always is a bit trying,
but we're powering through the least we can do. How
you doing, my friend, I'm doing good.
Speaker 4: I'm doing good. I enjoy the team. I always say
I enjoy the team we're talking about. I say I'm
a fan of a team. But let me tell you something.
The Columbus Blue Jackets alternate jerseys are actually my favorite
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Victor explain to them how they could do that.
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And right after this.
Speaker 4: We'll be back to talk about our team Creak. Welcome
to the show today. Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch,
ready to talk to us about those Columbus Blue Jackets.
How you doing there, Brian?
Speaker 2: Doing pretty good? How are you guys.
Speaker 4: Doing pretty good? Doing pretty good? Thinking about hockey in
the middle of the summer. He can't beat that, right, well, Brian,
The Jackets ended up two points out of the playoffs
and on a six game win streak. No doubt, they
were one of the stories of the team for a
team that was just barely out of the playoffs. One
of the pleasant surprises in terms of performance. Tied for
the seventh most goals scored in the league with the
Toronto Maple Leaves. I had a double look at that.
I couldn't believe that in my mind, but they did
it with even strength, scoring two hundred and one even
strength goals topped the league eleven more than the Washington
Capitals and the runner up spot. The flip side was
they had one of the worst power play totals. That's
because partly they had the fewest power play opportunities in
the NHL. Give us a whistle dog Gunet. The goal
tended totals were in the middle of the road the percentages,
but the fifth most shots against was certainly not helpful
to their goals differential. The season started, of course, with
tragic national attention. I think that even was covered last
summer with the loss of Johnny Gudreau, so that obviously
was one of the huge storylines. But after all these
things have happened last year, how did Jackets look at
the season or Jackets fans look at the season concluded,
and what do you think, what did the team think?
What are the fans think it's coming next for this team.
Speaker 2: That's interesting because if you roll it back to last offseason,
Patrick Loney wanted a trade. He demanded a trade, so
it took him pretty much all summer to work out
a deal and they ended up sending him to Montreal.
And basically what they got back, they got Jordan Harris back,
and they wound up not keeping Jordan Harris this offseason.
But the big thing in that trade was just get
the salary off the books Montreal. Whatever was left on
online of his contract. Montreal just took all of it
and said we'll pay all of it. And so that
was a big help to the Blue Jackets because they
you're clearing cap space, but you're also clearing actual salary
as well. So they get that done in mid to
late August last year, and then a week later, there's
a tragedy and Johnny Gudreau, your top remaining player dies.
Nobody can predict something like that. So those two guys,
like no line A did last year. He spent here,
He only played like eighteen games. The he had injuries
and went into the player assistance program that kind of stuff.
But for the vast majority of his career here and
after Johnny Gudrou signed here, those were your top Those
were two of your top three forwards in the top line.
So in essence, the Blue Jackets within one week lost
two thirds of their first forward line. And so everybody
looked at that going into the season and we're like,
we didn't think this team was going to be good anyway,
and now they're going to be terrible. Not only are
they going to be awful, Like if you go back
and read the season previews for pretty much every publication
going into last season, it was the most optimistic outcome
that people predicted was that they would win the lottery.
They would finally win the lottery, and because they've never
done that, and they would just add another great player
to Adam Fantilly and just kick the can down the
road and blah blah blah. They end up having a
season like you just detailed, where they only finished two
points out of a playoff spot. And not only did
they finish two points out of a playoffs, but they actually,
when I looked at it closer, they finished two points
out of third place in the Metropolitan Division as well,
behind the New Jersey Devils. They finished with a six
game winning streak that it was like they had to
win every single game just to stay alive and without you,
to avoid being eliminated. And they only got eliminated on
an off day when Montreal finally took care of business
and clinched the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.
That's incredible, and I don't think enough people are really
truly understanding how incredible that point swing was for the
Blue Jackets when you juxtapose it with what they lost
in the offseason, and not just what they lost from talent.
Johnny Gudreau is an incredibly popular figure throughout the locker
room as well. Having any of your teammates die is
going to affect you immensely, but especially a guy that
everybody loved, Johnny. And so they're playing through grief, especially
to start the season, and they somehow figure out a
way as the season's going along to stay competitive for
a playoff spot. Basically, eighty one out of eighty two games,
they weren't eliminated until they had one game left in
the schedule. That's incredible and so when you look at
that and you put it into that context, it's hard
not to look at this team and say you're there now,
like you're there at least at the precipice of making
the playoffs. Just try and keep people healthy. The other
thing is Sean Monahan had a fantastic season last year.
That was one of Johnny Gudrou's best friends. He signed
here to play with Johnny Gudreau on July first, twenty
twenty four, and now a couple of months later he
loses his best friend. So he's come in to a
new team, new city, new organization, k neew everything, doesn't
really know a ton of people and just perfectly fits
right in here like immediately. Now, you could make the
argument he was a pointing game player last year when
he was healthy, he was a point a game player.
I think he had the highest point per game rate
of his entire career. Where a new team, new city,
knew everything, and without Johnny Gudroux. So you can make
an argument that if he hasn't, he doesn't missed two months.
He missed two months with a wrist injury from January
to almost through. It was into March, like late March
when he came back. If they have him from even
one more week or two more weeks, they're probably a
playoff team. Last year we're talking about we're probably talking
about a team that makes the playoffs, eliminates the Canadians
and or maybe finishes third in the metro. But it's
that close. So you look at this offseason and they
wanted to get better. They wanted to address some what
they felt were maybe some not shortcomings, for instance, on
their in their top four defensive pairing or top two
defensive pairings, top four defenseman. They were hoping to find
a right handed version of Ivan Prograffs right like they
would have loved it if they could have signed Aaron
eck Bladd, if Aaron eck Bladd would have hit the market.
They were in the trade discussions and we're a finalist
for no adoptson a right handed top four guy, offensive
minded type of guy they really want adoptson. Price ended
up being too high and he goes to Montreal. So
they didn't get their right handed version. So what they
ended up having to do was circle back with guys
they already had, and they ended up re signing Dante
Fabreau and They also resigned provaroff at a very high number,
But then it's a high number right now, and we'll
talk about that later, I'm sure, but basically, in a
couple of years that number is not gonna look that bad.
But they've stayed the same largely, they are the same team.
They've lost a few kind of key veteran guys who
were like in the locker room, Sean Corally, James Van Riemsdyke,
Justin dan Forth, those kind of guys. They've lost those,
but those were all They were more depth players the
core of their team, including Adam Fantilly who had thirty
one goals last year, and Caill mar Chenko had thirty
one goals last year. Those guys are all back. So
on the one hand, it's like they didn't get a
ton done in the offseason as far as adding anything,
but they didn't get worse either, So I feel like
they're poised to make a playoff run this year if
you look at it from those that context.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, we got to unpack some of those players
that you're talking about, because Sean Monahan was the first
on my list, and you talk about you talk about
the streaks that he went on and the good times
that he had. He went over a point per game
for the second time in his career, the other time
being twenty eighteen nineteen. That risk injury you said, really
messed him up, but he still had the second best
goals above replacement on the team when you add it
up with the evolving Hockey Advanced stats at the end
of the year, which is amazing. That's a cumulative stat
and he missed it. He only played fifty four games.
This guy, We're gonna be talking about some young sinners
who we're coming for his gig as this show goes along,
and I don't want to get into those guys yet. Well,
let's stick with Monahn first. Can he remain the center
option for this team for a year or two and
repeat this amazing run that he had last year.
Speaker 2: I think that's the best one of the biggest key
questions about this team, right if he can and he
can stay healthy. I think he got to like the
Blue Jackets chances of competing for a playoff spot in
the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. And I know
you referenced the power play earlier and the thing that
was different this year or not this year, but in
twenty five or twenty four to twenty five. The thing
that was different for them because they traditionally have a
bad power play. Let's just say it. They've had bad
power play for five, six, seven years in a row.
Now it hasn't gotten better. So overall the numbers didn't
improve that much. But if you break it down into
like splits, one of the splits could be with Sean
Monahan healthy and without Sean Monaghan when he's hurt, because
with him, they were a top ten power play. If
you look at all the games he play and he
was the bumper guy on the top unit, they were
like a top ten power play. They were like lethal,
they were very dangerous. And then he gets dirt and
he's out for two months and they literally dropped to
thirtieth or thirty first out of thirty two teams in
the time that he was out. So that's how key
he is. Whenever you run that one three one, and
every team runs a version of the one three one. Now,
if you don't have that bumper guy in the middle,
that is such a key, critical, crucial position. Bradon point
plays it for Tampa Bay Lightning right like it used
to be Burgeron would play it for Boston, and these
guys are elite guys at those positions. There's only a
certain like a finite number of those in the NHL.
Everybody has a guy who plays it, not everybody has
a guy who like thrives at it. And what I
didn't realize about Sean Monaghan until he came here is
that he's one of the guys who thrives at it.
