Welcome to the 2014 edition of “Top Shelf NHL Prospects”. As we go through the Summer of 2014 I will be featuring a team-by-team look at the top prospects in the NHL. I will go team by team through the NHL bringing you a look at each Teams Top Prospects. I will be following the order of the first round of the NHL draft (as if there were no traded draft picks) and you can find all the articles here. Since we had an extensive NHL Draft preview, I will not be reviewing the players who were drafted in the 2014 draft, as there have been no games since then, and my reports on them will not have changed. What I will be doing is linking you to those articles, as well as taking a look at prospects that were acquired before this year’s draft; their progress, and their chances of making the 2014-15 roster of the NHL team in question. I will also bring you one sleeper pick – a player who was either drafted in the 4th-round or later, or was an undrafted free agent signing who I pick as my darkhorse to make the NHL. For those wondering, the cut-off for what is or isn’t a prospect is typically about 50 NHL games played or being 25 years old. These are not hard or fast rules though, and I may make some exceptions depending on the circumstances.
After just missing out in 2013, the Columbus Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the sec0nd time in franchise history in 2014. They did this despite having their two highest-paid forwards out of the lineup for most of the year. Marian Gaborik suffered two injuries, and was finally traded to the Los Angeles Kings, while new top gun (contract wise) Nathan Horton missed about half the year with a shoulder injury. Instead, it was contributions of some of their younger stars such as a breakthrough season for Ryan Johansen, and the addition of forward Boone Jenner and defenceman Ryan Murray, along with continued solid performances from the stars of the 2013 season, such as Sergei Bobrovsky that helped the Jackets over the hump.
The offseason in Columbus has been rather quiet, with no major signings, trades, or free agent losses. The Johansen contract situation remains an issue, but will likely be solved before the start of the regular season and so the continued improvement of the team rests on internal developments of the youngsters and prospects.
2014 Draft Picks (reviewed by LWOS): Sonny Milano, Ryan Collins, Blake Siebenaler, Oliver Leblanc
Graduates: Boone Jenner, Ryan Murray, David Savard, Dalton Prout, Tm Erixon, Sean Collins (age)
Top Columbus Blue Jackets Prospects
Top Prospect: Alexander Wennberg, Centre
Born Sep 22 1994 — Nacka, Sweden
Height 6.01 — Weight 187 — Shoots Left
Drafted by the Blue Jackets in the 1st round, 14th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.
Alexander Wennberg had a strong season with Frolunda in the SHL, scoring 16 goals against men in the highest Swedish domestic league. He was also impressive at the World Juniors where he had 3 goals and 7 points in 7 games to help the Swedish team to a silver medal and within a goal of gold.
Wennberg is a very strong skater despite a less than text book stride. His top end speed and acceleration are both very good, despite the fact he seems to skate a little hunched over and with a short, choppy stride. He does show outstanding agility and edgework, which when coupled with his soft hands and excellent puck handling skills, makes Wennberg a very difficult player for defenders to handle one on one. He has the puck skills and the skating ability to really challenge defenders and to force them to back off or he will go by them on the outside and cut to the net. He also has good balance on his skates and can fight through checks when driving the net.
Wennberg shows strong ability as both a playmaker than a goal scorer. He has good hands in tight and can score with dekes, tip ins and by pouncing on rebounds. Wennberg has shown a better wrist shot this year, adding power as he has added muscle mass to his upper body, and he’s worked on having a quicker release. Wennberg is also a skilled playmaker, with excellent vision, and pin point passing ability. He can create scoring opportunities for his linemates both off the rush and in the cycle game. Wennberg is not afraid to go to the dirty areas of the ice, and the increased upper body strength has made him more effective in board battles or in front of the net. That said, he can still get bigger, and put more muscle on his frame, which would really help him take another step forward as he comes to North America.
