If the results of the annual Traverse City Prospects Tournament are to be believed, the Blue Jackets have as good a core of young talent as most people believe.
A prospect pool consistently ranked among the best in the NHL helped push Columbus to the title in the three-game event held Thursday through Sunday, with the team’s 2-1 record matching Toronto and Dallas and earning the tiebreaker thanks to a plus-4 margin in goal differential.
(It’s also worth pointing out it likely would have been a perfect 3-0 mark for the Jackets had first-round picks Adam Fantilli, David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk as well as tourney standouts James Malatesta and Jordan Dumais not been rested in the final 6-3 loss to Dallas.)
But for the Blue Jackets prospects taking part, the tournament outcome in some ways paled in comparison to what happened off the ice. With the group spending four nights together in the picturesque city along the Grand Traverse Bay, the goal was to continue building bonds that could mean a lot down the road.
“The goal for us before the tournament was to have the tightest group in the tournament,” Mateychuk said. “I think we did that, and everybody bought into that. We’re getting close together, and it makes it easy to get to know the guys and everything like that.”
Any group at an NHL prospects tournament is going to have players of varied backgrounds, and it was no difference for Columbus with players ranging from 18 years old to 25. Four first-round picks were part of the squad, while five players in Traverse City had NHL experience; meanwhile, six were taken on free-agent deals. In all, 14 of the 25 players there were drafted by Columbus.
While everyone took their own unique path to get to the squad, it sounded like the players there believe the Blue Jackets are building something special and they are a part of it. In Traverse City, the depth of talent was clear, as 11 different players scored goals and 17 had points as Columbus racked up 20 goals in the three-game tourney.
As a result, the players felt like they are on the ground floor of something special building.
“I think that’s what they try to do – they try to get a lot of the guys closer because eventually if you want to make the team, you’re going to be playing with these guys,” Malatesta said. “We’re starting to get chemistry and building a bond when you’re younger, and then eventually when you’re older you can build on that. I think it’s really good.”
Malatesta Makes Strides
It would be hard to end a season on a bigger heater than Malatesta last spring.
A 2021 fifth-round pick of the Blue Jackets, Malatesta was named the MVP of both the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs and the Memorial Cup as his Quebec squad won both championships.
After a regular season in which Malatesta posted a 37-29-66 line in 55 games, the 20-year-old forward posted 14 goals in 18 QMJHL playoff games, then scored five times in four games in the Memorial Cup as the Remparts won the Canadian junior hockey title.
As a result, Malatesta – who is headed to the pro ranks this season in the CBJ organization – said he’s heading into the season feeling pretty good about his game.
“My confidence is up there,” the Montreal native said. “I tried to start here back where I ended up in the Mem Cup, and I think this week is about getting better game after game. I think I’m playing well, but obviously I can improve day after day.”
Malatesta showed his goal-scoring skills weren’t rusty at all in Traverse City, as he tallied three times in the two games he played. That was far from all he brought to the table, though, as Malatesta wore an “A” on his sweater and skated both penalty kill and power play minutes.
“He’s always been a worker, but he’s come a long way as far as confidence growing with the scoring touch and the offensive side and becoming a more 200-foot player,” said Cleveland (AHL) head coach Trent Vogelhuber, who led the CBJ team in Traverse City. “I know from afar I was watching him in his playoff run last year, and I think that did wonders for his confidence offensively.
“We’re excited as an organization in Columbus to have him join us. He’s a pro. He takes care of his body. He’s well-liked in the room. I think he can be a really solid 200-foot player, and the sky is the limit for him.”
Malatesta is also known as a workout warrior, one of the strongest players on any team despite his 5-foot-9 frame. His on-ice energy seems infectious, and that extends to the locker room and bench, with Dumais describing his good friend and QMJHL rival simply as “a character.”
Simply put, he’s a man who can do it all.
“I like to describe my game as a Swiss Army knife,” he said. “You can put me anywhere and I can do anything.”
Dumais Does It
It might be a stretch to call Dumais a cult hero, but there’s a certain segment of the CBJ fan base who can’t wait to see what the diminutive but high-scoring forward can do at the NHL level.
Dumais broke scoreboards a season ago, notching 54 goals and 86 points for a ridiculous 140 points in 64 games on the way to QMJHL regular-season MVP honors with the Halifax Mooseheads. It was a historic season, as he posted the third-most points in the Q in the last two decades behind only longtime NHLers Sidney Crosby and Alexander Radulov.
