Could The Columbus Blue Jackets Draft Igor Chernyshov?
could the Blue Jackets add to their small But Mighty Russian mafia in this year’s upcoming NHL draft maybe and we’re going to talk about who they could add and why in just a minute here on locked on Blue Jackets your locked on Blue Jacket your daily podcast on the Columbus Blue Jackets part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday hello and welcome to lockon Blue Jackets part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day I am as always your host Jay Foster here to give you the Good the Bad and the Ugly about your favorite team and mine Columbus Blue Jackets before we get started I want to thank everyone for making this your first listen of the day every single day lock on Blue Jackets is free available on all podcast platforms over on YouTube and on SiriusXM I also have to let you know today’s episode is brought to you by indeed there’s no I in there there’s no I in team but there is one in indeed and that’s the hiring platform you need to build yours start hiring now with a $75 sponsored job credit up upgrade your job post at indeed.com logdon terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed like I said at the top of the show uh we’ve got Sebastian high back to talk about another Prospect profile uh we’re really going to be ramping these up as the draft gets closer and closer it’s like five weeks away at this point which is a little bit scary but we’re talking about EO chernishov today who is another guy that is kind of in the top 15 of most people’s mock draft but I don’t see anyone talking about him and so I wanted to know why that was so we’re going to talk to Sebastian about about that and uh we’re also going to check in with Gavin brintley who’s playing at The World Championships and we’re also going to check in with Max McHugh who is uh an intriguing Blue Jackets prospect that could be doing important things for the monsters this time next year so I’m just going to get into my conversation with Sebastian we’re talking all about uh a Russian Prospect today not the Russian Prospect you might expect but someone who uh is again an uh kind of an underrated Prospect I think uh he’s a it’s a name that’s been coming up more and more as we get closer to the draft and uh it’s another personal favorite of uh head Scout of D Prospect Sebastian High I’ve brought Sebastian on and uh we’re going to talk a little bit about why he has chernishov ranked so much higher than basically every other uh prospecting platform out there but uh you know everyone has that that’s what I love about this this kind of time of year is that everyone has their favorite and everyone will fight to the death for why their ranking is the correct ranking and why everyone else is wrong and it’s just it’s a lot of fun from someone who kind of only really sees the edges of kind of the the work that these Prospect experts do but um what kind of player is Eagle chernishov first up yeah so he is a 6 fo2 196 pound right shot left Winger out of Russia who split this season between the KHL uh and the MHL the Russian Junior Rank and through 22 games uh in junior hockey he logged 13 goals and 28 points uh and in the KHL he played 34 games uh and scored three goals and one assist for four points but do not let the point total uh like scare you off there in the KHL he was an excellent KHL in his draft gear uh which was really impressive he had a tremendous defensive impact he was probably like he’s easily a top three like best defensive for playing against professional competition in this draft class alongside the likes of constant helenius and Michael Brans nard uh and on top of that he also had a great impact in transition uh very reliable in exiting the Zone in the defensive Zone and getting into the offensive zone with control Beyond just those areas of strength he’s a he’s an excellent Puck Handler he’s really powerful and physical and he has a wicked shot he has all the makings of a modern NHL power forward in my opinion a player that you can trust in the defensive Zone who can lead the breakout uh who uses his handling in tandem with his mobility and his shooting ability to create off the rush but on the cycle is able to post himself at the net front or take up the bumper position or even be a half wall shooting threat uh we just came out with a with an episode over at lock on NHL prospects uh where where I broke down the top five goal scorers in this draft class and eigor Turner came in at number four on that list he’s a really good goal scorer very projectable in the way he scores goals it’s not just a heavy release he has like a very heavy uh wrist shot very dangerous snapshot as well but it’s the way he’s able to integrate that in with the rest of his tools the way he’s able to leverage his handling ability to access space to change angles of release to get to the dangerous areas of the ice and you can also score those really dirty goals whether it be a rebound or tip Around the Net front or a