SvoNotes: McKown ready to show his stuff after signing with Blue Jackets

Hunter McKown was born and grew up in San Jose, Calif., but he has always felt at home in the Midwest.
The 20-year-old played two seasons of junior hockey in the St. Louis area, then two more playing with the United States National Team Development Program in southeast Michigan. So while McKown hails from California and played three years of college hockey in Colorado, his hockey home will now be the Midwest yet again.

After finishing in the top 10 of college hockey in goal scoring this year, the Colorado College standout signed an entry-level contact with the Blue Jackets. He has reported to Columbus and is going through his first full NHL practice today in his new No. 41 jersey, with the hope he can get in some NHL games down the stretch.
There were a number of teams hoping to sign McKown, one of the top undrafted free agents in college hockey, but Columbus ended up with the edge.
"I really got the sense it's a quality organization with quality people," he said. "I've lived in the Midwest for a little bit myself, and I love that Midwest feel. I'm just excited to be here, and it's going to be really fun."
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The Inside Edge for March 22, 2023 - Guest: Hunter McKown
The Blue Jackets have had some success with such signings in recent years, inking such players as Nick Blankenburg, Eric Robinson and Josh Dunne at the conclusion of their college careers.
McKown hopes to follow in their footsteps, and his impressive résumé includes an appearance on Team USA at the World Juniors last summer before finishing as one of the top scoring players in the nation this year.
His 21 goals with CC while serving as an alternate captain are tied for seventh in the NCAA this season, and he led the nation with 14 power-play goals. He added four-game winning goals and was an honorable mention all-league selection playing for a CC team that upset the top two seeds in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament to make it to the final.
McKown personally delivered the Tigers to the championship game when he scored the lone goal of the Tigers' semifinal win over Denver.

"I just started to put it all together," McKown said of his impressive final season in college. "The skill was always there. It was a matter of me putting the rest of it together, combine it with the work, the compete and things like that. We obviously weren't an offensive powerhouse this year -- as a team, goals came few and far between -- but it was good to feel like I had that scoring touch."
At 6-1, 205 pounds, the centerman hopes he can bring some snarl to the game in addition to that scoring touch, and it's safe to say the Blue Jackets were attracted to his combination of size and skill.
"I think I'm a power forward," he said when asked to describe his game. "I compete well and I have good hands, but I have size and I have to make my presence known for sure if I want to stick around. I think I'm a power forward with offensive upside and some good skill, but good in the D-zone as well."
McKown will make his NHL debut Friday night against the Islanders, and while he said he has been given no guarantee of playing time the rest of the season, he's simply just here to try to impress and show what he can bring to the table. He admits stepping onto NHL ice for the first time is a bit imposing as well as a dream come true, but he hopes to showcase his game and make himself a factor for the Blue Jackets going forward.
"I really want to come here and be able to play my game," he said. "I think it's easy to be in shock a litlte bit of where you are because you've been a fan of the game for so long. To finally be here, there's definitely that star factor a little bit. Really, just think of it as hockey, the sport you love, and come in and try to play that game right away."

Laine in the Middle

At first, it did sound a bit like a joke.
When CBJ associate coach Pascal Vincent met with the media ahead of Sunday's game at Vegas in lieu of Brad Larsen, the first question was about how things would still run the same even with the head coach away from the team because of a death in the family.
"We're going to try Patrik in the middle," Vincent then said of star wing Patrik Laine, who had not played center to that point in his Blue Jackets career. "I think that's something we've been talking about recently, so we'll see how it goes. But we spoke to Lars and nothing much will change."
No offense, Pascal, but that is a bit of a change. Laine had taken a few faceoffs sporadically in his career when centers have been kicked out of the dot, but that seemingly was about the extent of his experience in the middle of the ice until a few days ago.
Not to mention, it's one of the hardest positions in the game to play, given its importance, its skating requirements and its defensive responsibilities. It certainly isn't easy to learn on the fly, but the Blue Jackets do have some time to fiddle with things. Plus, the thought of a 6-foot-5 pivot who can protect pucks and drive play sounds pretty intriguing, right?
"I think it's something we should look at," Vincent said. "He's 6-foot-5. If we can develop him as a good center, that's something that would be really interesting for us."
The reviews through two games, with Laine between Johnny Gaudreau and Kirill Marchenko for the most part, have been solid. While there will always be things to work on when you've spent only two games at a position, Vincent spoke highly of Laine's two-way game after the first crack in Vegas. In all, the Blue Jackets have outscored teams 3-1 at 5-on-5 with Laine on the ice the past two games, and he's assisted on all three of those goals as well.

