Columbus Blue Jackets: Top 10 prospects entering 2018
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a young and exciting team on the rise. Unfortunately, that means they recently cleaned out their prospect pool to make the team better. Here are the best prospects left.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the best young teams in the NHL. That’s excellent for their future, but their current prospect pipeline has been drained. Still, there are good prospects left who can help the team down the road, and they’re represented here.
These prospects are broken down according to three categories: ceiling, NHL readiness, and the likelihood they play consistently with the Columbus Blue Jackets. These prospects have to have not qualified for their rookie season, meaning none of them have played 18 or more games in the NHL in one season.
Let’s start with the goaltenders.
1. Elvis Merzlikins [24 years old]
Stats (HC Lugano, NLA): 42 gp, 2.72 GAA, .921 SV% (18 pgp, 2.17 GAA, .935 SV%).
Elvis Merzlikins has a higher ceiling than Berube, as he could be an NHL starter sooner rather than later. But with the Columbus Blue Jackets, that’s not likely to happen. There are two goaltenders currently in his way, and even if Bobrovsky leaves in free agency, Korpisalo is the way of the future.
Merzlikins was one of the best goaltenders in the NLA of Switzerland, especially in the playoffs
But Merzlikins was one of the best goaltenders in the NLA of Switzerland, especially in the playoffs, where he had the best goals against average of any goaltender with more than five games and the best save percentage with more than two. In the regular season, Merzlikins was tenth in goals-against average and sixth in save percentage. He’s an incredibly adept goaltender, someone who could have an NHL future.
It just likely isn’t with the Blue Jackets. Still, he’s one of the best trade pieces the Blue Jackets have, and if they’re in a contending spot at the deadline, they could trade Merzlikins in a package for playoff help.
2. Jean-Francois Berube [27] (4-95, 2009)
Stats (Chicago Blackhawks, NHL): 15 gp, 2.37 GAA, .920 SV%. Rockford Ice Hogs, AHL; 13 gp, 3.78 GAA, .894 SV%.
Jean-Francois Berube has made a career out of being an excellent AHL goaltender. He’s already the Columbus Blue Jackets’ natural third-string netminder. But he’s not delivered at the NHL level, at least not consistently. In each of his last two NHL stints (with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders) Berube delivered save percentages under .895. He’s gotten progressively better in stints in the AHL, but he’s just not at an NHL level.
He’s already the Columbus Blue Jackets’ natural third-string netminder.
At least not yet, see, he’s still had numerous games in the NHL, and is thus NHL ready. He’s got a good chance of playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets in case of injury to one of their two netminders. His ceiling is being a competent NHL backup, which the Blue Jackets might need not this year but next year. They could potentially lose Sergei Bobrovsky, and while they can survive that loss if Joonas Korpisalo, who the Blue Jackets trust, steps up, they’ll need someone behind him who could help him.
That’s where Berube comes in. Have a good (healthy) season in the AHL, and then become a good backup next season.