He is an elite one three to one bumper guy
that supports all his teammates and really he's like the
spark plug of the entire thing. So when he's in there,
their power plays a lot better and it really helped
them score some goals on the power play when he
was healthy. So it's going to be keeping him healthy,
right And you look at other parts of his game.
He wins a lot of face offs. He's their top
face off option. And then Boone Jenner's like right in
there as well. Boone can win a lot of faceoffs.
But I think ideally they'd like to keep Boone on
the wing if possible, just because you can free him
up as a four checker and he's pretty dynamic in
that area.
Speaker 5: As a top six guy our top nine.
Speaker 2: But Manihan also, like I said I mentioned Marchenko earlier,
Marchenko had a breakout season. Monahan was a huge impact
on Marchenko and Dmitri Verankov, who they also resigned. Basically,
even though there was like a little bit of a
language thing there. Marchenko speaks very he speaks English just fine,
but understands more English than he speaks. But then having
Marchenko on that same line, he was able to communicate
with him. But either way they would go back to
the bench and Sean Monahan would just basically get right
into both of them and be like, look, you guys
are big, strong forwards. We need you guys to really
win battles and get that puck for us back and
I'll do my part as well. But if we do that,
we'll dominate possession. And then with all the skill that
you two have and that Monahan has, we're gonna score goals.
And that is that they became. If you look at
the numbers of those three in particular as a first line,
when they were healthy and they were going, they were
one of the best first lines in the NHL. They
can get talked about a lot, but they from a
production standpoint, they were one of the best, most dangerous
lines in the NHL. So those guys are all coming
back and there's no change there. So if they can
get more a little more out of her cough and
get the same or more out of Marchenko with Monahan
prodding both of them. As a veteran, I mean, that's
a pretty dangerous first line right there. And I don't
see Monahan slipping much.
Speaker 3: So you mentioned Marchenko, Let's talk about him. Now, we'll
go one by one with these guys. So Marchenko, he
had a breakout season for sure. He had the thirty
goal mark and more than doubled his assist output seventy
seven point pace, which is pretty solid. His bash, block
shots and hits were just under four at three point eight,
ranking him two hundred and sixty eighth, which is something
we like to track. I remember several years ago I
was suggesting on this podcast that Marchenko could be a
top liner, and I got a lot of pushback to that.
I got a lot of middle six at best, most
likely bottom line bottom sixer. And it's nice to see
that he had a phenomenal season and he actually had
the second most time on ice behind Monahan. And also
the second highest point pace. So I don't think you
can argue that he's a legit top liner. And as
you referenced, they had some credible play driving numbers. So
do you think the top line Marchenko is here to stay?
Brian and can he be a point per game player
push up even more into the points?
Speaker 2: Yeah? He should. I know that's his goal. And he
has no lack of self confidence. I remember I talked
to him at points last year and he basically said
that he looks at guys like when he was back
in Russia and he was they hadn't come over yet
and he was playing the KHL. He looked at guys
like Koutrav and all these other guys and said, I
think I can do that over there. I can be
that kind of player. And it hasn't manifested yet. But
if you look at Kutra's first couple of years, he
wasn't Koutrov yet at that point either. It takes a
little while to get used to the league and that
kind of thing. If you look at Marchenko's numbers, though,
the guy's been a goal scorer ever since he came
into the league, and he's only been here for three
years or three or almost four years the assists. I
had a feeling they were going to come along eventually,
and they did last year. I think he can be
a Put it this way, like when Monahan came in
and signed and he finally got with the team. Obviously
no Johnny Gudroaux around. It was supposed to be Gudrow,
Monahan and probably Marchenko or Johnson that was originally going
to be the top line I think, or maybe Jenner
up there as well, but no Gudrow. So Monahan's coming
in and he's just learning about all these guys on
his own, and like within a week or two he
was like, I had no idea how good girl Marchenko is.
And it's something that just as soon as you see it,
you're like, oh wow, that dude is incredibly talented. So
he's got a great shot, he's got size. The one
thing that he was lacking, and I referenced it earlier,
was in marchang I'm sorry Monahan brought it out of him.
Was a little more fire, Right, Let's get a little
more fire to get the puck back. So if you
lose it, go hound it, go get it back. You're
big enough to do that you can knock some people
off pucks, you can be a force in the office
of zon as a fourth checker. Do that, and he did,
to his credit and to Monahan for getting into him,
and it became a whole new player. He is like
a lot of his skill set that we already knew
just from watching him on an everyday basis. It was there,
but it wasn't consistent, and it became a lot more
consistent last year. It was there more consistently, and I
expect that to grow even more as we go forward.
A guys only in his mid twenties right now, like
he's not even entering in his prime like right now,
and I think he's poised for another potential breakout. Last
year was a big breakout. I think there's even more
in there this year.
Speaker 3: That's definitely what we like to hear. So that's awesome.
I'm looking forward to second breakout Marchenko. Let's talk about
the another guy, Kent Johnson. So Johnson, he was definitely
another breakout for the Blue Jackets. He went from forty
to thirty to a sixty nine point pace in his
first three seasons. He missed a bunch time last year,
but his time on ice. Average time on ice rose
this year up to seventeen almost seventeen and a half,
twenty four goals, thirty three assists, fifteen power play points
after having zero last year. He had eleven in his
first season. That's pretty great. He doesn't bash a whole lot.
I think a lot of fantasy gms know that about him,
So you're not getting a whole lot of block shots
and hits. He has just two point two eight of those,
ranking him in the six hundreds, which means that if
he's not scoring, he's not usually helping a whole lot.
But he was doing a lot of scoring, so that
was really hopeful last year. So, Brian, do you think
Ken Johnson can get over a seventy point pace next season?
Is there some regression coming? He did shoot almost twenty percent,
so there may be some regression coming.
Speaker 2: He shot twenty percent, But he's got a great shot,
and also he is He's another guy we I always
call Columbus Invisible Land because we just get basically over
discounted over here quite a bit by a lot of
people across the league. Team hasn't been very good till
last year, and that's understandable. The side effect of that,
or the product of that, I should say, is that
a lot of people don't realize how good the players
are here sometimes, and like James Van Reims, like good idea,
a good example. He signs late last year. He comes in,
he starts. First of all, he didn't know hardly and
he knew a few people, but not enough to really
hang out. And the people he started hanging out with
immediately who really took him in were all the young guys,
all the young Canadian guys, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, Adam Fantilly. Like,
these guys are taking him out to dinner like every night,
basically picking up because they watched him in his prime
when he was like with the maple Leafs and Flyers
and all those guys, and they're asking about, oh, what
was it like to play with this guy and that
guy and whatever. So they become close. So then they
get on the ice and they start practicing and they
start doing stuff, and James Van Reims basically says, comes
over and tells a couple of people like, how come
people aren't talking more about Kent Johnson. This dude's gonna
score like eighty or ninety points. This year, he's amazing,
and it's because he didn't have that great of a
season the year before. I mean, that's why he ended
up with the contract that he got. It was a
prove it contract because he struggled a little bit in
that in his second full year or whatever it was,
or third or whatever with the ELC. But it was
twenty three twenty four. Kent dedicated himself in the previous
so last summer to getting a little bigger, a little stronger,
and he also got with a skating more of a
power skating coach and a trainer who really added some
speed into his game. I think the biggest thing that
he was missing was some explosiveness. Always had the hot hands,
had great eyes, great vision, passing, just play making ability,
shot all that he had, all that stuff, he just
seemed like he got swallowed up a lot on the
ice skating. And last year he comes in and it
was a night and day like you saw him get nice. Oh,
the guy can actually get free now, like he's got
his own. And when this guy gets free, you're in
big trouble. If he gets in your defensive zone and
he's hitting, attacking, like the pockets that aren't defended, you're
in massive trouble. It's probably going into the net. That's
how good he is. I will say this, And you
have to look at his season also last year, he
had a great preseason. His preseason was incredibles, maybe one
of the best preseasons I've ever seen. And I'm like,
this dude is gonna have eighty or ninety points this year.
And then he gets like into the third game, and
they start off the regular season pretty well. First couple
of games. You're like, Oh, he's carrying it over. And
then like in game three, he has a freak collision
with somebody on the team, might have been I can't
remember which one it was, but it's one of his
own teammates, falls backwards and screws up his shoulder again
like in the third game, and you're like, oh, here
we go. Because he ended the previous season with a
shoulder injury that required surgery has twenty three, twenty four,
So now you're starting this next one and you're like,
oh my god, if he has to have surgery again,
this is not good. He was able to rehab this
one and he came back after I think he missed
fourteen games so those numbers you mentioned that he had,
you may want to look at his points per game
and try and figure out the difference. If he had
played those fourteen games, he's gonna have even higher numbers
than what he had it in those So if he again,
if he can stay healthy, it's a big kind of
theme with the Blue Jackets to stay healthy. But it's
funny people around here, like Blue Jackets fans, they really
wanted Marner to hit the open market and then have
the Jackets because we have a ton of they have
a ton of cap space here the Jackets do, and
they wanted the Jackets to make a massive run at
Mitch Marner just throw them so much money has to
think about it or whatever. And I kept saying that
all along. I'm like, I'll say it right now. I
think they have Mitch Marner in development right now. Like
he's not Mitch Marner right now, Like he's not one
hundred point player yet. Nobody is until they get a
hundred points. But if you look at Ken Johnson and
you look at Mitch Marner, they are exactly the same size.
