Every year the Blue Jackets prospect head down to Traverse City, Michigan for the annual prospect tournament. Columbus won this tournament last year and with the roster they are bringing they should have a great shot at repeating.
This season they are up against prospect teams from the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings.
Here is the roster the Jackets are sending
Forwards
Kerby Rychel – Dante Salituro – Oliver Bjorkstrand Sonny Milano – Peter Quenneville – Daniel Zaar Paul Bittner – T.J. Tynan – Nick Moutrey Julien Pelletier – Christian Isackson – Josh Anderson Keegan Kolesar – Kole Sherwood
Defence
Dillion Heatherington – Veeti Vainio Dean Kukan – Blake Siebenaler Olivier LeBlanc – Sam Ruopp Oleg Yevenko – Brandon Crawley
Goalies
Anton Forsberg Joonas Korpisalo
The Blue Jackets have invited three players to participate for the team, two which I saw play in the OHL last season.
Christian Isackson
Isackson is the other invite. He spent the last four seasons playing at the University of Minnesota. His best season came in 2012-13 as a sophomore when he scored 20 points in 40 games. He was drafted by the Sabers in 2010 in the seventh round. He never signed with the Sabers as he was never able to build off his 20 point season. The following season he played in just 19 games and put up just four points. Last season wasn’t much better as a senior he put up seven points in 39 games.
Isackson is here because the Blue Jackets do not have many centre prospects in the system. I don’t expect him to get a contract when this is over.
Brandon Crawley
Crawley spent last season in the OHL playing for the London Knights. I was able to see him live a few times last season and he never stood out to me as someone I needed to follow up on. He didn’t see much ice time as he was usually on the third pair. His play with the puck was underwhelming as well, he scored just 16 points in 64 games. However he is the type of defencemen this team has been targeting. He's got solid size at 6’01 and is a physical player. I don’t expect him to get a contract either, he is here because guys like Werenski, Carlsson, Gavrikov and Nutivaara weren't able to.
Dante Salituro
Heres what i wrote about Saliutro (among others) prior to the draft http://t.co/HPQLh6BbaW
— Paul Berthelot (@PaulBerthelot) September 3, 2015As you can see I'm a big big fan of Salituro’s. Every game I saw him he did something that impressed me. I was very surprised to see him go undrafted as he lead the Ottawa 67’s in scoring with 78 points. He is a small player measuring at 5’09. But he has the attributes that makes you think he could succeed as a small guy. First of all his hands are ridiculous. He has some slick mitts and can dangle around defencemen. His shot is very good as well, it’s got good zip on it and he finds the net, scoring 37 goals last year. He's willing to battle anyone; he has no problem going to the front of the net and into the corner to get the puck. He takes a beating in those areas but to his credit he can handle it playing in every game for 67’s over the last two seasons. Finally he is a very smart player. His hockey IQ is very high. He reads and anticipates the play very well causing many turnovers for the other team. He's very effective in the offensive zone as he always seems to know where his teammates are.
I think Salituro is very good player and should earn himself an entry level contract after this tournament is over.
The tournament kicks off on September 11th when the Blue Jackets take on the St. Louis Blues.
You can find me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot