Winnipeg Jets 2024 Young Stars Roster - Prospects to Watch

Intro, Brayden Yager for Rutger McGroarty trade we are just about ready to drop the pck for the young Stars tournaments around the league let's get ready for that with one of our experts and go-to guys for all things hockey prospect Stephen Ellis from daily Faceoff before we even get to um the weekend and uh who we'll be seeing with the Winnipeg Jets we've talked a lot in the last couple years about Rucker mcgi um he was finally dealt a fascinating trade the 14th overall pick in one year's draft for the 14th overall pick in the next year's draft Braden joerger's now a win a peg jet Rucker moves on to the Pittsburgh Penguins um I mean you've covered these guys for a long time what did you make of the job Kevin chevo did considering the situation that he's in and uh thoughts on Braden joerger who is number one on your list of top 10 prospects for the Jets at Daily face off so the Winnipeg Jets definitely lost the trade if we're looking at just what the player is right now but obviously if rer mcgard was not going to play he wasn't going to play like so that that's how that is I think the one thing is Yeah the more talented player was shipped off but they're getting a centerman here in Brady AER who I really do like and um you know he was easily Pittsburgh's best Prospect and it wasn't even close and watching him play last year in person uh being out being that he's out west I don't get to see him a lot in person but I did see him in a couple training camps before he got drafted got to see him at other International tournaments but then I seen him now the World Junior Summer showcase and at um the Buffalo prospects tournament last year and the one thing that really stood out to me was that when he's on his game the puck is glued to him he could do so many great things with that um you know I think he's got the makings there of still being a top six forward um I think you know the fact that he could score in so many different ways is good um not going to go out there and beat some guys up to uh physically and things like that but I do think with the puck as a two-way Center I do really like what we're what the Jets are getting there and I think that he yeah as much as I like bran Brad Lambert I have BR Jer ahead of him and it's funny because I just released my top 75 Prospect rankings and I think I have them back to back now two years in a row so they're they're pretty close well and we'll get to Lambert in a minute um joerger of course I mean as far as the Readiness right now you know at 19 years old probably uh looks to go back to Junior and you know somewhat unfortunate that you know there might not be an AHL path for him that's a conversation we have often of guys that have played so long in the Western Hockey League but I mean the season that he had last year from being drafted getting a chance to you know be in an NHL training camp with Sydney crossby going back in being a big part of that world junior team and then taking that club all the way to a Western Hockey League Championship uh he had plenty of time to both grow as a player and some great situational opportunity to help that development as well yeah like I definitely this year for me I want to see him get more engaged along the boards and not being kind of just a you know watching eye from afar like obviously look at the numbers he put up last year he clearly did good he had 95 points and he was actually one of the only players that seem to show up every single game for Canada at the world juniors and this year we know he'll probably be a top six player in that team and one of the most important players they have um so there's a lot going for him there I think with for me it's you know lot yes I would I wish I could see him in the AHL right away because what does he he had 95 points last year what's he going to do this year 75 assists 110 points like does that benefit anybody not really when you start getting into the 100 points and you're not an overage guy I feel like there's some very little you can actually learn but for me this is a perfect year of him saying okay I can score I can set players up look at my assist totals the last couple years now I'm going to go out there and you know contribute in other ways be super engaged physically going out there and being as valuable of a two-way player as possible make yourself indispensable that's what he's got to do this year and I think this is a good opportunity for him to do that um yeah we can't wait and we had a great conversation with him he seemed really excited and his parents are excited to have him in the Jets uh pipeline not too far away from home um and he will certainly be a focus of attention for Winnipeg Jet fans when uh the uh the club heads out to pent tikton for this tournament on the weekend you Brad Lambert mentioned how close you had Braden joerger and Brad Lambert um you know if joerger projects to be a year down the road for making that move to Pro Hockey Brad Lambert certainly seems to be a lot closer um he had a great season last year playing at Center um what do you make of Brad Lambert's Readiness to uh show that he belongs in the National Hockey League and stick around I want him to make the best push possible at a training camp here I think you know whether it's at Center or whether it's at the Wing it'll be interesting to kind of see what they kind of see as his development path with Lambert you know the one reason why I do give the advantage to Jagger I think Jagger is just a better two-way player but from the skill perspective Brad Lambert has been you know top of near the top of his draft class now for a couple years like let's not forget that he was projected to go top three heading into that 2022 draft and wasn't a great year and then obviously last they two years ago now wasn't another great year but last this past season kind of showed like this guy means business