They're six foot point eighty, but they're Marner was drafted
fourth overall Johnson was fifth overall. Marner likes to score goals,
but he's more of a playmaker as well, and he
likes to play in his off hand on the wing.
Ken Johnson can score goals as a playmaker, likes to
play on the off side on the wing. He likes
to play on the right wing with the left hand shot,
kind of like Patrick Kaynes. And you look at some
of the goals he scored and some of the things
he's set up. He has a very good chance of
being this team's Mitch Marner. And that's I don't say
that lightly because I know how good Marner is. But
Marner's twenty seven years old and he's twenty seven to
twenty eight, and Ken Johnson's like twenty two. So it's
like a young, developing Marner type. And if they can
he's just like Marchenko. I think he had a big
breakout last year. I think there's more in there as well.
For Ken Johnson.
Speaker 4: We're not getting Mitch Marner. We have Mitch Marner and
home kids.
Speaker 3: That makes sense, all.
Speaker 4: Right, dude, we got to hit a couple of these pros.
Boone Jenner, you've already mentioned him. Another guy whose season
was wrecked by injury, his shoulder injury in the preseason
the gaben surgery. Came back seven assists in his first
four games. He always shoots and hits. He is a
great leader for the team. Still only thirty three seems
like he had to be older. I've long been a
fan of this guy's physicality and his production. Is he
going to be able to come back for big minutes
in production and is he going to be a top
six winger for the team, Brian, I.
Speaker 2: Have no doubt with Boone that he'll be physically ready.
Like this guy puts in all the work that you
need to do. There's no concerns at all about him
not putting in work and getting ready and getting his
body ready and everything. The problem is he has had
so many Some of them are fluke injuries, some of
them are just like hockey injuries. But he's had a
lot of injuries the last few years that have really
limited him. You go back even three years, right, I
go back to his year thirty early age thirty season.
I think he would have had thirty goals that season,
but he ends up with an injury that cuts his
season short. Like he's had a couple of seasons in
the past few where he was on pace to score
thirty goals and injuries cut it short. And so then
last year he comes in and was in a practice.
It was it was the last practice before the regular
season started, really and they're doing like a small area
game and he gets his pins taken out, just going
for a puck and slides awkwardly into the boards and
you heard the thump, and I was like, oh boy,
this isn't good. And he got up and left the
ice immediately, and it was like he tores Labraham. So
he had to have shoulder surgery and he missed all
the way up until March first basically, or it was
late February, but that's almost all of the seasons. Like
it was a miracle. It felt like a miracle he
could even come back and do what he ended up
doing last season. But for the most part, they did,
like you mentioned all those goals they scored, they set
a franchise record goals. They didn't even have Boone Jenner
for most of the season when they're top six, which
is incredible. That's another one. So no line A, no Gadrow,
no Boone Jenner, Ken Johnson misses the first month, Dmitri
Verankov misses the first month he had a shoulder injury
as well. Those are four like massive offensive producing players
for this team, and they still were rolling with goals,
Like they were still scoring enough goals. It gets back
to what you're talking about with defense and goaltending for
them this year as a team. But you're focusing more
on Jenner. Yeah, he's thirty three. That's crept up on
us a little bit there as far as the age goes.
But he's in great shape and he just plays a
hard game. If you're coach in NHL, you have to
love this guy because he was just a He is
a relentless four checker, and he can win faceoffs, and
he plays around the net, so he is not afraid
to play around there, and he cleans up a lot
of loose change. So I think if he's healthy for
a full year, I would pencil him in for at
least twenty goals, if not twenty five, which could help
this team quite a bit.
Speaker 4: And the Blue Jackets have won the lottery. They got
Dan close a couple of times, and Adam Fantillier the
fruits of one of those times. He is on the
rise in terms of overall but it's not to say
that this season didn't have some bumps. Specifically a thirty
two goal, twenty two assists, fifty four point campaign in
eighty two games. That's amazing. That's some great stuff. Thirty
two goals for a twenty year old. The advanced metrics
didn't like him quite so much in terms of the
impact on and off ice in the aforementioned end of
your win streak, though seven goals in the final six
games from Adam Pantilly. He was simply on fire at
the end of the year. He hits, he shoots, his
ice time is certainly not maxed out, still under seventeen
and a half minutes. What do you see of Adam Fantillion?
What are you anticipating the next step to be?
Speaker 2: You go back to his draft year and we talked
about it extensively about how there was like there's like
five prospects who were thought to be like real impact
players in the future, and there was three in particular
that we're gonna go one, two, three in some order,
and we all knew Bar was gonna go first. So
then it was a matter of whether Leo Carlson or
Adam Fantilli was gonna go second, And from all the
way up until about the day before the draft, everyone
just penciled Fantillion going second to the Ducks, and then
the Jackets probably would have gotten either Carlson or Will
Smith in many other drafts, Like if you take either
one of those guys out, you put them in another draft,
they're like the hands down number one overall pick. There
are certain drafts out there where if Adam Fantilli wasn't
in that crowded group, he's a number one overall pick.
So when he fell to the Jackets at three, and
there's a really cool video here where they had a
watch party for the draft and everything, and when he fell,
Blue Jackets fans are there was all many of them
at a bar and they're watching and and they just
go nuts because they know they're getting Adam Fantili and
they feel like Adam Fantilly is every bit the number
one overall pick that a lot of people are in
most years. So he can and here's the thing, and
he fits the part from a his approach to the
game and his self confidence and everything. He feels like
a he sounds like a number one overall pick. He's
a guy who's really confident in his game. You're never
going to shake that guy's confidence in his game, which
I think is a huge asset.
Speaker 3: But like that.
Speaker 2: First season, he missed the whole second half of the
year because he had a laceration on is a big
deep cut in his calf, kind of a freak injury.
So I think he came in last year and he's like,
I just want to play all eighty two games and
get better, And that's exactly what he did. And you're right.
He turned it on at the end and scored like
seven git goals in the last ten games. He was
amazing in those games. I thought it was a real
eye opening moment. There was one moment. There was one shift.
There's a national television game is an afternoon game. I
believe it was against the Capitals on a Saturday, and
the kid's name is blanking on me. He was the
guy that the Capital's brought up. They he's a high
draft pick for them and they brought him in. Anyway,
this kid was playing Fantili basically runs him over in
his own defensive end on a very legal clean check,
just blasts him right in the slot, steals the puck,
sends it the other way, rushes down to the other
end of the ice, and scores a goal at the
other end of the ice. And I remember Ray Ferraro
was watching, He's that's like a career defining shift. Like
right there, that's what you get from Adam Fantili. You
get toughness, a physical play, a guy who's not afraid
to mix it up, a little bit, incredible skater, and
then you also throw in the fact he's got a
good shot and he can make plays as well, pass
the puck and create havoc around the net. This guy's yeah,
I think it's sky high potential. I really do. And
I've said that about Johnson and Martenko. This team is
loaded with young talent, and he is right near at
the top with those other two guys.
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about one of the other Russians.
Dmitri of Ronkov. Already mentioned him a couple of times.
He is was another surprising player this season. He got
three more minutes of time on ice and increase his
points from thirty seven to fifty two. There were definitely
streaks that he was going and really being very valuable
when he isn't scoring. He is providing some nice bash
three points seventy four per game, which is nice. Ranks
him two hundred and eighty ninth. One issue is that
his defense isn't great. He's ranked just fourteenth percentile according
to Evolving Hockey, so that's not great. But his offense
is eighty six percentile. So, Brian, do you think Ronkov
can increase his point totals or does he need to
focus more on his defensive game.
Speaker 2: I think he can. I think you can do both.
But we're gonna find out. Like when they get to camp,
we'll see on the first day if he's in, if
he's about two hundred and twenty five pounds, maybe two
thirty at the most, between two twenty and two thirty,
you're gonna see. You're gonna see a really big season
out of Dmitri Varankov if he can maintain that weight
and everything. His problem is it creedy. We're just gonna
say what it is. Like his weight creeps up over
the season sometimes and if he gets up in the
two forty range, two forty five something like that.
Speaker 3: He's a big dude.
Speaker 2: He's six y five, almost sixty six. He's massive, Like
when he put him on skates and you're standing next
to him, you're like, oh my god, this guy is huge.
That's the first thing everyone says. Like when Dean Everson
first saw him, he's like, who is that? Who's that guy?