quick snapshot as a bumper on the power play the versatility in how he’s able to score goals and uh just like the amount of tools that he already has that are already very very good that support the way he scores goals in my opinion makes him a very projectable NHL goal scorer and a player I’d be happy to swing on in that middle of the teams uh I I will say we don’t necessarily have them significantly higher than everybody else anymore uh the he was He’s listed as having been ranked 10th overall by D prospects on Elite Prospect but that was our February ranking he fell more towards like 14 or 15 uh in April and uh he’s probably going to stick around that level which is right in line with where he’s ranked by the likes of elite prospects or Craig Button or Bob McKenzie but he hasn’t been talked about very much he’s the type of player that a lot of people have ranked in that like late teens early 20s range and it’s just like oh yeah he’s he’s he’s good he’s really good he’s big and can score he’s good but like there should be more hype behind this player in my opinion because in terms of the style he plays he’s he’s kind of in line stylistically not in terms of projection or or player comp but stylistically along the lines of like a Miko Ranon and or Yuri sovi but leaning a lot heavier for goal scoring than playmaking the playmaking game is an area of weakness with chernishov at this stage in his career at least relative to the rest of his toolkit uh he often put like like telegraphs his passes even on two on ones he can really Telegraph that he’s going to choose the pass and it just has broken up so he’s going to have to integrate a lot more deception in the way he passes the puck he’s mechanically a decent passer it’s the way he he disguises that and is able to deceive through the hands into the playmaking that needs a lot of work but he has the handling ability and the goalscoring threat uh to to Really create that type of deception to to open up passing Lanes uh to explore his playmaking creativity but that has not come this season especially because he was playing a lot of minutes in the KH and wasn’t getting all the ice time in the MHL like a player like Ivon deida for instance to really test out the breadth of his toolkit but uh he was really able to show just how uh how strong his foundation is of habits off the puck and in the defensive Zone that in my opinion makes him a very projectable NHL player and I I don’t really see many worlds where he doesn’t end up at the very least being an entertaining and effective bottom six piece we’re going to get back to my conversation with Sebastian about you got chernishov in just a second but first I’ve got to tell you about indeed there’s no I in team but there is one in indeed and that’s the hiring platform you need to build your team when you’re hiring you need indeed it’s the hiring platform where you can attract interview and hire all in one place they spending hours on multiple job sites searching for candidates with the right skills indeed powerful hiring platform can help you do it all they’ve got powerful tools that help you find matched candidates to really streamline hiring and with IND instant match over 80% of employers quality candidates whose resume on indeed matches their job description the moment they sponsor a job I only use indeed when I am looking for when I unlucky enough to be looking for a job Indeed is the website that I use so I can only imagine it is just as good if you are hiring to join more than three million businesses worldwide that use indeed to hire great Talent fast start hiring now with a $75 sponsor job credit to upgrade your job post at and.com logdon offer is good for a limit of time claim your $75 Credit Now indeed.com logdon indeed.com lockon terms and condition supply need higher you need indeed well the good news about that is the Blue Jackets have approximately 700 Playmakers and like one and a half goal scorers so this could be this could be a real kind of meeting of the meeting of the two things here I feel like KHL player like young KHL players are so difficult to project if you really only have like the stat sheet to look at you know because I’m like okay he played 34 games how many of those games did he play 12 seconds of you know because a lot of KHL teams don’t typically play their young players a ton so it’s really tough to kind of get and look and like oh okay he only scored three goals but how many of those games did he actually play like a real amount of and also he he did he did play a real amount because he was just like a shutdown defensive forward so he was playing a lot of like fourth line minutes he was getting like I’d say one in every three games he played he was playing on the second line he was seeing a little bit of second power play time but not very much uh but as soon as the playoffs hit his time on Ice plummeted as well so there definitely is something along those lines as well but I would say I think he deserved to have more more