Wennberg’s defensive game is extremely well developped. He comes back hard on the back check and understands his defensive responsibilities. He has great defensive awareness and diagnoses plays well, allowing him to usually be covering the right man and in the right position. He does a good job of keeping his man to the outside and cutting down the shooting and passing lanes. One area where Wennberg could improve is in the physicality department as he just doesn’t throw as many hits as we’d like to see out of a player his size, and this may come with increased strength as well.
Wennberg will get the chance to make the Jackets in training camp, but its unclear if he is NHL ready at only 19 years old. Another year of development before making the jump to the big club wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and would not diminish the fact that he is an extremely talented prospect and looks like a true blue chipper. Getting him at 14th overall looks like a real steal for Columbus.
#2 Prospect: Kerby Rychel, Left Wing
Born Oct 7 1994 — Los Angeles, CA
Height 6.01 — Weight 203 — Shoots Left
Drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 1st round 19th overall at the 2013 NHL Draft.
Kerby Rychel set a career high in points with 89, despite playing in 10 less games in the OHL this season. A mid-season trade took him away from Windsor and onto to the powerful Guelph Storm team that won the OHL Title and was one win away from the Memorial Cup. Rychel was a big part of that success with 7 points in 4 Memorial Cup games, and 32 points in 20 OHL playoff games. Rychel scored some big goals for the team including an overtime winner during the OHL Finals. He also played for Team Canada at the World Juniors, but failed to score a point in what was a forgettable tourney.
Rychel has a very heavy, very accurate wrist shot and an excellent release which can really fool goals and leads to him scoring a lot of goals. Rychel also has a very good one timer and should be called a pure sniper. He scores a ton of goals from the top of the circles. However, he can also absolutely lethal in close to the net, using his soft, quick hands to tip in shots and bury rebounds. With this kind of pure goal scoring talent, its easy to see how he has scored 81 goals in the last two years. Rychel also drives opposing goalies nuts by setting up right at the top of the opponents crease and creating traffic along with occasional contact and chaos in the goal mouth area. He also works hard in the corners and throws some big hits by getting in hard on the forecheck. He also has some decent vision, and can make plays for his linemates, especially off the cycle.
Rychel’s skating has really improved over the last two years, but there are still some improvements necessary. He has very good top end speed, but his start up and acceleration are choppy, meaning it takes him an extra stride or two to reach that speed. He does have good agility and excellent balance and power though.
Defensively, Rychel is inconsistent. We’ve seen him play some really great defensive games, taking his man effectively, being involved physically, blocking shots, and really working hard on the back check. When he moves his feet, he’s a really good two way player. However Rychel has also had games where he doesn’t keep his feet moving in his own zone and where he gets caught puck watching at times. This can cause him issues, and he’ll need to find some more consistency.
Like his old man, Rychel is not afraid to play a tough game and has been known to drop the gloves from time to time.
Expect to see Rychel making his pro debut in the AHL for the Springfield Falcons next year. He still needs some time to develop but could be a very strong prospect for the Blue Jackets going forward.
#3 Prospect: Mike Reilly, Defence
Born July 13, 1973 — Chanhassen, MN, USA
Height – 6.00 – Weight – 174 – Shoots left
Drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 4th round, 98th overall of the 2011 NHL Draft.
Mike Reilly could have qualified under our criteria as a sleeper pick, but his play has vaulted him into the top 3 of the organization, and ahead of players who were picked before him. Reilly had 33 points in 41 games for the University of Minnesota as a sophomore being named a First Team All-American (West), and the Big 10 Defenceman of the year. He was also member of Team USA’s 2013 gold medal winning World Junior Team, scoring 4 points in that tournament.
When Reilly was drafted, he was only 5’9″ tall, and this made many teams pass on a player who was clearly a talented offensive defenceman due to concerns about his size. A growth spurt though has led to him coming in at 6’0″ and 174 lbs, which certainly gives him the height needed to be an NHL defenceman. He could still put on some weight though, and that should come with time.