When it was like d Maitri Varankov. But he doesn't
get a chance to play like a guy who's six'
five two forty or like a big power forward because
when he's at those increased weights and it's affecting his
cardio and everything else as far as beyond stay in the,
ice he's just not able to keep up enough in
stay ahead of the game enough to see the hit
and just go Do he's, behind just a little bit,
behind a few steps, behind and then he's not able
to really throw his weight around and smash people and
stuff like. THAT i think if he's at two twenty
five two two twenty two twenty five and he's six'
five and he's, muscled out you're gonna see a guy
who has, More snarl like he's got some snarl, In
him like. He's not he's got a lot, of skill
he loves to play with skill and all that kind.
Of stuff but that guy will mix it up if.
You look if when you watch when we watched him In,
the kh'll he mixed it up quite. A bit he
got into some fights and he would throw his weight
around and then have to defend himself and stuff. Like
that we haven't seen that much here because he really
hasn't been in positions to be like a true, body
banging power forward type. Of guy if he comes in,
BETTER shape i. Think that and he's on a prove. It,
contract now he did get a. Nice raise he's at
four point one two five million, per year but it's
more of a prove. It contract it's only, two years
so like he'll HAVE one rfa year left and at
that point you're looking at your long. Term contract so
if you want to have some really good numbers and
everything to go take into, those negotiations it's time to
work on the body a little bit. At MORE and
i think that. He will so that's. The caveat if
he comes in pretty, good condition he could increase his
POINTS and i do think his defense will get better.
As Well, all.
Speaker 4: Right we're gonna do a real quick hit on three more.
Depth forwards we can't cover them all, in Depth but
i'm going to ask you to rank him in terms
of their production, next year You, Goor Chinnikov, Cole cyllinger
Luca Del bell blues who you go? Best There brian.
Speaker 2: Nikoff just yesterday came out through his agent and basically
said he wants to, Be traded so he didn't really
He and everson had a little bit of it falling out,
per se but basically he was scratched after a return life,
last YEAR and i think he just was looking for
a start. Over point but whether they can actually find
a Trade That don WALDEL the gm will sign off
on that's going to be remain to. Be seen so if,
HE'S here i would pick him out of. Those three
as far as just sheer pure, talent goes he's got
a risk shot that approaches ninety eight miles, an hour which,
is incredible and his one timer's well over, one hundred
so like he can really shoot. The puck but as
far As The blue, JACKETS go i think you're Looking
At cole, Cylinger right i'd put him. Up there because
of the trade Request, For chinnikov I'd Go. Cole cylinger
the Only thing cole has left to. REALLY master i
guess AT the nhl level is scoring more goals and
he has to figure. It out like he got drafted
twelfth overall and the biggest reason was he had a
great shot and he was just beating goalies left and right.
And junior but he comes up TO the nhl and
it's just not working at some point for. WHATEVER reason
i don't know if he's still got a, great shot
but he's got to either hone it in and not
miss the net so much or he has shown some
a lot of comparisons to like A Young. Boone jenner
he plays a Lot. Like boone he's Built, like boone
scores around. The net if you look at the little
play by play charts where It's Goal, boone jenner most
often it's like from two feet or, three feet like
he's right there on. THE doorstep I think cole can
be that kind of guy if he just makes his mind.
Speaker 3: Up to be.
Speaker 2: That GUY so i think he's got. Some ceiling and
then the Who's the, i'm sorry who's the? Third one?
He said luca Del.
Speaker 4: Bell, blues oh.
Speaker 2: You, KNOW what I. Like luca he played really well
in fifteen games. LAST year i think he can stick at.
Center too it's just a matter. Of depth they Brought In,
charlie coyle who's. A veteran he's gonna play a third
line and then they Also Signed eastach lundstrom to be
the fourth. Line center so if They want luca to stay,
at center there's really not a carved out spot for him.
Right NOW but i do like, his talent like. His
size he's got a really good shot. And done he's
a confident. Kid too, but Yeah so i'd rank him just. Talent, Wise,
Chinnikov Cylinger.
Speaker 4: Dell bell, all right let's go to the blue line
and talk about the star defenseman of, This Team. ZACH
warensky i, Admit SOMEHOW brian i lost the faith Briefly
In zak wwarinsky that. Injury year i'm. AN idiot i
take it. All Back zak warnsky is now your reigning
minutes champ IN the nhl twenty one hundred and sixty.
Six total that's more than one hundred more than Second place.
Keal mccarr, my lord this was his year he passed
point per game for the. First time he's had a
major climb late in. His twenties still listed as. Twenty seven,
last year he Was the norris, runner up and if
he lived in a moment that did Not have cale
mccarr in, his prime he should Have A norris trophy.
Right now got lots, of shots lots, of blocks not that.
Many Hits Is zach warnsky's great?
Speaker 2: Season REPLICABLE so i might be the only among voters
FOR the phawa who Voted For zach wrensky As The
norris champion As the, norris winner and everyone else said
It's a. Homer pick but here's. THE thing i got
to see him every, single game and there's just so
much that goes. Into, IT now i put him up.
THERE ahead i fully realize mccarr's season, Was ridiculous like
it was a ridiculous. Offensive number i'm not that stupid
TO say i didn't, notice THAT but i Did put
zach up there for the minutes that's a heck of
a lot of minutes more than the second. Place guy
like he's handling a massive workload on a night to.
Night basis and he also played In The four nations
tournament and Led The Four nations tournament in scoring all
players with six assists and played a bunch of, minutes
there so his legs were burning at the end of,
the year and he ended up going Into The world
championships and HELPING the us win gold for the first
time of ninety years or something At The World. Men's
worlds is? It replicable HERE'S why i think. IT is i,
IN fact i think that he could actually be better
if they could somehow even lessen his minutes a, little
bit take a little bit of load off of the
burning of his legs and lungs. And everything maybe back
him off thirty seconds per game or something like or whatever,
it is and then have him even fresher when he's.
Out there it's hard to do because coaches who end
up coaching him are, JUST like i want him on
the ice like all, the time that's how good. He
IS but i think it's reab replicable because what one
thing that he really did last, year STATISTICALLY and i
know you guys, love stats is if you look at
his shots and his, shot attempts they were career highs
last year by quite. A bit they Were very he
basically said it after the, first game like he was
in we Were, IN colorado, i think Or maybe minnesota
to start, the season and he, Basically said i'm making
more of an effort to shoot the puck. This year
i'm gonna shoot. The puck i'm going to get it,
on net getting. IT through I think i have a.
Good shot and he also changed his stick LIKE he
i think he put a little more whippiness in it
and got a little a few more miles per hour
maybe on it, as well and, Just decided i'm gonna shoot.
The puck we're going to. Do it and so he
set career highs in. Those numbers and then if you
look at, his percentage his, SHOOTING percentage i think his
percentage was close to what he. Usually does but with
a higher volume, of shots there's, more goals there's more
assists created and things, like that and he's not going to.
CHANGE that i don't think that's going to change just
because it's a. NEW year i think he's he realized
that really worked, for HIM and i think he's going
to continue, doing it but as long as he's not
going to four shots that. Aren't THERE but i think
he realized that there were a lot of shots that
he was passing up and he decided to take those
shots instead and just see where, it led and it
led to one of the, best season the best season
in his career.
Speaker 3: So far, all right let's talk about the, Young Guy.
Denton mitaichak he played TWENTY seven, ahl games and he
was nearly a point per game. Down there when he
was IN. The nhl his offensive impact was a, little
less but he was still able to be roughly average
at both ends of, the ice which is pretty impressive
for your first taste OF sustained. Nhl, Action, so brian
what do you think next season Holds, For miteichak because
he's going to be able to improve his. Point totally
he had a twenty four. POINT pace i think the
upside is certainly more. THAN that i would agree with.
Speaker 2: You completely he is a, little undersized so now the
big trend is draft six foot five or taller defenseman
because The border panthers have won and you got to
defend him and all. That stuff denton's only about five ten. Five,
ELEVEN however i feel like he's a really, smooth skater
especially in the, offensive zone walking the, blue line things.
Like that this is a guy Who if warnsky did,
GO down i would not be surprised if they put
him right at the top and make him the power
play quarterback Over prover, off either and they might Start
with provooff because he's got. More EXPERIENCE but i would
not be surprised To See denton mattachuk running a top
power play at some point in his career because he's
got that type of ability and if that's, gonna happen
the points are going to. Go UP and i think
that's why AT the ahl level he's like their number one,
defenseman BASICALLY so i think at that level he's running their,
power play and so he's getting more power, play time,
more minutes, more points, more assists that kind of stuffs a,
slick passer and he's got a sneaky good shot, as
well And HE what i really Like about DENTON is
i Feel like denton has a really good feel for
win to pinch down into offensive positions and win not
to for a, Young guy like a lot of dudes
just don't have that feel until they're in the, league
three four or. FIVE years i feel like he's got
that already and that's huge because he kind of add,
some offense but you also don't want to do it
at the behest of. Your DEFENSE and i think that
he's a pretty good two way. Defensive option he's never
going to be like a shutdown type. Of guy he
doesn't skate with the kind of speed Explosiveness as calee.
Mccar does but he's not a. Bad skater he's a.
