Prospect Report: Keeping tabs on where the Blue Jackets are this year

Throughout the season, we here at BlueJackets.com will keep tabs on the team's draft picks and other prospects in the pipeline.
The hope is to include some interviews with those prospects as the season goes on, but to start, we figured we'd just go down the line and outline where everyone is playing this year.

Columbus has a number of young players who are worth watching down on the top farm team in Cleveland, while the team owns the rights to five players who are taking part in NCAA hockey this year, five who are skating in Europe, five who are in the CHL and three more who are playing in the KHL.
First, we'll take a look at a successful start for Cleveland then break down where everyone else is playing this season.

Monsters Streaking Early

Cleveland has a 3-1-0-1 record through five games, good for seven points, the most in the AHL's North Division (though Utica sits atop the standings with a full six points in three games). The Monsters started with a home split against Syracuse on Oct. 15-16, then headed to Canada this past weekend, where the team swept Belleville and lost in a shootout vs. Toronto.
Through five games, the team's leading scorer is Tyler Angle, as his six assists are tied for second in the league and his six points are good for a tie for third. The seventh-round pick in the 2019 draft was also the Monsters' top scorer a season ago when he had 24 points in the shortened campaign.
So far, four players have two goals apiece, a mark notched by forwards Tyler Sikura, Carson Meyer, Jake Christiansen and Justin Scott. Christiansen, a 22-year-old defenseman signed in 2020 out of the WHL, has a 2-3-5 line through five games while Sikura (2-2-4) and Adam Helewka (1-3-4) each have four points. Josh Dunne has added a 1-2-3 line.
In net, top prospect Daniil Tarasov started opening night for the Monsters and gave up six goals against the Crunch. Veteran Jean-Francois Berube has played three games thus far, while rookie Jet Greaves made 40 stops on 41 shots against Saturday in Belleville to notch his first career win.
Cleveland is on the road again this weekend, visiting Syracuse on Friday night before games Saturday and Sunday in Hershey. The Monsters are back home Nov. 5-6 when they host Belleville at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Here's a look at where the rest of the CBJ draft picks are as the 2021-22 season has begun.

KHL

Kirill Marchenko (second round, 2018): The 21-year-old forward got off to a red-hot start with SKA St. Petersburg but has seen his ice time dwindle in recent games. Marchenko has an 8-5-13 line in 21 games with the Russian power, but he dressed as the 13th forward on Monday and has not scored in eight games. In an interesting twist, he's also now teammates with Mikko Lehtonen, as SKA acquired the rights to the former CBJ defenseman and saw him notch a 1-2-3 line in his debut Monday.
Dmitri Voronkov (fourth round, 2019):One of the top young players in the KHL, Voronkov has seen his stock rise quite a bit in recent years, even making Russia's World Championship team over the summer. The Ak Bars Kazan forward is skating big minutes for one of the top teams in the league and has been a solid all-around player this year, posting a 3-3-6 line in 21 games, notching a plus-7 rating and winning 52.9 percent of his faceoffs.
Nikolai Makarov (fifth round, 2021):The big Russian defenseman has made a few appearances with traditional power CSKA Moscow this year, skating in six games at age 18 but playing sparingly. Makarov also has suited up in six games with CKSA's junior team and six more with its top minor league affiliate, and it seems like he'll be right on that borderline throughout the season.

