The Columbus Blue Jackets are pleased to have 16 prospects, representing 7 different countries, participating in this year's World Junior Championship.
Austria - Marco Rossi
Canada - Nick Suzuki/Connor Zary
Czech Republic - Jan Mysak/Pavel Novak
Finland - Ville Heinola/Mikko Kokkonen/Topi Niemela
Russia - Rodion Amirov/Artemi Kniazev
Sweden - Emil Andrae/Victor Soderstrom/Simon Holmstrom/Zion Nybeck
US - Matthew Boldy/Drew Helleson
"I think it shows our rebuild is on the right track" said DG Scott. "We are really encouraged to have 7 D playing in the tournament this year, and hopefully with them and Evan Bouchard, Jake Bean and Ian Mitchell, we will soon have a very good D group for many years to come." The team also has 9 forward prospects playing led by 2020 1st round pick Marco Rossi. With Filip Zadina, Jesper Boqvist and Aleksi Saarela in the pros, and another high end prospect Seth Jarvis just failing to make Team Canada; it looks like forward group should have a bright future as well.
"We still have a long way to go to get back to the top, but hopefully a number of these prospects meet their potential so we are competing back competing in the playoffs in a couple of years" said Scott.
The one area that the team will still need to address is the goaltending. The team has some solid G prospects, but at this point none are expected to be high end goalies in the league. Look for DG Scott to try and address between now and the end of this season.
Article by Paul Anglais (Columbus Dispatch)