Good skater he's more smooth and can really move in
all directions and that helps. Him defend he's got a,
great stick so he's a good stick defender, and HE like,
i said he can get pucked through. As well, and
honestly they think so much. OF him i think when
we start this season. He will he ended the season
as like their three to four defenseman on the. Left
side he was on that Second pairing and actually that
was the reason they were looking for a Right handed
Provooff because steverson fell out. Of favor he's. A righty
he was scratched the last. Seven Games good branson's not
really a top. Four defenseman he's. Right handed they weren't
going to, do that so they ended up playing Him
with provoff And pro raff can play the. Other side
it's just a little wonky when you're a left he
play on the right side as. A defenseman so they
were kind of looking, and, saying hey can we find
a right handed veteran who's going to handle the top
four minutes to Play with denton because we're not going
To move, denton over but They want denton to play
those top, four MINUTES which i found. Is interesting now
he's young right and. Young defenseman we know it's not
always a linear. Development curve sometimes you can take little.
Steps back so if he were to end up playing With, good,
branson say and the, third pairing he's still going to
get power play minutes in the second power. Play unit
but if that were, the case they could theoretically balance
out their lefty. Righty thing if Let's say steverson has a,
better year then you Would have Provooff and severson as
your second pairing like a kind of a veteran's, up
there And then Mattaichuck and gadbrandson would be on the.
Third pairing but that's.
Speaker 3: Just me kind.
Speaker 2: Of spitballing at the end of, the year it Was
solidly mattaichuck as your second defense pairing left side And
provo off your second pairing. Right.
Speaker 3: Side nice that's some great insights on. Those two let's
move on to. The Goalies The blue jackets were ranked
twenty fifth and expected goals per sixty and they conceded
the twenty fifth number actual goals. Per Sixty now tarsov
was part of that equation and he's no longer on,
the team so we'll Focus on Elvis And. Jet Greeves,
so elvis his numbers were a bit. More neutral his
goal save above expected In. Delta fenwick he was able
to Keep The, delta fenwick say percentage neutral compared. To
expective that's at. Least reasonable he wasn't well. Below that
he's in the fourth year of a five point four million.
Dollar deal And then grieves he had some excellent times
in the net and just his eleven starts eleven almost
twelve goals save above expected And A delta fenwick of
two point five. To three those are pretty ridiculous numbers
in a small. Sample size so it sounds like they're
pretty confident that he can carry the. Backup low but
what do you think the split. Will be do you
think it'll be like sixty forty Or will grieves get
a lot less? Than that what do you think we
should expect from the net Here.
Speaker 2: In columbus that's interesting because like, Last, YEAR tarasoft i
think it was technically his second season as, a backup
but like he was more used to playing, more, often
right and like he had a couple struggles early ON
and i think lost the confidence of the coaching staff a,
little bit like early and because, of that they were
trying to stay competitive. And everything they just Kept rolling
Elvis out and when, that happened it, was fine except
for whenever they had to go back to, tarasof now
he was, completely rusty was, not ready and then he'd
come in and give up a bunch of goals.
Speaker 3: And stuff and at.
Speaker 2: One point they had to send him back TO the
ahl on a conditioning assignment just to get him some
work and get a couple of games under his belt
to get the rust offs and then bring him back.
To play and actually it worked because he was much
better AFTER the. Ahl Assignment, JACK greaves i he was.
So impressive like in the last they won six games
in a row at the end. Of season five of,
those games the last five Games Was jack greeves was
the starter in all five, of them and he was
an emergency fill In because elvis ended up getting, A
concussion like he won the first of those, six games got,
A concussion like, IN practice i think or something like
the next day they had to make an, emergency Recall
get jet back Up to columbus and just throw him
right in. The net and he ends up like pitching
TWO shutouts i think in the last five games and
winning five, straight GAMES and i think his goals against
was like one seventy five and his say percentage was
like nine to seventy or something. Like that it was an,
insane stretch like he was crazy and it was none
of it felt out. Of place he's not the. Biggest guy,
in fact he's, pretty small but goalie smaller goalies. Are
Starting he sorrow's led. The Charge just terkin's not the
biggest guy in. The world he's, not small but he's not,
huge either so that you're starting to see more of
these kind of they're not average size. For goalies we
went through a stretch there where if he weren't, six'
five they weren't even, looking at you and six four,
Sixty five whatever if you weren't that, type of goalie
you weren't even. Getting a Sniff and now jet is
probably think he's listed A six foot i'd be surprised
if he's five. Ten five Eleven i'm sorry he's probably
five eleven ish close, to six foot but not the biggest.
For a goalie but he's got an, Incredible glove hand
like his glove, Side Is ridiculous like i've Seen He
had alex ovechkin shaking his head and looking, at the
rafters like when We. Were in washington oveskin thought he
had him. DEAD to rights, i was like here comes
another one and fired at him with wide open and
It's just like jet just, like gloved, it held it
got a whistle and threw it.
Speaker 3: On the ice.
Speaker 2: No BIG problem, so i think what's? Gonna HAPPEN here Is?
I think jet they they look at this is The
time for jet to be here for the first time
as a FULL time. LIKE nhl player i bet you
he's going in is like the backup guy, to start
out Because you got elvis and his contract and. All
that stuff it would not surprise me If he outplays
elvis though at some point and takes over the starter's
role for at. Least a Stretch as for elvis two
years left on a five point four million dollar av,
Contract per YEAR like when i looked at his, STATS
last year i thought you could break it down INTO
two things i thought he was pretty good five on five.
And even strength once it went to a, short handed
situation it was really a. Struggle for him and what's,
the old saying if you want to have a, good
penalty killer your goalie has to be your. Best penalty
killer he struggled on the penalty, kill last year and,
that's just it just. What it is if you look,
at the numbers most of his struggles came when they were,
four on five or most goalies struggle and it's three
on five or three on. Five or whatever but four
on five. He really struggled and, FIVE on five i
thought he was slightly. Better than average so what they,
need from him he needs to be better than slightly,
better than average, but even strength and he needs to
improve that. Penalty kill percentage he needs to be better at.
The PENALTY kill and i think if they can get
some improvements from him in those two areas and then
you have jet, backing them up there's definitely. Room for
improvement there quite a bit of. Room for improvement but if,
they get it they're gonna. HAVE enough goals i think
they're going to. Score enough goals it's just a matter
of keeping it out of your net enough to get.
Speaker 4: To, the playoffs well this has been great Information About, The.
Blue jackets brian why didn't you let us know how
we can keep Up with the jackets and what will
no doubt be another exciting year. This, Coming year.
Speaker 2: Yeah I'm, on BLUE sky so i usually post most
of my Stuff. On blue sky you can. Find me
there just. Search my name it should come up. With no,
problem AND yeah AND i think i do some thread
stuff and a Little, bit OF instagram but i might
Be trying the instagram thing this year. A little more i'm.
An old man that doesn't come, naturally To me but i'll.
Figure it, out and yeah and then you can always
find My work at. Dispatch dot com so, Say.
Speaker 4: We all brian i'm terrified. Of that TikTok i'm, not,
GOING there man i.
Speaker 2: Haven't gone.
Speaker 4: There, Maybe someday yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm really afraid.
Speaker 4: Of that, one, all right man thank you so much
for coming on and talking.
Speaker 2: Jackets with, us all right thanks thanks. FOR having me. I.
Appreciate it, well.
Speaker 4: Since then That's, Good fire pats, oh my goodness long.
Speaker 2: With a gram now It's your.
Speaker 4: Weekly Goldie Talk But kat silverman cat's instincts.
Speaker 5: Joined Once Again by Kat silverman.
Speaker 3: Of ingold Mag We're Talking columbus blue jackets goalies and
one of my, favorite PROSPECT goalies, And i know i'm
pretty sure you have a Saft Spot for sergey.
Speaker 5: Ivanoff as well he.
Speaker 3: Is a six point zero maybe a one hundred and
fifty seven pound drafted in the fifth round back in.
Twenty twenty two he just FINISHED his second Khl season
with socin it. WENT pretty well i would like to,
see this too because he came up In The scott.
Saint pete system he did PLAY IN the vhl mhl
and then a couple of GAMES in the khl Last
Season for saint pete before Being Loan to admiral vladivostok
and led. Really good Numbers, and THEN sochi who i
don't think is as good, as a team he ended
up having pretty good numbers with. Them as well so
we saw two different systems success at a. Very high
level that's got to pretend Pretty. Good for ivanoff looking at,
his hockey prospecting it's like a straight upward shot of
equivalency from thirty seven to forty two to sixty two,
to eighty three and he's got.
Speaker 5: Some, pretty good commps a.
Speaker 3: Bunch of them one of them that he looks a
Lot Alike, is ille stepsanoff who you know has had
an UP and, down nhl career BUT is.
Speaker 5: An nhl goalie so kat what he instincts Tell, Us about.
Speaker 1: Ivanov he's a lot of fun to watch because he
is a much smaller goaltender and He is, a russian
goaltender and, based on that you would expect him to
be really active, and really aggressive and he. Stays REALLY
controlled and i think we talked about that last year
because he IS someone who i really enjoy watching because
he's a smaller goaltender and he has just so much discipline.
