PROSPECTS TOURNAMENT: Blue Jackets have sights set on another TC title

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - It's become a term that provides critics with an easy opening.
The Blue Jackets have become "perennial contenders" to win the annual NHL Prospects Tournament here in Northern Michigan, but that occasionally is used as a poke in the eye rather than a compliment - with the suggestion being that's the only level of the game Columbus dominates.
Nobody in the Jackets' locker room or front office is laughing, though. Winning is all that matters, whether it's in the annual prospects tournament, the American Hockey League, the NHL regular season or the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"It's culture," said Cleveland Monsters coach John Madden, who is again running the bench for the Blue Jackets' prospect team. "You want a culture that wherever we go as the Columbus Blue Jackets, when we show up, we want to win hockey games. It starts down here in the prospects games, it goes into training camp, it goes to Cleveland [and] it goes to Columbus."

Once again, the Jackets' are off to a great start in Traverse City - winning their first two games by scores of 4-3 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and 5-3 against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Following their off day Sunday, they're ready for the final game of pool play Monday against the Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Go app). Columbus can advance to the tournament's championship game Tuesday for the second straight year with a win or by pushing the game to overtime and earning a point.
The fell short against the Blackhawks in the title game last season, but the Jackets are right back in the hunt. They doesn't have as much offensive firepower as they did last Fall, but this team has made up for it with a cohesive, hard-nosed approach. Despite 14 free-agent invites on a roster of 24, Columbus has played like a team with more history than it actually has.
The reason is rooted in that winning culture. Should Columbus come out on top, it will be the Jackets' fifth championship here - which would move them one ahead of the St. Louis Blues for the most in the tournament's history.
"That's what [Madden] told us before the first game," said Samuel Asselin, a free-agent invite who's centering the fourth line. "He just said the team that has success here is the team that can play all together and play for each other, and we're not going to have individual success if we just play for ourselves."
NOTES
--- Matiss Kivlenieks will get his second start in the tournament, after getting the win Friday against the Blackhawks.
The 22-year old netminder was a rookie in the American Hockey League (AHL) last season in Cleveland, after turning pro following his final year of junior hockey in the United States Hockey League (USHL). He logged more time than expected after an injury limited veteran Brad Thiessen to nine games, so there were some growing pains.
Madden is watching for signs of development from Kivlenieks, whom he laid out a goal for Monday after the Jackets' morning skate.
"This year, what I mean by 'developing' is his mindset should be, 'I want to win the starting goalie job,'" Madden said. "If he has that and comes out and performs, then it's his. But every year you're in different situations - and we know he's going to be at least another 2-to-3 year guy before he gets a chance to play in the NHL - so it's just changing the way you think about your team and what's going on. I think once he gets the net, he should think, 'This is mine and mine to lose.'"
- Maxime Fortier has played right wing on the second line in the first two games and will be back in that role again Monday night. It's been a challenge for the 20-year old wing, who's entering his first professional season after rehabbing two separate injuries this summer. He said his legs still feel a little heavy but is encouraged by how he felt and played toward the end of the Jackets' victory Saturday against St. Louis.
"He was injured for quite some time," Madden said. "I don't know the significance of the injuries, but I know he was injured in more than one area. So, when you're dealing with that and not working out full-time - more or less doing rehab - you may have a slow start. The most important thing is that he's healthy and he'll have a whole training camp to get going. I think he's still trying to find his way around a little bit out there. It's a big step for most kids and he's no exception."
Fortier said the speed of play is the most difficult adjustment going from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to a tournament like this one.
"You don't have time to think," he said. "You really have to think ahead and be ready when the puck comes to your stick, because you have to make the play. You get used to it. There's an adjustment period, but even you saw in the second game, I think everybody got a little feel for the puck, and now, [tonight] should be a really good game."
As for being fully recovered from injuries that hindered him most of last season?
"It feels good to be healthy and not have something bothering me on my body," Fortier said. "So, I'm really happy for that. It was a tough year, but right now I'm healthy and I hope it stays like that."
- Last year, during the championship game, Kole Sherwood sustained a high-ankle sprain that bothered him until late December. It hindered his skating, which is one of his best assets, and led to him going back to the Ontario Hockey League for his final season of junior hockey.
Sherwood, who has two points on two assists in the first two games, wasn't happy with his performance here last year - even prior to the injury.
"Not at all," he said. "I wasn't happy. I don't think I played very well at all and it showed. This year, I'm trying to bounce back. I think I'm having a better tournament, but still need to pick it up. I'm not satisfied. The sky's the limit and I've got to pick it up."
Madden has also noticed an improvement in Sherwood, who grew up in New Albany and spent this summer living in Columbus, where he trained regularly at Nationwide Arena.
"He's much more mature than he was last year," Madden said. "He plays a more mature game. He's kind of cut out all those little things that most coaches don't like about players and he's working on that. People want to see him score goals, but those will come. Not only that, he's gotten some chances, he's got some speed, he's finishing checks [and] he's coming back on the back check. He's not lackadaisical out there. He's more intense and he's playing a complete game. I think that will translate well in training camp, and if he gets a chance to play a preseason game in Columbus, I'm sure he'll play the same way."
- It's been an exciting developmental journey for Asselin since he was traded last season to Acadie-Bathurst in the QMJHL. He helped the Titan win the QMJHL championship and then played a key role in A-B winning the 2018 Memorial Cup - scoring four goals and five points in four games.
Asselin was also invited to the Blue Jackets' development camp in late June and then invited to play for the Jackets in this rookie tournament.
"I just arrived at the airport [after development camp] and my agent called me," said Asselin, who is centering the Blue Jackets' fourth line. "He said, 'Sam, I've got good news. They want you to go back for the Traverse City tournament,' so I was pretty excited. My main goal is to go to an [NHL] camp somewhere, just to [experience] a pro camp for real, and then after that see what happens."