points and more goals than he ended up having and I watched a fair few like at least a handful of the KHL games where he played upwards of 10 minutes and uh his consisteny in being able to get those High danger scoring chances and the the heaviness behind his release and the the handling skill really should have gotten him a couple more points on the board like there were I think I counted at least like four to five posts in those five games that he played like he wasn’t necessarily always getting the lucky bounces but uh I I’d be looking at him to to take a really significant step in production as a D+ one because he now has that experience in the KHL he knows the pace at which the league plays and he also knows in which areas of the ice he has a bit more space and time to work with uh and I think that he’ll be able to to at the very least CH chip in with like a third of a point a game uh next season rather than a measly four through 30 something games yeah this might be getting kind of a little bit to inside baseball here but something that I’ve kind of been talking about um on lock on Blue Jackets I’ve been doing a lot of my player reviews for the season and Demitri fonov was a guy that I just looked at and like right okay how do they get the most out of this guy in future seasons and the he played best when he had a Russian on his line that being said I don’t know that him and car marchenko are kind of in the same tier of player y go chov is kind of up in the air right now he doesn’t have a contract I assume that they’re going to bring him back but again will he be playing in the top six will he be playing in the bottom six having someone like chernishov come in and add to that kind of small Russian mafia that the Blue Jackets are building with their Prospect pool someone to play on that in that bottom six with ronov and maybe get kind of the best out of both players is is something that kind of is is really interesting to me is that like do you kind of see that as a potential pairing that that could work um with with voronov just being enormous and mean and chernishov being the goal scorer definitely and I think like one nice thing about eagor tesv is he could be an NHL bottom STI guy within like a year and a half two years right so the the timeline of getting him into that bottom six capacity isn’t too too far away I’m not quite sure what his contract Situation’s looking like but I know it’s not super long term uh but we’ll see if he resigns on a long-term deal after being drafted but that’s obviously always up in the air but uh I do think that integrating him into that bottom six a bit earlier getting him those NHL reps will be a really good stepping stone for him to establish himself uh in the in the top six potentially as a goal scorer as a power forward as a potential offensive d driver and also a high-end defensive piece but the nice thing is he can start out as like a third line Winger playing second PK minutes because those are strength in his game he’s able to do all those things very well so we’ll get the coach’s trust in those areas and he’ll be able to build off of that and playing with a guy like Demetri verono is going to give him space to do so uh like of all the things verono can do getting giving space to his linemates through the like the sheer size that he is yeah he’s enormous and he just creates space or he’ll go through you it’s a lot of EXA exactly yeah he just creates craters in the offensive zone that his teammates can go and and and uh plop themselves into and chov is going to love that and chov himself can do the a similar type of thing to a lesser degree he’s also really powerful he’s also very strong he makes those hard drives to the net he gets himself in those dirty areas but if he has a bit more space to work with at the NHL level that’ll make the goal scoring also come a lot more easily than if you were having to score from in tight Under Pressure right out of the gate so we kind of talked about this a little bit where um where we did the profile on alphons Frey and like the kind of the down year for swedes the Russians are always so hard to predict obviously because some some teams want to take a risk on them some teams don’t like there was a whole big thing that came out as of the day that we’re recording this apparently the Flyers and mat mitchar haven’t spoken since the draft which I I don’t know if that should be concerning or if that’s just how Russia works but it feels like he’s the kind of player that could be almost like a Demitri sashev type I know that they’re very different players but Dimitri simv obviously went seventh I want to say six or 12th six he went really really early in the draft six overall precis like like simv went Sixth and denil went at five yeah so is it do you think that kind of a similar thing and I feel like that happens with Russians specifically is that they get taken really early if the if the player that the team actually wanted isn’t available like if that makes sense you