In His game and i'm excited to see what he
Can Do for saint, pete this year just because that's A.
Powerhouse in russia that's when IT comes. TO khl teams
i think it's not not a very well kept secret
THAT not all khl teams are created equal and not
all of them receive equal. Resources And funding and hasochi
is a, really Good Team but SAINT pete alongside csk
scour the two like those are the, two Big bads
and i'm excited to see, how he performs given how
good his numbers, were last year PLAYING a full khl
season for one of the two best teams, in THE
league and i want to see if he's able to
negotiate Coming Over to NORTH america because i would love
to see That For, the BLUE jackets who i think
we are at the Point With the blue jackets where
they need they almost need like a full reset, on
their goaltending just because of it's a team that has
gone through a lot of sadness in the last, couple
OF years and i think that having some fresh blood
who has been doing a really good job overseas and
not within their System Here in north america will be
a good thing.
Speaker 6: For that team so he's looking like he's got all.
Speaker 1: The right stuff he's looking like he's got, really good
technique he's looking like he's. Able to adapt he's played
on TWO different kh al teams in the, last two
years which is not him. Being shuffled around it's more
to him being loaned out to teams.
Speaker 6: That are going to be able to give him the
playing time.
Speaker 1: That he needs so he's getting, appearances in, net getting
reps and now we get.
Speaker 6: To see if that's someone who's going to be able.
Speaker 5: To, Come over yeah i'm really.
Speaker 3: EXCITED for him i also am very sad That They
traded DANIELLE tarasov because i thought he could have been
a really good solution for.
Speaker 5: Them a net but maybe they're making.
Speaker 3: Waves Way, for JAED greaves which i know we've talked about.
In the past we're not going through this year because
he's going to BE. In the nhl it's going to,
be THEIR backup and i really hope all the.
Speaker 5: Best To.
Speaker 6: Him thank god to speak to him should.
Speaker 3: Be really fun we do have one more guy, to
talk about and this guy also, will be interesting and
they certainly have for. All their decisions they certainly have
a much better prospect goaliepool.
Speaker 5: Than other teams so they got that. Going For Them but.
Speaker 3: Evan gardner is the other one we're going. To talk
about he's, a six foot one hundred and seventy six
pound goalie drafted last draft twenty twenty four in, the
second round as a lot of goalies who Went early
were he just FINISHED his second whl Season For the
saskatoon blades and he had a little bit better numbers
last season. NINE twenty seven i think the team overall
was a, little bit better but nine to eleven this
past season as. A safe percentage and he's, a bit young,
not super young but he won't Be, twenty until JANUARY
which means i don't think he can BE. In the
ahl although he DID get one ahl Game with the
monsters after, his junior season which they're. Allowed to do
it did not, go super well but he still got
a long. Runway of development he is covering in that
twenty five percent chance OF, being in nhlr so he
has a LOT of. Very Meh comps corey hirsch is
one WHO was a whl guy back drafted a, long
time ago back. IN ninety one. I don't know maybe,
that's his upside or. Maybe there's more you're going to tell.
Us a cat what do your instincts Tell. Us about gardner.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what. HE can do i think
he's still so young, at this point especially compared to
a lot of the other prospect. Goaltenders right now when
we look at Especially within, the columbus system they.
Speaker 6: Have had a lot of older guys.
Speaker 1: IN their system i think, he LOOKS good but i
think he looks LIKE a. Textbook whl goaltender where he,
plays really, crisp clean angles doesn't, get too excited doesn't.
Speaker 6: Get drawn out of his.
Speaker 1: Net too often but we haven't really gotten a chance
to see what he can do in, those desperate moments
so we don't necessarily know what his creative. Side looks
LIKE he and i do, share A birthday which i
thought was REALLY exciting when, i SAW that until i
realized just which one OF my birthdays i celebrated when,
he was born and that made.
Speaker 6: Me really sad.
Speaker 1: BUT that's okay i could, Be his, Mom it's, FINE
but yeah i think the fact that he was able
to GET a single hl game and just to get
a taste of what he needs to add, INTO his
game i think it didn't go super well because he's
been playing such, a rigid game which works really well in,
a controlled environment ESPECIALLY. IN the whl i think it
does not work super well once YOU hit the hl
and you get, that unmitigated chaos and it showed that's
when some of his weaknesses started. TO pop out i
did notice when looking. At, his comps obviously he's still
young enough and we have so little data for him
that we don't, know FOR sure but i Do See
that joel blanquist is one of.
Speaker 6: The potential, comps, in there which AS much As I.
Speaker 1: Love COREY hirsch and i consider him, A good Front
i think blonquist is probably at this point a much
more Reassuring Comp for.
Speaker 6: Blue jackets fans No.
Speaker 1: OFFENSE to corey i think this, is A project though
i don't Think he's unless columbus.
Speaker 6: Really changes their strategy in the next.
Speaker 1: YEAR or two i don't think we're likely to even
consider seeing HIM at the nhl level, for three years,
maybe even four which, at that point in three years
from now he sall only, be twenty two and four
years from no he'd, be twenty three so that's about
when we would want to, See him anyway so not,
a bad thing just he's, still really young AND he's
still i think he needs to get pushed off the
edge of the pool into the deep end a couple
more times in order to really figure out what he
needs to loosen up on in his game. A, little bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah for. Sure sounds good thanks so much for giving
us your Instincts On The columbus, blue jackets, goalies.
Speaker 4: Of course will be back right. After this dig The
Gynasty Did. Columbus, Blue, jackets addition victor this is your
number twelve system and the no brainer has no brain
in his way all the way from last year to
this year with. Very little update, who is, It.
Speaker 3: That's Right Jessey.
Speaker 7: It's caden linstrom and as, People Probably, know caden linstrom
who was drafted fourth overall back in, twenty twenty four
played four games all, of this season so we didn't
really learn. A whole lot, he was, injured and frankly
it was a pretty important theme throughout this year's draft
is people not wanting to have another incense like this
because even though hopefully everything will Be fine with linstrom his,
career moving forward but the reality is that he lost
an entire year of development, this past year which is
really important as an eighteen. Nineteen year old so he
did play four games in the playoffs from medicine had he.
Had four points he looked pretty good frankly during. Those
four games but it's just such a small Sample size
that i'm not sure we can say a whole lot
different about him, this time around other than he remains
a top Prospect in. The columbus system he, remains, a
big powerful physical forward who can if everything breaks, right
be incredible and that's hopefully. Still the case he is
this upcoming season GRADUATING from the whl and GOING to
the ncaa who has a pretty incredible freshman class and all,
star freshman class and hopefully we'll be able to. Do
great things but it will be a steep learning curve
after missing a big part of the previous season and
all of this SEASON, in a whl he just hasn't played.
Speaker 3: That many games he's played UNDER one, hundred whl games
and that's just frankly not enough to really get him
to where he. Needs to go so it'll be a
steep learning curve, of A college But i'm sure i'll.
Speaker 7: Make the most of it and we'll learn a. Lot from,
him AS such my fhl layer card didn't change for him.
THIS last year i just kept him where he was seven.
POINT two three i don't see any reason.
Speaker 2: To.
Speaker 7: CHANGE that still i think he has a, lot of
upside but don't really know.
Speaker 3: How likely it is because of all the things. We
just mentioned but we can learn a little Bit more
about WINSTON from Our. Fhl scout, Jesse.
Speaker 4: That's right VICTOR and Our fhl scout jeremy had, This
to say lindstrom is an effortless skater that's slow in
the first step as many, big guys are but he
breezes through the neutral Zone with these he also has
good edgework and is strong, on his skates a major plus.
At his size linstrom's a good. Passer and stickhandler his
wide reach allows him to get around opponents. With ease
shooting jeremy didn't see a lot, of the shot but
his accuracy seemed to be a little rusty in the games.
That he watched if he dials in that he's taking shots,
FROM dangerous areas iq always. In, dangerous positions offensively, defense
wasn't bad but definitely was not. His calling Card good
for checker very constantly applied pressure threat to, take the
body but was careful not to throw himself out of
position going for. A big hit the defense was fine for.
A young center was able to use his long reach
to dis rough passes, or lift sticks but was definitely more.
Oriented to, offense, best asset then was just the general ability. To,
create chaos size speed and skill are a nice, recipe
for success and the biggest obvious is can be. The
injury history it's, been well advertised but one point five
years of loss development is going to, hurt Any, prospect
and jeremy like the, rest of us hopes to, see a.
Full healthy season the top tier outcome still a top
Line Center perennial All star per jeremy because he's got
the makings of the top of, the league's center a,
lot of. Tools very raw the media outcome middle six
secondary score, because the, size the smarts and the offensive
talent are there to stick around. For a while the
offense doesn't fully. Come to fruition teams will value his
speed and physicality in other Roles stylistic, comparable barkov's offense but.