There was also a major improvement in faceoffs from the first game (he won 3 of 17) to the second (winning 5 of 9) after a crash course in draws at Tuesday morning's skate with Sean Kuraly.
"He was pretty good," Vincent said after the first contest in Vegas. "His positioning was good in the D-zone, his tracking was right, he kept it simple and he created some chances offensively as well. It didn't take away from his defensive game. It's just a matter of working on faceoffs right now. Well, it's more than that, but he needs to get better on the faceoff dot, and that's what we did this morning. A few reps -- he needs way more than that, but it's a start."
There's no guaranteed time frame on how long it will last, but so far, Laine has performed well. More than that, there's a pep in his step, as the seventh-year Finnish player was the one who took the idea to the coaching staff when Kuraly got hurt, and you can sense the excitement in how he's attacked learning the new spot.
"(Putting him at center) was something we've thought about in the past -- I did anyway -- but it was never really something you thought too much about because he was so successful as a winger and scoring goals," Vincent said. "Sometimes those opportunities happen when you have no choice. Kurls went down and he came to us and said, 'Hey, listen, I can try to help. I feel I have the skill set to become a good center.'
"At first, you're like, 'I'm not sure about this one.' Then we talked about it and talked about it, and you can see the spark in his eyes. That's something. He's excited about the position."

Dumais in Rare Air

Usually my updates about Blue Jackets prospects are printed every other week in our Prospect Report, but here's something I felt like I had to pull out for this week's column.
Most Blue Jackets fans are likely aware of Jordan Dumais, the 2022 CBJ third-round who has been racking up absurd numbers of points with Halifax of the QMJHL.
With just two games to go in the season, Dumais has posted 54 goals, 82 assists and 136 points, totals that rank not just among the best performances in Mooseheads history but the best in the Canadian junior leagues this year. After his fourth game of six or more points on the season last night, he's second in the CHL in scoring behind only Connor Bedard (142 points), the presumed top pick in the upcoming draft, and is 23 points clear of teammate Josh Lawrence in third place.
But where does Dumais rank all-time among Blue Jackets prospects? It's a topic that came up during our pregame meal in Vegas on Sunday, two days after Dumais scored his 50th goal of the season for the Mooseheads.
And for answers, I turned to the great

, the Blue Jackets fan who keeps track of Blue Jackets draft picks on Twitter. And he was able to provide me with some context.
Let's start here -- Dumais is the second prospect ever to reach 50 goals in a season for a Canadian Hockey League team after being drafted by the Blue Jackets. For our trivia enthusiasts out there, who was the first?
(Jeopardy! music plays)
(Seriously, here comes the answer.)
If you're familiar with the Blue Jackets system over the years, this one might have been relatively easy. Oliver Bjorkstrand is the top CBJ dog for goals scored in a CHL season, as The Maestro had a ridiculous 63 goal season in 2014-15 with Portland of the WHL, plus a 50-goal campaign with the Winterhawks in 2013-14.
As for points, well, Dumais has shattered that mark. The previous high also was set by Bjorkstrand, who posted 118 points back in 2014-15 with Portland.
You might be wondering why Rick Nash isn't on the list, but Nash made the Blue Jackets at age 18 after being the No. 1 overall pick in 2002, which came after he a 32-40-72 line in 54 games with London of the OHL. Had he gone back to juniors, he probably would have had a monster campaign -- after all, he had 17 goals in the NHL that year, so there's no telling what he would have done against his peers -- but we will never know.
So matter how you slice it, Dumais is having an incredible season. And the Blue Jackets are certainly glad to have him.