Prospect Report: Lalonde, Fisher shining in junior hockey

There’s hot streaks, and then there’s what Blue Jackets goaltending prospect Nolan Lalonde is doing at the moment.

A free agent signee of the team in October 2022, Lalonde has won 14 straight decisions for Saginaw of the Ontario Hockey League. The streak is so impressive that the 20-year-old goalie hasn’t lost since Nov. 2.

“I'm comfortable making saves and being more assertive than I was in the past,” Lalonde said on the most recent edition of the Pipeline Podcast, presented by Ruoff Mortage. “And I think just having that confidence going into each game saying, 'OK, I know I can. I know I can make these saves. I know I can win this game. I know I can do whatever I can to help our team.’ And I think that has been the biggest part for me is just the confidence level has gone up a lot.”

A first-team All-OHL rookie team member during the 2021-22 season, Lalonde impressed the Blue Jackets during his stint with the squad during training camp in 2022. He spent last season and the start of this season with Erie but was traded in October to the Spirit, where he’s formed a formidable goaltending duo with Team USA goalie Andrew Oke.

In all, the 6-1, 190-pound goalie from Kingston, Ontario, has played in 24 games for the Spirit, going 15-4-0 with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage.

“I think I have taken strides more so mentally and off the ice,” Lalonde said of this year’s success. “I mean, on the ice, obviously I do feel like I've gotten better in certain areas, but just like the mentality I have now is a lot different than the mentality I had last year. It's just a lot more positive, a lot more eager to get better, and eager to do the little things and the hard things that maybe aren't pretty, aren't exciting, but they have to be done. And I find that I'm able to put those more into a positive light than a negative light now and not dread them as much."

He has been able to build his confidence while playing for the Spirit, who currently are second in the OHL with 37 wins. Saginaw will also be hosting the Memorial Cup this season, giving the squad even more to work toward.

“We do everything as a team,” Lalonde said. “It's the tightest group I've ever been a part of. I mean even when guys come in, right away, it’s like everybody is a part of it. No matter where you came from, no matter how many years you've been here, how many years you've played in the league."

Fisher Making His Mark

Coming off a USHL Clark Cup-winning season with the Youngstown Phantoms, 19-year-old forward James Fisher is bringing an offensive force to the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League.

The Burlington, Mass., native was drafted by the Blue Jackets in the seventh round (203rd overall) during the 2022 NHL Draft. So far this season, he has put up 17-6-23 in 39 games played, including three tallies in the last two games for the division-leading squad.

Fisher is a tough forward with a large stature (6-2, 187 pounds) who is always willing to jump into plays and lead his team up the ice.

“Just being confident, attacking the net whenever I get it,” he told Dylan Tyrer on the Pipeline Podcast when asked what’s been working for him this season. “And just trusting my shot, trusting my speed, and getting to the net was a difference I made mentally,”

After an injury disrupted last season with the Phantoms, something that held Fisher to only three goals in 42 games played, he has come into this season on a new team with a new mind-set.

“From last year, I kind of learned to put the numbers aside and not really worry too much about production and the end goal, and kind of worrying about more short-term goals and developing as more of a complete player 200-foot player,” he said. “Not just on the offensive side of the puck but be able to be in the right spots in the defensive zone and the neutral zone and systematically just understand how the game is going to work.”

Fisher described himself as an annoying player who knows how to get under the skin of his opponents, so when he was asked about who in the NHL plays a similar game to him, the Tkachuk brothers were a no-brainer.

“I love the way when you watch Matthew Tkachuk and even just the Panthers in general it seems like every night, they are starting something up and they are obviously such a hard team to play against,” he said. “And I think Matthew Tkachuk is kind of right in the forefront of that. So I guess both of the Tkachuk brothers, they are really strong physical players and they're kind of all around the puck.”

Fisher is slated to play for current Beanpot champion Northeastern University next season as he begins his college career.

Monsters Get A Win

You could say this is Cleveland Monsters week on our site, as Monday we wrote about the ups and downs for the Blue Jackets’ top minor league squad this season. (Stay tuned for more tomorrow.)

Tuesday was an up, then, as the Monsters finished a 10-game homestand with a much-needed shootout win. Mikael Pyyhtia’s shootout goal was the difference as Cleveland gutted out a 3-2 victory over Grand Rapids at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

It was a big victory for Cleveland (27-15-2-1), as the two points returned the Monsters into a tie for first place in the AHL’s North Division with Syracuse after 45 games of the season.

At first, it didn’t look like the Monsters would need a shootout as the team took a 2-0 lead in the second period behind goals from Carson Meyer and Alex Whalen. The Griffins rallied, though, with two goals in the final 10 minutes, then a scoreless overtime led to the shootout, where Trey Fix-Wolansky and Pyythia scored past former CBJ netminder Michael Hutchinson.

Jet Greaves made a season-high 40 saves in the win, his 20th of the season, good for second place alone in the league.

Prospect Notes

• CBJ 2023 third-round pick William Whitelaw is headed to Columbus this weekend as No. 4-ranked Wisconsin faces Ohio State on Friday and Saturday at Value City Arena. Whitelaw scored in the Badgers’ win Saturday over Notre Dame to give him an 8-6-14 line in 27 games in his freshman campaign. He also notched key shootout goal the weekend prior to push the Badgers to the skills competition win over rival Minnesota.
• Moose Jaw is rising up the WHL’s standings, and the CBJ duo of Denton Mateychuk and Martin Rysavy is playing a big part in that. The Warriors have won nine of the last 10 to reach third place in the Eastern Conference, and Mateychuk is third among defenseman in scoring in the league with a 13-41-54 line in 36 games. The first-round pick of the Jackets in 2022 has a 5-9-14 line in those 10 contests. Rysavy, a 2021 seventh-round pick, adds 19-15-34 in his overage season for the squad.
• Luca Pinelli just can’t stop scoring, as the 2023 fourth-round pick has five goals in the last four games and a 5-6-11 line in his last seven contests for Ottawa of the OHL. With 35 goals in 49 games on the season, Pinelli is third in the Ontario Hockey League in goal scoring. As he's playing in the Canadian capital this season, Pinelli was able to attend the Blue Jackets' game Tuesday against the Senators in Ottawa.
• 2023 fifth-round pick Melvin Strahl is having a solid season in Sweden’s Under-20 league, as the 18-year-old netminder is currently boasting a 2.66 GAA and .911 save percentage for MoDo. Strahl has set career highs this season in the U-20 league with 26 appearances and 13 wins while improving his save percentage from .883 last season. He recently was loaned from MoDo to Bodens HF of the HockeyEttan in Sweden’s third tier and also made an appearance as a backup on MoDo’s SHL team.
• Defenseman Guillaume Richard isn’t known for his offense, but the 2021 fourth-round pick chipped in a big goal for No. 10 Providence in a weekend win over nationally ranked Maine. Richard’s overtime one-timer gave the Friars a big win on the road and capped a two-point game for the defensive defenseman. He’s a key cog for the Friars, posting a 3-12-15 line in 27 games in his junior season as the squad is on track for an NCAA tournament bid.
• Last weekend was a tough one for University of Michigan hockey, as the No. 14 Wolverines were swept by rival Michigan State and are firmly on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. It was a big weekend, though, for CBJ pick Gavin Brindley, as the 2023 second-rounder scored in both contests to give him two goals and eight points in the last five U-M games. Brindley’s season totals of 17 goals and 18 assists in 26 games has him tied for 11th in NCAA hockey in goals and tied for 16th in points (he’s tied with Lukas Sillinger, the brother of CBJ forward Cole Sillinger, in points).

Jeff Svoboda contributed to this report.