The future appears bright for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the present has shown that the club's prospect pipeline is as strong as ever.
After the Cleveland Monsters (then the Lake Erie Monsters) won the Calder Cup in 2016, the Blue Jackets were hopeful that players from their AHL championship team would make the jump to the next level.
They saw the fruits of their labor when multiple players from the Monsters made the NHL team this year and made a big impact on a Blue Jackets team that set franchise records for wins and points, finishing the regular season with the fourth-best record in hockey.
Zach Werenski, Josh Anderson, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Lukas Sedlak were among the names that pushed the Blue Jackets from afterthought to playoff contender.
So, who's next?
Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen sat down for an interview with Fox Sports Ohio color commentator Jody Shelley and radio play-by-play voice Bob McElligott, covering a wide array of topics including what the team can do to improve going into next year.
Shelley asked Kekalainen which players could take the next step from Cleveland and be impact players in Columbus. Kekalainen named plenty of players, some well-known and others only familiar in name alone, including free agent signing Sam Vigneault out of Clarkson University.
"(Vigneault) went into Cleveland (and) played very well," Kekalainen said. "Justin Scott, Jordan Maletta...guys that we signed from junior free agency the year before took big strides this year. Big, strong guys down the middle that are going to give us good center depth (could) possibly push for spots as early as next year."
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Kekalainen thinks highly of the players the team has signed, but slightly surprising is praise given to players that had decidedly average years in the AHL. Both Scott and Maletta finished their seasons with 23 points. They also averaged well below a half a point per game, so making the NHL next season would be quite the jump.
Meanwhile, Vigneault played most of last season in the NCAA and averaged over a point per game for the Golden Knights. While belief in one's players is necessary, the hype train shouldn't leave the station quite yet.
Kekalainen also highlighted some of the team's higher-end prospects who have had strong seasons and appear to be close to NHL-ready. Vitaly Abramov, the QMJHL's MVP in 2016-17, was a point-per-game player in the AHL with Cleveland and the team is understandably excited about his potential.
"He was a great addition to that team and is an exciting player to watch," Kekalainen said of Abramov.
He also had complimentary words about the Blue Jackets' third overall pick of the 2016 draft, Pierre-Luc Dubois, currently going deep into the QMJHL playoffs with Blainville-Boisbriand.
"Pierre-Luc Dubois wasn't quite ready last year in training camp," Kekalainen said. "But he has been playing great now when it counts the most in the (QMJHL) playoffs."
To put a cherry on top of the prospect talk, Kekalainen also mentioned Calvin Thurkauf of Kelowna and Keegan Kolesar of Seattle, who recently faced off in the Western Hockey League (WHL) playoff semifinals with Seattle advancing. In passing, he also mentioned Kevin Stenlund, who just won a Swedish Hockey League championship with HV71.
The Blue Jackets have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to prospects but not all of them will pan out. It never hurts to have an over abundance of young players as no two developmental paths are ever the same.
"There are a lot of good young players," Kekalainen said. "You can always project, and that's what we do every day, but at the same time, it's the mental hurdle that seems like the biggest hurdle for young guys to take."