The scary thought? The 2022 third-round pick looks even better right now than he did a year ago at this time, and he led all scorers in Traverse City with four goals and eight points in two games.
“I think Dumais has definitely added some explosiveness and quickness to his game,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “His hands and his hockey sense have always been elite, but now he seems to be able to separate himself better. As a small guy, that’s what you’re going to need.
“Once you get to the NHL competition, he’s going to see even more of a change where big guys get you pinned down and then there’s nowhere to go. You need that elusiveness and explosiveness as a small guy to be able to beat people one-on-one and create space for yourself. But his hockey sense is just fun to watch.”
Listed at 5-foot-8 and often looking more like a teenager who overslept than a high-level NHL prospect, Dumais isn’t blessed with excellent size and his skating ability continues to improve. But it’s clear he has incredible offensive talent, vision and hockey sense.
“Off the chart IQ,” Fantilli said. “If I can’t even see him, I’m still ready for a pass. He sees a lot of things I don’t, and I just have to be ready for a pass. He’s a really strong kid. He plays like he’s a lot bigger than he is. He’s got one of the best hockey brains I’ve ever played with, so being out there with him has been really special.”
Like Kekalainen, Vogelhuber said he’s seen Dumais make big strides from this time a year ago, and the Blue Jackets think they might have a steal in the 96th overall pick of the ‘22 draft.
But if Dumais doesn’t make the Blue Jackets, he’s in a difficult situation because of his age. Still just 19, he is unable to play in the AHL and would have to return to Halifax per NHL-CHL transfer agreement, and his performance a season ago shows there’s little left to prove at that level.
Kekalainen said the Blue Jackets may consider applying for a waiver, similar to the one just granted to Seattle forward Shane Wright, to see if Dumais can play pro games this season if he doesn’t stick in Columbus, but the GM acknowledged he’d respect the NHL-CHL agreement. If Dumais has to return to Halifax, he said he’d continue to work on his game, but he also plans to make it hard on the Blue Jackets to send him back.
“No matter what the situation is, I think every player here is trying to make it hard on the team and the scouts,” he said. “At the end of the day, I just go day-to-day here. It’s obviously going to get harder when I play with the NHL guys, but I’m just going to give my hardest and also have a lot of fun.”
Voronkov’s Settling In
For any Russian prospect, arriving in Traverse City can be the beginning of a major acclimatization period.
Often, it’s the first time they’ve played the fast-paced, physical North American style, and the speed of the game takes some getting used to. Add in potential language and cultural barriers, and there’s a lot going on despite the idyllic bayside backdrop.
That’s the situation in which Dmitri Voronkov found himself, as the 23-year-old Russian taken in the fourth round of the 2019 draft has come to join the Blue Jackets after four full seasons in the KHL, not to mention an appearance in the Winter Olympics.
Voronkov speaks little English and is going through the transition to a new style of hockey, which made his play in Traverse City a bit uneven. He scored a goal and factored into a couple of others while finishing plus-2, but he also took five minor penalties in the three games.
His teammates also noticed Voronkov getting more comfortable as the games went on, even despite the language barrier.
“I can’t even imagine what it would be like to go into a brand-new culture like that,” CBJ center Hunter McKown said. “He’s done really well with it.”
Voronkov has the potential to be a difference maker, though, for the Blue Jackets. He totaled 37 goals and 74 points in 182 career games with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL, including a career-high 18 tallies this past season. But what really stands out are his size and his snarl, as he’s listed at 6-4, 190, but is likely bigger (as McKown said, “No way. Let’s get real. He’s big.”).
Add in his love of contact and Voronkov could be a hard-checking, energy forward with a little scoring touch. He’ll just need more time to continue to settle in, much like Kirill Marchenko a year ago.
“He’s nasty, man,” Vogelhuber said. “I think he’s a player you can win a seven-game series with. Even in this exhibition tournament, he’s getting angry at guys, which I think is contagious throughout a roster. You need guys like that.
“I think he’s going to continue to work on his skating, some quickness, which is just going to come for him over here with the pace that the game is played at. I think a lot of that is being a little surprised with the pace. The bigger ice, you skate more, but the pace is slower because it’s more of a possession game. Guys are on you here, boom, boom.
“You just have to get used to those first couple of steps and those decisions are a touch quicker, but you can’t teach size and you can’t teach that nastiness that he has. He has skill to go along with it.”
