The 1st Ohio Battery prospect series continues with our No. 14 prospect, American forward Eric Robinson.
Reason for Ranking
Paul did not have Robinson ranked, while Dan and I had him in the mid-teens.
As we have stated in the past, a large portion of this list is based on potential more than anything else. I'm very "meh" on Robinson's pro prospects as he doesn't have a high ceiling. He is the perfect player for the Columbus Blue Jackets to take a flyer on and take a chance; college free agents are an interesting inefficiency, and it will be interesting to see if the Blue Jackets try to do more of this in the future.
NHL Projection
Fourth line forward.
It will take a real jump in play for him to be anything more than that. He had shown growth year over year in the NCAA, but at some point the age of the player becomes more impactful. Of course a senior in college is going to be putting up more points than a freshman, that's just the nature of the game. It's akin to over-age players having outstanding 20-year-old seasons, as Boone Jenner did in the OHL with 45 goals.
Best Case Scenario
If he develops a bit more offensively, you may see him become a Josh Anderson type of player. Those types of players don't grow on trees and it's also a big ask for a player who doesn't have his feet under him yet. The vision from the front office is there, but it doesn't appear that the tools are there to make him into that type of player.
At his age, the growth isn't going to be anywhere near as stark – it will only take place incrementally and won't be world-changing.
Strengths and Weaknesses
It seems like we have this discussion with every bottom-six player: Robinson has sneaky speed, he has more offensive upside than you may think, but he's also defensively responsible. He's a fine player in multiple areas, but isn't truly excellent in any of them. It's a common problem with this current pipeline of Blue Jacket players, a pipeline that might have a few bottom-six players in the collection and a couple of high-end players, but is lacking high-end depth.
