Gavin Brindley
The University of Michigan standout is one of the top scorers in college hockey this year, posting 10 goals and 18 points in 18 games with the Wolverines. A member of last year’s Team USA squad and the lone returning CBJer in the tournament, the 2023 second-round draft pick is expected to be a middle-six wing for the Americans and will be an alternate captain.
“Expect him to be on the power play, expect him to be one of the top penalty-killing forwards,” Peters said. “If you’re a Blue Jackets fan and you’ve watched any of the University of Michigan – and I understand if you didn’t because there might be a little bit of a rivalry there – the thing about Gavin Brindley is he has an unrelenting motor that makes him noticeable in every single game that you watch. The work ethic is off the charts, but then he has speed, he has skill, so he can score.”
Denton Mateychuk
The No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft who almost made the Jackets out of camp, the Moose Jaw defenseman began his WHL season this fall with a franchise-record 23-game point streak while racking up a 6-29-35 line for the Warriors. A gifted skater on the blue line, he’s expected to be a top-pair defenseman for Team Canada at the event.
“It’s certainly just playing to his identity, which is to say a high-end, puck-moving defenseman,” Peters said. “A guy that gets up the ice, a guy I think will see power-play time with Canada as well, so that’s a great thing. When you look at this roster, you say, ‘OK, they have size on the back end. They have some really good defenders. They need that dynamic element,’ and I think that’s what Mateychuk brings. He’s a guy I was very high on in his draft year. I have not changed in that opinion.”
Jordan Dumais
Like Mateychuk, Dumais was one of the last cuts from Team Canada a year ago and dedicated himself to making it this season. A dynamic player with the puck on his stick, he could play on a line beside likely No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini after posting 140 points a year ago with Halifax on the way to QMJHL MVP honors and adding a 16-31-47 line in 21 games this year.
“All those guys that missed out last year, now they come in with a chip on their shoulder,” Peters said. “Everyone is saying Canada is an underdog this year, but Canada is going to find a way to be competitive at the World Juniors. Guys like Dumais are the reason. … He’s been one of the best junior hockey players in Canada over the last two, maybe three years. You say, ‘What kind of impact can he have?’ It’s to do what he’s doing with Halifax. It's to continue to score, be a threat through the neutral zone into the offensive zone, trying to bring some of that speed, skill, creativity.”
Oiva Keskinen
Columbus chose the Finnish forward in the seventh round of the 2023 draft, and his first full pro season with Tappara of the Finnish Liiga has been a success. After a strong year with Tappara’s U-20 team last year, Keskinen has graduated to the big club and posted three goals and 15 points in 29 games in a league that’s notoriously tough to score in.
“I think you love when you see a late draft pick step into the pros at this age at this point and have some success,” Peters said. “He was very good in the U-20 ranks last year. He has decent size. He has some sturdiness to him, which I think helps a ton. And then you also look at him with the U-20 team this year, he played his way onto the team. He forced his way onto this team with the many different side events that they’ve done in the prep for this tournament. He was a point-per-game player in those games, made an impact in that way.”
Listen to the full episode of the Pipeline Podcast to hear Peters’ thoughts about the tournament as well as players to watch who will be available in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft.
Monsters Keep Winning Ways
The Cleveland Monsters have seen such notable players as Emil Bemstrom, Kent Johnson, Nick Blankenburg and Jet Greaves move up to the NHL this season and have success, but the Monsters keep finding ways to win.
They did exactly that this past weekend, sweeping Belleville in Cleveland to remain in the lead in the American Hockey League’s North Division with a 16-7-1-0 record. The Monsters opened the weekend Thursday night with a 5-1 victory over the Senators before coming back a night later and riding Greaves to a 2-1 victory.
The Monsters responded from a tough road trip through Pennsylvania when they got back on the ice Thursday night and pulled away to a 5-1 win over the B-Sens. James Malatesta scored a pair of goals and Hunter McKown had four assists to lead the way, while the team also got goals from Marcus Bjork, Roman Ahcan and Corson Ceulemans while building a 5-0 lead.
The next night, it was a much different game, but Cleveland got the job done in a 2-1 victory. Justin Pearson scored his first professional goal early in the second off a feed from Malatesta, sending more than 10,000 stuffed animals flying down as part of the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss promotion. Mikael Pyyhtia later added an empty-net goal, and Greaves made 39 saves while earning his 11th win in 14 appearances this season.
Greaves now has a .912 save percentage on the season to go with his 11-3-0 record and 2.78 GAA, while Malatesta’s big weekend gives the rookie a 6-1-7 line in his last seven contests.
Cleveland is back in action tonight as it begins a pre-Christmas trip through upstate New York. The Monsters play in Rochester tonight, face Syracuse on Friday and complete the trip Saturday in Utica.