Reilly is an outstanding skater, one of the best that we will feature in our top shelf series. He has great speed in both directions, coupled with strong pivots and edgework, and great agility and he really is an extremely mobile defenceman at both ends of the ice.
A good stickhandler, Reilly is not afraid to use his skating skill and lead the rush, or to join as a trailer. He has very good vision and can make crisp pin point passes both off the rush and in quarterbacking the powerplay. He also has a very hard slapshot and a good wrister with an excellent release. He walks the line extremely well opening up passing and shooting lanes on the Gophers powerplay.
Defensively, Reilly improved a lot this year, but still has some ways to go. His skating makes him very effective one-on-one, and he is tough to get past, but his work in the defensive zone could use some refining. The flaws aren’t huge, and by no means am I saying he’s a liability out there, as he plays big minutes in all situations for the Gophers and usually does pretty well. That said, as with any youngster, there are some areas he could improve. The added muscle I talked about earlier would really help Reilly in battles in front of the net and in the corners. Overall, his positioning, awareness, and anticipation in the defensive zone have really improved since his freshman year, but he’s not perfect and can continue to make improvements in these areas. His biggest asset though is the way he moves the puck. He can either skate it out of danger or fire a great first pass out of the zone. In this way he can hide a lot of defensive flaws by helping his team to stay in possession of the puck.
The latest reports indicate that Reilly is headed back to the NCAA for his junior season. He could make the jump to the pros once the NCAA year is done and join Springfield for the stretch run and the playoffs, forgoing his senior season at Minnesota.
Super Sleeper: Josh Anderson, Right Wing
Born May 7 1994 — Burlington, ONT
Height 6.03 — Weight 212 — Shoots Left
Drafted by Columbus Blue Jackets in the 4th round, 95th overall of the 2012 NHL Draft
Josh Anderson had a nice season for the London Knights, putting up 27 goals and 51 points in 59 games, and going to his third straight Memorial Cup. Unfortunately this visit to the Memorial Cup was as the host team, and not for winning the OHL Championship as the Knights had done the previous two years. They also went home early from the tournament. Anderson also played for Team Canada at the World Juniors, scoring one goal in the tournament, as he mostly saw limited minutes on the bottom lines.
At 6’3, Anderson has ideal size, and he really uses it to his advantage. He is very tough to play against, getting in quickly and being very physical on the forecheck for the Knights. He also is extremely strong on the puck playing an effective cycle game and maintaining possession down low while waiting for an opportunity to take the puck to the net or pass to a teammate in a prime scoring area. Anderson scores the majority of his goals in close to the net, where he battles for position and can convert on tip ins and rebounds. His game is a very simple one, as he’s not going to wow you with fantastic puck skills but he plays a smart game and it is effective at the junior level.
Anderson plays well defensively for London, being chippy and gritty along the boards in his own end. He is willing to block shots, and do whatever it takes to help his team win. He has good anticipation and cuts down passing and shooting lanes well, helping him to be an effective penalty killer. Continuing to refine these aspects of his game is very important as I just don’t see the pure offensive skill for him to be a top line player in the NHL, and his future is likely as more of a big bodied, tough to play against, grinding forward.
Anderson should be headed to Springfield to make his pro debut this fall. He has some potential to be a bottom six player at the NHL level, but will need to keep refining his game in the AHL.
This is a deep system, and the fact that we couldn’t cover Marko Dano, a 2013 first rounder; Michael Chaput, who played 17 games in the NHL last year, Oliver Bjorkstrand who has been lighting up the WHL, defenceman Dillon Heatherington, or goalie Oscar Dansk tells you all you need to know about their depth. Jarmo Kekalainen was considered one of the best scouts in the world when he worked for St. Louis, and over the last two years, has brought a dedication to building via prospects and the draft in Columbus. His appointment marks a real turning point in the history of this franchise, and there should be more playoff runs in the near future.
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