Real hockey is coming up very soon, with the start of the Traverse City prospects tournament (stay tuned tomorrow for a preview and open thread!), and in the meantime we’ve killed time by doing our annual countdown of the 25 best young players in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the voting!
The full list of articles can be found here.
By the numbers
Biggest riser: Jordan Dumais (#23 in 2022, #10 in 2023)
Second place: James Malatesta (#27 in 2022, #18 in 2023)
It feels fitting that the two players here faced off in the championship series for the QMJHL. Dumais had won the regular season MVP award, but Malatesta had the better postseason, winning playoff MVP honors in the Q, then MVP of the CHL’s Memorial Cup as well as he led the Quebec Remparts to that title.
Biggest faller: Cole Sillinger (#2 in 2022, #7 in 2023)
Second place: Adam Boqvist (#4 in 2022, #8 in 2023)
Interesting that no one fell as far as Jake Bean’s 7 spots last year, and that the two biggest fallers both nonetheless remained in the top 10. Both Sillinger and Boqvist have had struggles for different reasons, but the ceiling for each remains high, albeit with more competition now for big NHL minutes.
Appearances by draft class (CBJ draftees)
2023: 2 (Fantilli, Brindley)
2022: 4 (Jiricek, Mateychuk, Dumais, Del Bel Belluz)
2021: 5 (Johnson, Sillinger, Svozil, Ceulemans, Malatesta)
2020: 2 (Chinakhov, Knazko)
2019: 1 (Voronkov)
2018: 4 (Marchenko, Foudy Fix-Wolansky, Berni)
2017: 3 (Texier, Tarasov, Bemstrom)
Undrafted: 3 (McKown, Christiansen, Greaves)
Acquired via trade: 1 (Boqvist)
Three players on this list were added within the last 6 months. Fourteen were added since the end of the 2021 season. The years 2017-2020 saw more of a focus on winning in the present, but after 2021 forced a reset, the rebuild has been swift and significant. Now it’s a question of whether the pieces fit together, and if the coaching and development staff can make the most of them.
Positions
Forwards: 15
Defensemen: 8
Goalies: 2
Last year featured 10 defensemen, but this year voters were more drawn to the forwards.
Nationality
Canada: 12 (Fantilli, Johnson, Sillinger, Mateychuk, Dumais, Del Bel Belluz, Ceulemans, Malatesta, Foudy, Fix-Wolansky, Christiansen, Greaves)
Russia: 4 (Marchenko, Chinakhov, Tarasov, Voronkov)
Sweden: 2 (Boqvist, Bemstrom)
Czechia: 2 (Jiricek, Svozil)
USA: 2 (Brindley, McKown)
France: 1 (Texier)
Slovakia: 1 (Knazko)
Switzerland: 1 (Berni)
An even bigger north-of-the-border bias this year, with 12 Canadians.
Snubs (by Dalerrific)
Sergei Ivanov: The Russian goalie prospect had a spectacular KHL debut last season where he recorded a .957 save percentage in 5 games played. He has already picked up where he left off by recording his first career KHL shutout on September 4th. He’s several years away from coming to North America, but he’s turning into a promising prospect.
Mikael Pyyhtiä: I understand why. The lesser known 2020 4th round pick had an impressive 2021-22 season in Finland, but 2022-23 was a disappointment. He was able to join Cleveland for seven games towards the end of the season and scored three goals in that span. I really like his game and I think he will make some noise in Cleveland this season.
Are there any others you think should have been included? Who among the 25 do you think was too high or too low? Sound off in the comments.
Writer Votes
| PD | Dale | Josh | Burkus |
| Fantilli | Fantilli | Fantilli | Fantilli |
| Johnson | Jiricek | Jiricek | Jiricek |
| Jiricek | Johnson | Johnson | Marchenko |
| Marchenko | Marchenko | Marchenko | Johnson |
| Mateychuk | Mateychuk | Sillinger | Texier |
| Chinakhov | Chinakhov | Chinakhov | Boqvist |
| Sillinger | Dumais | Fix-Wolansky | Chinakhov |
| Svozil | Texier | Texier | Dumais |
| Texier | Del Bel Belluz | Boqvist | Sillinger |
| Tarasov | Boqvist | Dumais | LDBB |
| Boqvist | Svozil | Cuelemans | Mateychuk |
| Voronkov | Tarasov | Voronkov | Bemstrom |
| Dumais | Sillinger | Tarasov | Foudy |
| McKown | Voronkov | LDBB | Cuelemans |
| LDBB | Ivanov | Bemstrom | Berni |
| Bemstrom | Bemstrom | Malatesta | Tarasov |
| Brindley | Brindley | Svozil | Svozil |
| Malatesta | Cuelemans | Foudy | Knazko |
| Ceulemans | Christiansen | Brindley | Voronkov |
| TFW | Malatesta | Christiansen | Christiansen |
| Berni | Foudy | Whitelaw | Brindley |
| Dolzehnkov | Pyyhtia | McKown | Malatesta |
| Lalonde | Greaves | Knazko | TFW |
| Peddle | Knazko | Greaves | Greaves |
| Foudy | Makarov | Ivanov | OJBH |
Reader Votes
| Player | 1 (25) | 2 (24) | 3 (23) | 4 (22) | 5 (21) | 6 (20) | 7 (19) | 8 (18) | 9 (17) | 10 (16) | 11 (15) | 12 (14) | 13 (13) | 14 (12) | 15 (11) | 16 (10) | 17 (9) | 18 (8) | 19 (7) | 20 (6) | 21 (5) | 22 (4) | 23 (3) | 24 (2) | 25 (1) |
