It's a time-honored tradition each fall for the Baby Jackets to head to northern Michigan for the event, in which Columbus has traditionally performed quite well, including last year when the team went 4-0. And for those keeping watch, there will be some big names headed to the bay, including first-round picks Kent Johnson (2021), David Jiricek (2022) and Denton Mateychuk (2022).
So what should Blue Jackets fans pay attention to as the youngest Jackets hit the ice? Here's three things to keep an eye on.
Offensive stars:A year ago, the Jackets scored 23 goals over four games, and the tournament was a breakout party for young first-round picks Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov. Chinakhov was pretty much unstoppable, leading the tournament with six goals, while Sillinger had five points in three games including three goals. Filling those roles this year will be Johnson and highly touted 2018 second-round pick Kirill Marchenko. Both are expected to have excellent chances to make the Blue Jackets last year after Johnson made his NHL debut a year ago and Marchenko posted another solid goal-scoring campaign in the KHL. Johnson is lauded with his creativity with the puck, while Marchenko has a blazing shot that has made professional goaltenders look silly abroad. Columbus should have scoring by committee in the tournament with draft picks Ben Boyd, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Jordan Dumais, James Malatesta, Martin Rysavy and Mikael Pyythia also taking part up front, but Johnson and Marchenko will have a chance to build momentum going into training camp with good performances.
Defensive depth: General manager Jarmo Kekalainen was practically beaming when talking about the depth in the Jackets' defensive pipeline this summer, noting the core of blue liners going to Traverse this year "looks as good as I've ever seen in my years in the NHL for a rookie tournament." Of the seven defensemen on the roster, five are draft picks and another -- 24-year-old Marcus Bjork -- is a veteran of pro hockey in Sweden and has plenty of high-level experience. Jiricek and Mateychuk will lead the way, and it will be interesting to see how each does in their first chances to put on the CBJ sweater against real opposition. Jiricek is noted for his ability at both ends, while Mateychuk's skating and skill should shine in an event like this. Add in Samuel Knazko, Stanislav Svozil and Ole Bjorgvik-Holm and you have the core of what could be the best blue line in the tournament.
In net: Jet Greaves will return to Traverse City after he made a fair number of big saves to help the Blue Jackets go unbeaten in last year's event. It's been a great year for Greaves, who went from a free-agent invite during last year's tournament to someone that eventually signed an entry-level contract with Columbus a year ago. Czech goalie Peter Cajan, signed by Cleveland this offseason, could follow a similar path and will also be in Traverse after a solid development camp for the Jackets this summer. Greaves is expected to carry a lot of the load along with Daniil Tarasov this year in Cleveland and is an intriguing prospect, so the more experience he gets, the better.