know and is that the kind of thing that you could see happening with chernishov of someone else you know a another goal scoring heavy Prospect goes at nine or 10 let’s say chernov suddenly appears at you know 10 or 11 is that kind of could you see a similar thing happening with with his game with his draft uh position I could in theory I do expect him to be uh available a little bit later than than I would want him to be which is a good thing for whatever team will end up picking him uh like the player that that that like they kind of alluded to there in that role of like a player that stylistically and in terms of frame and profile is a bit similar that is like is projected to go higher that’s Michael Brans like nart uh like I don’t really see a world where turnov goes over Brans like nard trov is a slightly better Puck Handler than uh than mbn but everything else across the board is more refined and more projectable with Brans nard than it is with with chov like the goal scoring I’d say like TR has a slight Edge there too but it’s very slight uh Branson nar’s also a great goal scorer but nbn’s like the best four Checker available in this dra draft he’s the best defensive forward available in this draft he’s a wicked goal scorer he has really good hands uh he gets to the dangerous areas he he’s he’s already an NHL in terms of how he plays the game so uh at least in my eyes even as somebody that likes trov a lot as a prospect I I would not consider selecting him above Michael bring nard but uh if Branson nard ends up going higher than projected and currently he’s not even projected to be a top 50 guy if we’re looking at Bob MacKenzie’s board but if he does end up being going in that like 9 to 11 range I could see trinov dropping between 13 and 16 I think it’s possible I don’t think it’s overly likely my guess is trov ends up somewhere between 19 and 28 uh but uh again there’s always a lot of wiggle room with that and especially in this year’s draft class it is a horror to rank like you talk just any any Scout and it’s just like yeah I I only have headaches like I feel like with time we’re getting some more distinct tiers but those tiers are still very large and uh within those tiers it’s just absolute Mayhem uh so I’m very curious to see how draft day goes because it’s going to be a ton of wild cards and uh I’m sure that uh nobody’s going to predict like the right top 15 in in the order because uh that that would be a stroke of Genius and and significant luck it feels a little bit obviously the the the 2020 draft was wild for or the 2021 draft excuse me was wild for so many reasons but I feel like I’m getting the same sort of vibe where I’m like well this guy could go fourth overall or he could go 24th overall you know it feels like well okay Owen power is probably gonna go first m is is probably gonna go second and then after that who knows who knows Bas Mavish at third why why the heck not you know um and I’m getting the similar similar sort of Vibes with with this draft in that I’ve kind of every single person I look at every single mock draft I look at they’ve got Stella brini first usually demidov second and then after that it’s just complete Carnage and Chaos like no one seems to know what to do with with this draft which is really interesting to me yeah I I I would say I think leov is another player that I I’d be surprised if he’s still available at Fourth overall I think he’s going either at two or three but beyond that it is so wide open obviously Anton salv is the top four candidate as well well uh on draft day which I I I can’t say I fully am aligned with in seeing that but uh he has some exceptional tools so why not I guess uh but yeah it is it is so wide open and there’s so many different swings that I can understand other Scouts having significantly higher than I have them like I currently have coisman ranked 15th overall I understand that if a SC has them at 25 and I understand if a scout has at five like there are arguments to be made anywhere in that range and uh is just so wide open or even a player like cona helenius super smart I’ve seen people talking about cona helenius as a candidate for fourth overall which seems wild to make or 25th I’ve seen a couple SC Not many but a couple Scouts have them significantly lower because the upside is many question marks around that he doesn’t really have any standout tool that is significantly above average he’s like he’s slightly above average at just about everything but the question is is that going to be enough to allow him to be a real capable top six player that makes a difference offensively and I think that there are valid questions around that that said he’s so ref refine defensively he’s so intelligent on Puck and I think the playmaking has some room to grow because he makes such good decisions with the puck on a stick the creativity could use a little bit more fostering in the upcoming Seasons but he’s a he’s a player I currently have ranked at 12th overall but uh within the last