BOOM! The prospects won another Prospects Championship in Traverse City. This marks the second consecutive title for the club and fourth overall, which ties St. Louis at this tournament.
Some quick notes before we get to the links: media lunch is happening today. There are physicals tomorrow for the players and then camp gets underway on Friday. The first three days will be open to the public at the Ice Haus and the roster and rest of the schedule will come out later today.
- Speaking of Traverse City, NHL.com highlighted the top 11 players from the tournament. Only one Jacket (Bjorkstrand) made the list.
- Rob Mixer interviewed head coach Todd Richards ahead of training camp.
- Are you a gamer? Puck Daddy looks at the improvements in EA Sports NHL 16 which hit stands this week.
- The NHL announced a new partnership with Adidas making the company the official outfitter starting in 2017-2018. The current outfitter is Reebok, which is owned by Adidas, so this is not a huge change for the league.
- The Blue Jackets announced several additions to their staff. Word has also come out that Dan Hinote has re-joined the club in an advisory role.
- Matt Souva (BS Hockey) looked at Ryan Johansen’s 2014-2015 season a couple weeks ago – a great read if you’re into advanced stats. Not too surprisingly, Johansen has some room for improvement on the defensive end to become an “elite” center.
- Both ESPN and USA Today previewed the Metropolitan Division for the upcoming season and where the Jackets might end up.
- Jared Bressman (isportsweb) says the defense is still an issue for the CBJ.
- Speaking of the defense, we know David Savard signed a five-year extension and Along the Boards discusses who might be next to sign with the Jackets.
- Over at Today’s Slapshot, Rick Gethin has a two part interview with David Clarkson – Part I here, and Part II here.
- Aaron Portzline recently wrote about Jared Boll’s upcoming fight to keep his job (potentially paywalled, fyi).
- Another good one for the analytics and advanced stats crowd (from BS Hockey of course) – looking at forward depth and player values.
- I’m sure most of you saw last week, but be aware there are new security procedures in place if you’re going to any games this season./
Stay tuned as we will have more coverage for you as camp gets started and preseason action starts on the 21st (just a few more days until we get hockey!).