| Adam Fantilli | 1250 | 240 | 207 | 110 | 42 | 20 | 19 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||
| Kent Johnson | 300 | 528 | 736 | 154 | 63 | 38 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Kirill Marchenko | 250 | 336 | 299 | 682 | 147 | 20 | 36 | ||||||||||||||||||
| David Jiricek | 125 | 672 | 391 | 264 | 105 | 100 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 13 | ||||||||||||||
| Yegor Chinakhov | 46 | 44 | 273 | 280 | 228 | 180 | 102 | 48 | 60 | 28 | 52 | 24 | |||||||||||||
| Adam Boqvist | 25 | 132 | 189 | 240 | 171 | 108 | 102 | 112 | 75 | 42 | 24 | 33 | 10 | 14 | 6 | ||||||||||
| Cole Sillinger | 24 | 23 | 242 | 220 | 285 | 144 | 187 | 32 | 15 | 28 | 26 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Alexandre Texier | 48 | 220 | 242 | 100 | 76 | 108 | 119 | 128 | 75 | 42 | 39 | 24 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 4 | ||||||||
| Denton Mateychuk | 23 | 168 | 200 | 95 | 198 | 85 | 160 | 90 | 14 | 78 | 24 | 22 | 9 | 21 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Daniil Tarasov | 23 | 22 | 42 | 60 | 38 | 108 | 153 | 224 | 60 | 70 | 65 | 48 | 55 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Dmitri Voronkov | 20 | 190 | 108 | 119 | 96 | 120 | 154 | 91 | 24 | 11 | 40 | 9 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Jordan Dumais | 23 | 66 | 105 | 100 | 114 | 72 | 119 | 64 | 105 | 28 | 52 | 72 | 11 | 30 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | ||||||
| Stanislav Svozil | 22 | 21 | 40 | 95 | 90 | 51 | 16 | 75 | 126 | 39 | 84 | 66 | 40 | 36 | 16 | 30 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| Luca Del Bel Belluz | 23 | 100 | 19 | 18 | 34 | 64 | 30 | 56 | 65 | 84 | 55 | 120 | 45 | 48 | 21 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| Corson Ceulemans | 24 | 38 | 36 | 85 | 80 | 60 | 42 | 117 | 36 | 88 | 30 | 45 | 24 | 14 | 18 | ||||||||||
| Emil Bemstrom | 23 | 22 | 19 | 90 | 68 | 32 | 60 | 28 | 13 | 72 | 44 | 70 | 45 | 48 | 24 | 20 | 8 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
| Gavin Brindley | 17 | 80 | 75 | 84 | 26 | 72 | 44 | 30 | 108 | 40 | 6 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
| James Malatesta | 21 | 38 | 18 | 51 | 16 | 30 | 14 | 13 | 48 | 66 | 30 | 72 | 16 | 63 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| Liam Foudy | 20 | 72 | 34 | 16 | 42 | 26 | 12 | 66 | 50 | 18 | 64 | 35 | 18 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 10 | ||||||||
| Samuel Knazko | 16 | 30 | 14 | 13 | 36 | 11 | 20 | 18 | 32 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
| Trey Fix-Wolansky | 20 | 19 | 16 | 65 | 22 | 30 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 24 | 12 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Tim Berni | 24 | 40 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 24 | 33 | 16 | 25 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Hunter McKown | 25 | 14 | 13 | 20 | 18 | 32 | 49 | 42 | 10 | 16 | 21 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jet Greaves | 16 | 11 | 20 | 9 | 16 | 28 | 30 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| William Whitelaw | 14 | 18 | 24 | 14 | 12 | 30 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| Jake Christiansen | 14 | 24 | 8 | 14 | 36 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Kirill Dolzhenkov | 21 | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 3 | 8 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Sergei Ivanov | 20 | 18 | 16 | 7 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mikael Pyyhtia | 14 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Andrew Strathmann | 16 | 11 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ole Julian Bjorgvik Holm | 11 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| Tyler Angle | 6 | 25 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Luca Pinelli | 16 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
| James Fisher | 13 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nikolai Makarov | 18 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Martin Rysavy | 10 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Josh Dunne | 14 | 9 | 7 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Aidan Hreschuk | 8 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Guillaume Richard | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Tyler Peddle | 6 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nolan Lalonde | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ben Boyd | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oiva Keskinen | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Melvin Strahl | 1 |
Apologies to Cameron Butler, a late season undrafted free agent signing, the one player to not receive a vote. Hopefully a productive year in Cleveland earns him attention next summer.