month he’s found himself as high as eight and as low as 15 on my board as well yeah it’s it’s there’s just there’s so much happening out there with the draft I feel like it changes every single day um I want to kind of zero in on the Blue Jackets and we talked a little bit the last time we had you on the show about who you would take at Fourth overall who could be available at Fourth overall etc etc the blue jacket Prospect pool is pretty good I think it’s fair to say I know uh dber Prospect has them ranked I think is the fifth best Prospect pool as recently as as a 2024 which I think is obviously you know they were higher but I think Kent Johnson graduated Co s graduated um yeah couple other players graduated from that from that pool I think um but are the Blue Jackets in a position right now in terms of what their Prospect pool is can they just basically ignore positional need and go for best player available I feel like fourth overall there’s an argument that she go best player available regardless of of positional need but are the Blue Jackets kind of uniquely suited to well we we’ve got a ton of defensive prospects we’ve got a ton of forward prospects we’re kind of set in goal not that there’s even any kind of conversation that you should take a goalie at Fourth overall because people are cowards but they but they have a a pretty solid goalie Prospect po again ironic that we’re talking about this in the chernish episode because Russian goalies we have lots of them um but other the blue jacket kind of uniquely suited to just being like well where you going to take the absolute best player that we possibly can regardless of position regardless of like profile you know they don’t need a defensive defenseman they don’t need an offensive defenseman they don’t need a two-way forward they don’t need a power forward blah blah blah like am I right in kind of saying that the blue cheets can kind of just take whoever they want at Fourth overall and it doesn’t really matter yes I I would say there there’s perhaps a slight lean at least from my perspective uh towards a a forward that can help Drive the offense I think that like sure you have you have your highend pieces like Adam fantilli and Kent Johnson obviously not had a down year this season but uh when he’s on his game he’s a real offensive driver as well but I think minutes a game he’ll be great that’s true right the that on this episode you know but if it was me I probably would play more than eight minutes a game but I’m not the head coach that would probably be be wise if you want him to progress in any way shape or form but uh but yeah like I I think I I would put a slight lean on forward so I think like my my top three draft board for the Blue Jackets would be if he’s available Ivon to meet up at one and then probably TJ gin at two and Kaden Lin at three but two and three take your pick whichever preference there’s there’s not too big of a difference there but uh again as you mentioned they can go with just about every position I think left D would be the one where I’d have a I’d be scratching my head a little bit uh just because with Zach wensky locked up long ter at a massive dollar price and d and matuk graduating to Pro Hockey now I don’t really see a need to to spend this fourth overall pick on the left D especially because the left D that that that would be in talkx here is Anton salave if you’re going for a guy like Z boam instead then sure I I’d be more than happy to do that instead but even then stylistic similarities to Denton Muk but again you want to maximize your value so at the end of the day you don’t have to uh make your dep chart look as cohesive as possible on draft day that’s not what draft day is for you want to add value into your dep chart so yes I would I would say that as a whole Columbus is better suited than most organizations uh on draft day to just take the swing on whichever player they believe will be the most impactful at the end of the day and if that ends up being a left jop defenseman or centerman or heck who knows maybe a goal tender maybe Carter George impressed them so much at the u8s for Team Canada that the ends up going forth overall that would uh be very entertaining and very fun and I’m going to be in Vegas for the draft so I would love to see that happen just the sheer entertainment value it would be a fitting for that City but uh within the like the reasonable Realms of what’s going to happen I I think that that it’s it’s likely going to be a forward or a big defenseman if if AR lunov Falls to number four which I’m not expecting to happen but if he does he’s the exact style of player that I think uh like the Blue Jackets Management Group would just look at and be like we already have David year check but if you’re giving us left off why not we’re just going to take that and run I guess uh but yeah all these doors are open all the possibilities are are there and uh it’s going to be really interesting to see who ends up being the general manager for