CHL

Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm (fifth round, 2020): After spending part of last year with Cleveland, Bjorgvik-Holm has been able to return to the Mississauga of the Ontario Hockey League, which did not play last season because of the pandemic. The Norwegian defenseman, 19, is wearing an "A" for the Steelheads and has a 1-1-2 line so far in five games.
Stanislav Svozil (third round, 2021):After two seasons with HC Kometa Brno in his native Czech Republic, Svozil has crossed the pond this year to play with Regina of the WHL, where he's expected to get big minutes on a noteworthy team because of the presence of likely top pick Connor Bedard. So far, The 18-year-old blueliner has five assists in nine games.
James Malatesta (fifth round, 2021):Noteworthy in CBJ camp because of his quickness and sharp offensive skills, Malatesta has continued to flash thus far with Quebec of the QMJHL. The 18-year-old winger has played in nine games and posted a 6-4-10 line for the Remparts to this point with a plus-6 rating.
Ben Boyd (sixth round, 2021): A big-bodied winger, Boyd was drafted for his size and physicality to go with some decent scoring touch. The 18-year-old is playing with Charlottetown of the QMJHL -- you might know their radio voice, former CBJ broadcaster George Matthews -- and Boyd has two goals and three points with 13 penalty minutes in the first 10 games of the season.
Martin Rysavy (seventh round, 2021): The 18-year-old Czech forward is a lot like Svozil, having spent his career in this point in his native country before coming over to the WHL this season. Rysavy is skating for Moose Jaw, and in seven games the winger has a 2-2-4 line to kick off his North American career.

Europe

Marcus Karlberg (third round, 2018):The diminutive winger hasn't been able to stick thus far in Sweden's top league -- he had 14 games the past two seasons with Leksands -- and has ended up this year with Borlange HF in the third tier in his native country. The 21-year-old winger has seemingly found a home as he has five goals and 11 points in eight games to kick things off this year.
Eric Hjorth (fourth round, 2019): An offensive talented defenseman, Hjorth had a solid year in 2019-20 with Sarnia of the OHL but had trouble finding a home last year, starting with Frolunda in his native Sweden before securing a transfer to KalPa in Finland. The 20-year-old has played one game with KalPa, three more with the organization's U-20 team, and has been loaned to IPK of the second-tier Mestis, where he has skated in eight games with a 2-3-5 line.
Samuel Knazko (third round, 2020): Knazko has worn the sweater of his home country of Slovakia quite a bit over the past year, including at the World Championships, but his club rights are owned by TPS in Finland. The 19-year-old left-shot defenseman is playing big minutes with the U-20 team and has a 1-9-10 line in 11 games, and Knazko also has one appearance with the top-level squad in the Liiga.
Mikael Pyyhtia (fourth round, 2020):The 19-year-old winger started last year with Knazko at the U-20 level with TPS but moved up to the Liiga midway through the campaign. This year, he's been with the top squad in Turku the whole season, filling a middle of the lineup role with a 2-2-4 line in 15 contests.
Samuel Johannesson (fifth round, 2020): Now in his third season with Rogle BK in his native Sweden, Johannesson is a right-shot defenseman with two-way abilities. He's skated in 11 games thus far, posting a 0-3-3 line and plus-3 rating.

College Hockey

Peter Thome (fifth round, 2016):The Blue Jackets retain Thome's rights through August of next year, and the big 24-year-old goalie has had quite a journey through his college years. Thome spent four years fighting for playing time at North Dakota, then transferred this season to new Division I program St. Thomas, where he's the No. 1 goalie. That's a tough job considering the Tommies have been overmatched thus far having moved up a pretty big level, and so far he's 1-6-0 with a 4.46 GAA and .867 save percentage, but he's played well against some good teams up to this point.
Robbie Stucker (seventh round, 2017):Columbus also has Stucker's rights through August, and the Vermont defenseman also transferred after this past season. After three years on a very deep blue line at Minnesota, the 23-year-old is now with the Catamounts, where he's posted a 1-2-3 line through four games.
Kent Johnson (first round, 2021):The No. 5 overall pick in this summer's draft, Johnson is part of the bevy of NHL-caliber talent that chose to return to/play at Michigan this year. The second-ranked Wolverines have been impressive thus far at 5-1-0, and Johnson has been a big part of it, as the 19-year-old forward has a 2-5-7 line through six games.
Corson Ceulemans (first round, 2021):Another first-rounder this past year (25th overall), Ceulemans is earning big minutes on the Wisconsin blue line. The big, skilled 18-year-old defenseman has a single assist in six games thus far in his first NCAA action after spending last year in the AJHL.
Guillaume Richard (fourth round, 2021):The 18-year-old defenseman from Quebec has also had to make the transition into college hockey after being chosen thus July by the Jackets. Richard has been impressive so far for the No. 8 Friars, notching a goal and three assists with a plus-7 rating in seven games.