Not his, Events and overall jeremy wants to see him
have a Big Year at michigan. State next year big
ten is some, really good competition and it will have him,
playing against. Older bigger Competition Our Ultimate Lord Stanley Tidy
Champion Financial rankking mason black put out the poll two
guys from up in last, Year's Rookie draft Berkeley Catton.
And kaden lynched berkeley parlayed that additional year of production
into A win over linstrum in this poll fifty seven to. Forty,
Three percent victor, What say you I'm definitely.
Speaker 3: TAKING cadden here i really.
Speaker 7: Like his season, And his progression and maybe this is
more having To do with cadden showing and improving and
building on, his Next Steps whereas kayden linstrom just didn't have.
The opportunity to but You gotta love. Kenn's increased production
he went from one hundred and sixteen points in sixty
Eight games for spokane last year to one hundred and
nine and fifty seven this year as the CAPTAIN of,
the whl team and he was over to points per
game in the. Playoffs as well Just all around STUNN
and yet i do worry a little bit about The,
deeps WITH katten but i think he's just so strong
and SPECIAL offensively that i think he. Can get there
one of The things that i'm a little Worried about
with catten is that he's just beyond the BIRTHDATE. For
THE ahl and i know that they DID, update their
cba but unfortunately this is going to be. Effective next
season so they have an exception clause IN the new
cba where a team can put one player in their
prospect POOL in the ahl under the, age of twenty
but that's not Going to, help Cadden unfortunately so i'm
curious to see what they're. Going to do there's really
nothing left for.
Speaker 3: Him to DO at.
Speaker 7: The whl level maybe They do with cadden what They
Did with shane wright a couple, of years ago and
keep him on the team but send him down for
a conditioning assignment and could stretch out his time with
the team and GIVE him some ahl time until he
goes Back To.
Speaker 3: The world juniors so it'll be, INTERESTING to see. I think,
THAT but anyways i like HIM better and i think
that he's come along, a little Bit and hopefully linstrom.
Can get there but, As of Now i'm taking instrom
And what's touching looking at the hockey prospecting, between the
two they both have.
Speaker 7: Really High percentages but cadden went from sixty to fifty
five percent, being a star so he's still. A Bit,
higher and byron like a, lot of people just kept
his percentage The Same, for katin linstrom so he's still at,
thirty four percent and So. Definitely lean's cadden here LOOKING
at my, fhl Player, card for cadden there's just a
whole lot of green everywhere. On this card he drives.
Play really well his transition game is really good except
for his, dump in entries but a lot of strong
players refuse to dump in because they'd rather carry it
in or, pass it in so you can't hold. That
Against him berkeley catton's pims aren't going, to be great
but overall his bash should be, seventy eight percentile mostly related.
To his shots he's a little bit below average for
blocks and very. Low for him definitely a little weaker,
on that end but, other than, that the scoring. The
expected goals you got to check OUT these new. Fhl
player cards they're pretty, cool and updated and there's, two
different versions so if you like the linear bargraph you.
Speaker 3: Can use that if you, like the boxes you can
use that huge update that we just, Underwent this offseason so.
Check those out back to some Other Comps, for caden
linstrom there's. SOME reasonable ones i think certainly the bark
off without the. Defense is interesting the one that looks
the most similar to me on Hockey Prospecting, is matt
dushane who certainly became, a star producer but definitely more offense,
and LESS defense and i think that Probably resonates with listrom,
a Little bit and i'm not sure that the offense
will be, quite that good but he certainly has a
potential to be and has the potential to have.
Speaker 7: More bash chess so. That's pretty exciting that's your no
Brainer For The. Columbus blue Jackets.
Speaker 4: And who victor is our? Need to know.
Speaker 3: Our need To Know. Is luca morelli so this is.
Speaker 7: AN interesting one i like doing these because sometimes there's
some guys that just aren't, as WELL known and i
think it's really helpful to dig into. Some of these
so he is the twenty twenty, fourth third rounder, eighty
sixth overall sixty two. Hundred five pounds he's a right
shot d. Pretty late birthdate he's a or. Sorry early
Birthdate he's, in october fourth or just a couple of
years before being eligible for, the previous draft and he's BEEN,
in the ohl increasing his scoring. Year by year this
past season he had seventy points in, sixty seven games
seventy four points sixty seven Games For the oshawa generals
and overall looking, really strong there including a pretty. Amazing
playoff run because, of his.
Speaker 3: Age he will Be.
Speaker 7: Twenty, on october fourth so he will be able to
BE in the Ahl of the cleveland monsters and that'll
be good. For his Development Looking at mitch brown's Tracking Data,
for luca morelli overall really solid, seventy fifth percentiles offenses,
ninety third percentile, transitions forty seven and, defense since fiftieth so.
Definitely more offensive his expected gold and primary assists are.
Both really high slot passes chopper sixty all. That's really
good his transition game is really good, in some areas
kind of lacking and controlled relative, entries and exits so that's.
A little unfortunate and his entry prevention is also a
little bit lower and also not the, most physical guy
which you can SEE on the. Fhl player card his
hits are. Just twentieth, percentile, his shots though are one
hundred percent of on is expecting, bills and points as,
you might imagine. Are really good his, blocks are averaged
so his bass should be slightly above average when you.
Combine all those let's hear a little Bit More about
LUCA morelli From Fhl Scout jesse.
Speaker 4: Victor jeremy's, Back he says marilli is a skater with
surprising burst. For his size usually relies, on his positioning
but he can turn on the. Jets when needed he
is a confident puck handler who just makes. The simple
play doesn't get fancy on, the power play cool and collected.
Even under pressure the passing is. Always on point jeremy
was particularly impressed with the ability of making soft passes
and tight spaces that. Teammates could handle he also seems
to be a prime passer to tee up, a one
timer helps When you have, seneke taking those though shooting
doesn't have a, booming point shot but as a good
snapbris shot more kin. To a forward he's also good
at taking little sifters to, get pucks through although he
usually looks for. A PASS. First the iq jeremy REALLY
likes that iq on both ends. Of the, puck sturdy defender,
but fullized vision always looking back door even when it
looks like he's in prime, shooting position himself often setting up. Tap,
In goals defense jeremy didn't see enough defense to be,
one percent confident but he thought he. Looked above average shouldn't,
hurt you anyway but probably leans more to, an offensive
role so the best. Asset was vision, In another universe
jeremy wonders if he could have developed. As a centiment
biggest concern seems almost too. Nonchalant at times hard to
tell if that's because he's, dominating his level, which he
is or because there's. A motor concern, top tier, outcome
top line top, power play defenceman but. Not necessarily elite
that might be a bit of a stretch even for a,
top Tier outcome but jeremy thinks he could develop nicely
into a guy you want. Feeding your stars odds are
he'll be the second to the fourth defender, on a
team fiftieth, percentile median outcome STEADY bottom four d jack.
Of all trades everything, looks good enough but probably won't
ever be the best defenseman on his team or the
best prospect. In the pipeline may take some injuries. To
get Opportunities Stylistic, comparable rasmus anderson, boring but effective and
his final thoughts actually wonders if his past Irrelevance, As
a jackson Lacomb or brock. Faber type path obviously those
guys BOTH, went In caa but jeremy could see him
being the next man up for a few years and
then suddenly just being an effective twenty plus minute guy
with power play time after someone misses time and he
never lets go of. That ROSTER spot The Nhl ranking
Mason Black put luca Morelli up Against leo salin WALLENIUS
as a, d Men matchup and morelli wins this one
victor sixty three. To thirty seven what do you SAY
for the Cbj. Versus, The shark.
Speaker 7: Yeah i'm definitely GONNA take this cbj. Than this, one but,
really you know he's. Looking REALLY good and i mentioned
some of his underlying Stats to MISS brown the. Fhl
player cards there's definitely some really, strong numbers there and
it is true.
Speaker 3: That he's playing in a little bit of.
Speaker 7: A Weaker, league selena millennius though he's not a similar
mold an offensive defenseman that isn't overly dynamic, or exciting
offensively and a little, bit weaker defensively so you know
that prototype tends to sometimes have a hard time and
become more and more wary.
Speaker 3: Of that, prototype, he does though. Have decent size, he's
six feets so sometimes when they're, five to eleven, five
to ten that can make, a huge difference but at least.
He's Six foot selena millennius also did play in three
four different, leagues last year so that was probably also
didn't help him in some of. His underlying numbers he
PLAYED in the ja, TWENTY eight games, Shl Sixteen games
hokiels fenskin FOURTEEN games in, lega seven games so that's
going to.
Speaker 7: Make it CHALLENGING but when i LOOK at his, fhl
player card there's a whole lot of red and, yellow
and purple which. IS not good i guess the purple,
is a category so, red and burgundy which. Is, not
good really the only things that were great.
Speaker 3: With his shots he. Shoots a lot his expected goals
and goals, were pretty high and so. We're his assists
but a lot of his, pre shot, passes past, attempts accurate, passes,
possession takeaways, hits buck battles, one loose, buck recovery breakouts
and transition game we're all. Pretty pretty awful so all,
THAT to say i would Definitely Rather have, luca MORELLI
here and i think that he can transition to be
A more effective NHLer and we'll see HIM, in THE
ahl so i like.