the Blue Jackets on draft day uh because they’re going to have the opportunity to add a a real franchise Cornerstone and already set up their Mark a little bit on the organization obviously have to listen to the scouts that have watched these players all season long but the GM will still have some type of say in the final decision and uh whoever they end up picking will end up making a bit of a stamp on what this organization looks like for the for the following five 10 15 years yeah yeah I feel like I I believe that they still have all of this like the entire scouting department is intact um and I know that yamama Kine and his whole thing was that he obviously he was a scout before he was a GM drafting was his whole thing and you know he was pretty good at it so it’s going to be really interesting to see how much of that was Kon and how much of that was just him being smart enough to listen to a pretty solid scouting staff um but yeah no it makes a ton of sense what you’re saying in that they kind of they have preferences but there’s not like like I feel like Chicago needs to get a defenseman you know you know demov is to pass on but I feel like they already have so many small Wingers small scoring Wingers for sure it it doesn’t make logistical sense but the opportunity to pair de with Conor Mard is just absurd and I think Davidson’s type of I think Davidson’s the type of GM that would just be like screw it we’re just gonna do it yeah figure it out later but I I I would concur I think it’s it’s about a 5050 between leov andov uh and I think that the closer we get to Draft Day the more rumors we’re going to hear about Le shav being the guy at number two yeah and then obviously ly again it’s the similar thing with the Ducks obviously them they moving Jamie Dale there’s kind of a hole on defense there do they take salv again would do they pass on demidov it’s tough to pass on it’s again it’s a tough sell to be like hey you should take this def this big defenseman over a guy like IA demidov but again they kind of stacked ridiculously so at forward and more so now that they picked up K goer you know so it’s yeah the Blue Jackets aren’t in kind of the same position as those two teams I think I think they really could if they pick a defenseman fine if they pick a forward fine Pi a goalie we might have a conversation but we love goal here a lot on Blue Jackets so I’m not going to you know I I wouldn’t necessarily go with Carter George but we’ll see um I like rice and leinders a lot but ah um yeah that’s my goalie two sense is that my my goalie opinion is that I like lers I like linders a lot so we’ll see where he goes he’s a he’s someone that I’m targeting at the with the 36th overall pick um I think that would be I think that would be fun but um um let’s finish off with I said that we would talk a little bit of like blue jacket specific Prospect and as much as I would love to make you talk about Luka penelli again um he’s not playing right now um he is with the Cleland monsters on an ATO which is fun he might get into a game uh especially since the injury bug seems to be coming back with a vengeance to to Cleveland but um Gavin Brindley late addition to the US roster and uh they’ve decided to play him over both Ryan Leonard and I believe Will Smith was uh again as of the day of recording This Will Smith was a a scratch for Team USA I am surprised by this because as much as I love Gavin brintley I don’t know that he would be my first choice to pick out of those three young players in terms of who I want on the national team but like how how has his game kind of impressed you kind of the tail end of the season obviously he’s done something to make the Team USA think that he deserves to be there like what’s your feelings on Gavin Brindley getting to play for the the men’s World Championships and how he’s looked while he’s been there well he has a very strong record of consistently making a big impact for Team USA in those in those big uh tournaments in the W in the IHF so I think that would be one thing of like there’s some familiarity within uh hockey USA Hockey uh with him in in those big tournaments and the other thing is the role like Will Smith is a dynamic offensive driver what he isn’t is a a player that you can plug in into a bottom line who’s going to be like your most energetic checking forward if you want him to be and on the puck can create as well like Ryan Leonard’s perhaps a little bit more in that mold stylistically and I’d probably select Leonard over uh over Brindley for that type of role but it’s it’s neck and neck these are players that I I’m a massive fan of I don’t think it’s really a wrong choice uh between those three players and which player ends up getting those minutes uh in in the in the tournament and uh I’ve caught game uh where where um where Brindley played at the world championships and he looked great I mean he didn’t play too too much but when he was on the ice he made an impact bring a ton of energy a ton of pace and just the combination of those types of like of like that work rate those refined habits that like for checking pressure back checking pressure but also the on Puck skill he’s so Dynamic with the puck he likes to try things out he’s Dynamic uh and he’s he’s going to be a really fun player in Columbus and just just about no time at all I think he could be an NHL out of Camp next season and uh seeing him and fanelli together even if it might just be in the power play to start rather than at even strength uh sign me up that’s going to be a lot of fun and uh we’re gonna see Blue Jackets hockey get more entertaining as the year progresses that’s the that’s the hope that was gting about a follow-up question was is he a is he a blue jacket this October or is he a monster this October um I know what my pick would be but is it better for him to play a million minutes in the AHL or to potentially get like the the Kent Johnson treatment this season where sometimes he plays 16 minutes and sometimes he plays eight minutes and sometimes he gets healthy scratch for no reason at all you know yeah like again that it’s always a tough debate I I do think that players getting minutes is very important for the for their development so I think if your options are playing Brindley eight minutes a night on the fourth line or giving him Topline minutes uh in the AHL be giving him the AHL opportunity but that said I don’t think it’s impossible that he just starts out in the top nine right out of the gate and I would prefer to see him in a top nine role if he’s set for that type of role out of Camp compared to the AHL so lot that comes down at least try him to begin with God course built in best friend chemistry like that was the whole reason they drafted both not the whole reason but I think you know that’s why they took help friendley over for a player like Andrew Christal for example was they were like right we have best friends we’ll stick them together and hopefully profit from it so you’d be stupid not like who knows maybe in five months time or whenever the season starts I’ll be sitting here tearing my air out tearing my hair out because they refuse to play Fant brle together but for my money likely but we’ll see it’s too easy you know too easy yeah for sure um there’s another prospect that I want to ask you about uh that I didn’t uh pre-warn you about so I’m just going to throw throw this out there cold uh Max McHugh is heading to the memorial cup with the London Knights obviously he was a I believe a San Jose shark’s third round draft pick that they didn’t sign so his he became a UFA signed with the Blue Jackets um I believe is aging out of London um so will’ll be with the the he will be turning pro um as soon as the Memorial Cup is over I’m assuming he’s going to be an impact piece for the monsters but like what kind of insights do you have on on Max McHugh who just wrapped up a pretty darn good playoff season with the London Knights who admittedly stupid good team they had I think in the top I think they had six of the top nine oh Champion like playoff scorers on that team but how do we feel about Max mchu as a player I I think he’s going to be a really solid AHL I think the NHL upside are going to see some question like we’ll see with time he’s like stylistically the type of player that could be a bit of a late bloomer in how he’s able to add some more offensive impact with time but I mean this is a player like like he’s 21 years old right now uh playing like second to third line minutes with London uh and he put up just under a point a game the regular season just over a point a game in the playoffs but even last year as a 19 slap 20y old he scored 13 goals 39 points in 58 games so the record of production with him has been a little bit choppier that’s said I’ve liked him when I’ve seen him this season he’s been very good for London but he’s also been a 21 year old playing in the OHL so for me that that’s a very difficult mold of player to kind of evaluate of a player that made a significant jump in terms of production and offensive impact in their final ol season while also being one of the oldest players on the most dominant team in the OHL it’s very difficult to kind of like find the barometer of how you might value that in terms of a potential NHL projection but at the very least as like potential bottom six AHL contributor out of the gate next season I could totally see that and also with the experience of having played in as high pressure environment as London you are getting a kind of a training for professional hockey for the AHL level right there in junior hockey which is a very unique environment which I don’t think hurts whatsoever uh but yeah he he’s a bit of like a primary playmaker has a decent motor on him he 6 foot1 174 pounds uh I doesn’t have like that that Dynamic offensive skill that that can give him that like top nine uh NHL upside but he might he might top out as like a fourth liner in the NHL and if you get that with a player that that you