Speaker 7: To see THAT not that i am Completely Down On.
LEO selene molnius i just think he needs to play
in one league consistently and then we'll see what, happens
after that maybe he can, shift some perception but, as
of Now really like morelli. In this pole looking at
the hockey prospect in, Between the two morelli increased his
star potential from nine to fifteen Percent in his draft,
Plus One season selene millennius went from, fifteen to eleven
so they almost. Reversed positions, there so Yeah Definitely liking
louca morelli.
Speaker 3: And some other.
Speaker 7: COMPS for, him i mean there's it's really tricky because
there aren't like the. Most amazing comps there's a whole
lot of guys who didn't make it. Or replacement, levels
you Know There's a zach jones comp here who hasn't
been able. To Translate It Stefan robodas yannick weber is
a guy who maybe works a little bit just in
terms OF was an ohl guy.
Speaker 3: HAD similar Numbers I think locum morelly looks a little bit,
Better than that so hopefully he can Beat that comp
and then looking At the, j fresh card seven percent
chance of being a star at seventy seventy six percent
chance OF being an nhl or so At least that
NHLer part is. Pretty optimistic there.
Speaker 4: Jesse and victor who is to keep. Your eye on.
Speaker 7: Keep your Eye On is jordan dume twenty twenty two
to third round pick. Ninety six Overall he was i'm
pretty sure he was five nine when. He was drafted
he's still, five to nine and that's a big part of.
The narrative Here, unfortunately for dumay, he's a small undersized
winger who has TRANSITIONED.
Speaker 3: To the ahl he WAS his.
Speaker 7: First ahl season he had eleven points in, twenty one
games including some mid time miss. Due to, injury you
know roughly half.
Speaker 3: Point per.
Speaker 7: GAMES pretty good i like. To see that looking at his,
OFFICIAL player card i have him as a five point
four or five just forty five percent chance of being an.
Average roster player part of it is. Because you look
when you look at, his underlying numbers a lot of
them are. Really not great he's struggling. To create offense
he doesn't really. HIT or block i mean he doesn't
really hit or shoot very. Much at all he does
actually block, a fair amount which is kind of confusing for,
a small guy but his bash is going to. BE
really weak a lot of his play driving. Numbers are
weak he doesn't really do anything else. Of peripheral value
so if, he's not scoring he's, not doing much and
he was scoring a fair amount this YEAR, in the
ahl so we'll see if he. Can improve that he
did struggle at times though.
Speaker 3: In the league let's hear a little Bit more About
jordan d May from. A, Victil, Scout Jessie Yeah.
Speaker 4: Victor jordan dumay i've been rooting for him for. A
long time jeremy has. This to say the skating, is
high end both. Fast and quick jeremy worries about his strength.
On the skates didn't see we get much of a
chance to see, that from him but, at his size
wouldn't be surprised if. That's an issue passing and handling
good hands and tight and. Passing is adequate shot is the,
best asset though shooting on the rush or. From any
angle he's got IT. Covered the iq the offensive instincts,
are very good constantly getting too dangerous areas, of the
ice and is a. Leader in transition this may have
some negative effect on, his, defensive game though For checking
a harrying four checker who uses his speed and tenacity
to hound defenseman. AND win battles i think he'll, be Very.
Valuable says jeremy, in the corners if he can, make
the show the defense leaves a bit, to be desired
though often waving his ticket guys going past him or.
Not manning up he also likes to fly. His own
early if he can, team those habits he'll be able
to stay on. The ice more the best asset then
the shot thinks he can be a, high end finisher
especially in combination. With his speed the biggest concern lack.
Of impact defensively really a straight line player looking. For
fast Breaks from, what jeremy's seen top tier, outcome toppling winger,
top line winger, but not elite maybe needs, a sheltered
role and that's because he's got the hands and the
speed and the instincts to be a. Constant scoring threat
the median, Outcome. Really great ahler if he can't round,
out his game he's gonna see deployment and Team Changes
like Daniel Sprong Or alex Barry Bulet. Or chris bork
stylistic Comparable Going with cam, Atkinson and overall jeremy says
he's struggling to find a player of his stature and
skill set Who succeeded every comparabowle was either well more
well rounded OR had, that it factor like he's not
as Offensively Gifted as Cole kawfield Or alex the rink
it as Well Rounded as Brad Marshawan. Or jonathan marcias
so Not Even a Logan Stankovin or jonathan drewant just
gonna have a really tough time making it because the
defensive game looked even less engaged this YEAR in the
ahl than When he watched jeremy watched him TEAR up
the whl the. Two Years Ago and mason black put
Out The poll Justin Dumay versus justin pourier Of The,
drafted Bland hurricanes and Dumay nudges out pourier fifty two to. Forty,
eight percent victor what, do you.
Speaker 2: THINK.
Speaker 7: Oh man i would like to plead the. Fifth, Take,
NEITHER no seriously i think that both of these guys are.
GONNA have ischi i think this is a Perfect comp
by mason because they're. Both, small guys poier in case
you're now remembering his five to eight he was Drafted
by the hurricanes in, the fifth round and if he
WAS six feet i have no doubt he would have
gone in the first round because he he had awesome numbers.
In the queue he was well over point per game in.
His draft season he was well over point per.
Speaker 2: Game.
Speaker 7: This season again he's Transferring to The. University of maine
hopefully that's, good FOR him and i think he's. A
great player he does have a lot of positives. To
his game he's not a.
Speaker 3: TOTAL liability defensively i think, he tries hard He's just
not he's not very physical and he struggles with some,
of the physicality so a little be interesting to see
what HAPPENS at.
Speaker 7: The NAA level but i think both these guys are
guys that do to their size and their lack of
ability to get to the. INSIDE and, defense i mean
we've heard some Positives about the maine's game along the
boards in.
Speaker 3: The FORE check but i just think that both of
these guys are.
Speaker 7: Going TO struggle so I guess if i had to choose,
ONE of them i Would probably choose prie just because
of The funnel theory jesse and he.
Speaker 3: Has not as far along and so maybe he will
be able to push the limit a. Little bit more
i'm not sure if five eight or five nine makes.
The huge difference in terms, of the height they're. Both
really underside if one was five ten and five nine,
it might matter or five eleven and five ten. It
might matter but five eight, And, Five mine unfortunately i'm
not sure makes too much. Of a, DIFFERENCE so yeah
i Would.
Speaker 7: Probably go quarriya looking at the hockey prospecting, between these
two du may graduated the model this year at twenty
percent chance of. Being a star parriya went actually down
BECAUSE of the q scoring be a, little bit undervalued
went from fifteen. To six percent so he's going to
have to really raise that star potential by having a
monster in c doblea season or two to really get.
Speaker 3: Back on track looking at some of the all.
Speaker 7: Around Numbers, for justin paryer it actually looks pretty reassuring
in terms, of his shots, his expected, goals his, goals
his assists pre shot passes, to the, slot accurate passes
all these things look really. Good for him in terms of,
his peripheral coverage he's a little bit above average for,
blocks and hits. So that's nice and his shots are
high so his bash is. Actually really good some of
his play driving is a little bit subparo EVEN for
the q which is concerning his, fenwick is high but
his net expected, goals is low and his course and
puck battles won and loose puck recovery or all just
a little, bit above average which he would want a.
Speaker 3: Top prospect to be.
Speaker 7: Well above average on, The other hand party's transition game,
is REALLY good so i like.
Speaker 3: To see that in terms of.
Speaker 7: Some Other Comps, FOR jordan dumay i guess if everything played,
out really well some of his numbers do look Similar. To,
gab vallardi vallardi of course had different issues coming up putting,
the back injury but he's much taller, six foot three
so he.
Speaker 3: Didn't have to deal.
Speaker 7: With those concerns but IN terms Of i think jeremy
laid out the other comps in terms of guys, of
SIMILAR size and i. Agree with him he doesn't have
the dynamic offense that some Of The smaller cole Coffield
Or even Johnny Gudroau had that dumay just doesn't. Quite
get there, but you know maybe he can put it
all together with a little bit more tenacity and off
puck and maybe he can be a. Solid MIDDLE sixer
but i have a little bit less.
Speaker 3: Faith in that in.
Speaker 7: Terms Of the, j fresh card also a little less
faith as we tend to see from him three percent
chance of, being a star twenty one percent chance of,
being an ntler so as we come to expect a little.
Speaker 3: Bit more pessimistic that's It For The columbus. Blue jacket's
stake If.
Speaker 7: You're a patriot you can Listen to my top ten
prospect where you catch Per, Team on patreon and if
you're interested in doing and scouting or helping, out the
show shoot Me, Damn, on twitter discord.
Speaker 3: Or email us.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back close.
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Speaker 3: Sorry i'm sorry, it's not.
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many places and on each and every, One Of them
VICTOR nuno and i are here to help you live
your best. Fantasy hockey life