just got as a free agent that’s found money uh but again like we’ll we’ll see he’s one of many players in this system and uh just giving him a shot in the AHL along with a bunch of other players that will be making that leap next season will be interesting to see yeah he’s kind of like like you said he’s found money they signed him for free they didn’t use a Draft pick on him they basically were like hey why not we’ll give this player a shot and you know the Blue Jackets have a a handful of players that are are kind of in the same boat most of them are college free agents so um Josh Dar came to us as a college free agent Hunter maau was the uh last season’s college free agent Nick blankenberg who I’m still really high on um as a as potential top four NHL defenseman um am I biased maybe am I right who knows um but they have a lot of Owen singer is another one he came out of of college as as a free agent so like the Blue Jackets have had AHL success with these players I’m not out here expecting Max McHugh to necessarily be a game breaker but if they can get a fourth line forward out of a player that they got for free that feels like a that feels like a success to me um we’ll have to have you back on the show probably after the draft now and we’ll talk about the stupid things that the blue jacket did at the draft or the great things that the blue jacket did at the draft who knows uh it’ll be definitely be one of those two it’s either going to be a disaster or it’s going to be another oh my God how did the Blue Jackets walk away with X Y and Z and there’s really no way to know you know it could be Luca penelli in the fourth round all over again um I really hope he gets some AHL playoff time I really do we can’t get into we’re running long here so we can’t get into how much we both love LCA padeli’s game but we are legally obligated to mention him at least once when Sebastian comes on the show so um if people want kind of learn more about prospects if they want to get your rankings things like that where can they find you in your work online uh hicore Sebastion on Twitter that’s where I centralize everything I’m going to come out with my personal top 100 rankings in early June along with a big write up uh for every explaining the ranking of every single player as well as what they project in terms of role uh and upside in the NHL and uh also over at daber Prospect will’ll be coming out with a top 128 ranking uh which is the the the draft team that I’m able to lead alongside hadti Kesh and uh it’s an excellent group of scouts over there we do like everyone there is just extremely hardworking and it’ll be the final ranking of a really big season of work so we’re excited to present that to everybody and last but not least uh the sister channel of this channel locked on NHL prospects which I I I do alongside again Hade cat we do a lot of work together uh and and we’re coming out with a lot of content now in the coming weeks and the next month leading up to the draft uh we came out with a mock draft and a breakdown of Bob McKenzie’s top 15 rankings last week so that that’ll be some interesting content that you could dig into but uh yeah keep your eyes open and we’ll be doing a lot of draft content uh in the months after the draft as well so we’ll do a full breakdown of whatever Columbus ends up doing on draft day as well uh when the time comes but uh yeah my work’s kind of strewn around all those different places but it’s all centralized Twitter perfect yeah lock on Blue Jacket should be your first listen of the day but lock on nhal Prospect should definitely be your second Liston of the day uh thanks for coming to talk Prospect with me Sebastian I appreciate it my pleasure and that’s all I’ve got for you today uh tomorrow we are going to be talking all about Alexander texier and his return to the NHL how his first season back after taking uh most of two seasons out went uh what his new contract could look like um and indeed if he will be a blue jacket in October and where he fits into the lineup if he is so that’s tomorrow’s episode thank you for listening to this episode making it your first listen of the day every single day locked on Blue Jacket is free and available on all podcast platforms over on YouTube and on SiriusXM uh you can find me on Twitter _ Jacob Foster j a k o b f o r s t r you can find the show at L oore Blue Jackets on Twitter and on Instagram if you have comments questions criticisms you can email me at lockon Blue Jackets Gmail .c thank you once again for listening and uh until tomorrow make sure you stay locked on
Igor Chernyshov is a potential top 10 pick that no one is talking about. Why is that? We ask Sebastian High of Locked on NHL Prospects before checking in on Gavin Brindley at Worlds and getting a quick scouting report on CBJ Prospect Max McCue!
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1 comment
Yegor surin would be my pick if it would pick anyone from Russia past the first round he is a very strong 200 foot player