and that is the Brad Lambert that we know is very capable of of playing a top six role in the NHL and that's the thing I think he is a top six player probably not this year but maybe in two years maybe that's when he becomes a top six NHL player I think he contributes in a lot of ways with the puck um and I'm I'm really excited to see what he's what he could do because you watch him in warm-ups you watch him in a game so much raw skill and and I got to watch him up close um at a Toronto Marley's game I go to Marley's games a lot at ice level watch in his speed and the way he was able to come up with the plays when he was playing against the Marley really kind of show like yeah like this guy's got a lot going for him so um I'm high on him well with that with Monahan being gone to fully not being resigned there certainly is a path to him you know cracking the roster and potentially even getting an opportunity to play in the top six early on which I think a lot of us would love to see how he'd do he established himself as a pro with a great season in Manitoba last year and he seems to probably be the guy closest to knocking on the door for a spot with the big Club this year um Colby Barlow Colby Barlo is next on your on your team and know Colby I mean you can speak to his season last year I mean he wasn't on the world junior he still puts up what he had 40 goals in 50 games I mean the guy can absolutely finish uh but there seems to be a bit of noise around Barlo right now he didn't report to his OHL team before training camp and we heard sort of public statements from the general manager really it seemed it sounded to me kind of like bridge building Stephen um do you think Colby Barlo if he doesn't crack the Jets goes back to Owen Sound will they be some sort of a trade or uh you know where's Colby at situationally both with the Jets and his OHL team right now so I'll say this that I watched him at the World Junior Summer showcase a few weeks ago and that was one of the most entertaining guys to watch out there because not only can he shoot the puck and we know he could do that still waiting for that 50 goals though um he was out there trying to make as many people mad as humanly possible I think he had a two occasions where he was yelling at guys from his own PTY box I loved it I loved how aggressive he got um in terms of what's going next I think you know Owen sound's not looking to be a team that's goingon to be making a huge push for it this year I don't believe and it'll be interesting to see if they do trade him team like Miss Saga team like Peter bro a couple of these teams that are looking to go all the way this year could be really interesting but I think with with him I want to see someone who is uses his line mates a bit more like you see those stat lines and if you got to go back to the the last year before covid to find the last time that he played any level of hockey and had more assists than goals like this guy just scores so often and I feel like part of the reason maybe that we haven't seen him rated higher as a prospect is he does try to do a lot of things himself he's got a great shot he can clearly score you know he's got like 886 goals over the last two years which is unbelievable um even though he didn't put up a ton of points at the u18 a couple years ago I thought what he did there was Drive the play and make the get the pucks on net which is all you can ask for from him I want to see him get a bit more engage defensively I want to see him do like I think he's getting better at that and I do think his defensive game is better but he's not a super well-rounded player at this point he's not the quickest player out there and at this point that does hurt his overall ability so we'll see kind of what happens there but it'll be interesting because yeah there's a couple notable players across the this year that haven't reported the camps and some of them said they just want to focus on the NHL training camps and development camps but uh we'll see what happens there yeah I heard some Rumblings at the draft that maybe he was looking for uh you know to be on a more competitive team because it's great to be a really young Captain uh and by all accounts he's done a great job for a couple years doing that but man uh those Seasons get really long and you know you look around it's many of your contemporaries getting a chance to show what they can do in the playoffs and you know being uh not being in it or being out quickly and um you know it is tough on that on that development path one guy Chaz Lucius that would Lov to be playing in playoffs for the last few years have been Chaz Lucius and it's impossible to talk about Chaz without talking about you know literally the walking embodiment of Murphy's Law when it comes to injuries um if he can stay healthy what kind of a player might he be able to turn out to be I don't know anymore that's the thing I was so high on him so many years ago but like you look at the game count and it looks like he's still playing college hockey of how few games he's playing in a year it's disappointing to see that because you there was so much talk about him like two three years before he got drafted as this player who could do a whole lot like he was playing with the u8 team um as an underage player I remember that tournament he had at the under 17s where he just like goldes had no chance of stopping him he was just scoring out will out there and uh I think that he's got a ton of talent but playing he just staying healthy has been a problem it's been a bunch of different issues and when you're when you get hurt that often like he doesn't look anywhere as aggressive as a player as he did when he was started on in college when he played that first year at Minnesota he was willing to hit anybody out there and get aggressive and we just haven't seen that the last couple years because it looks like he's going out there trying to just not get hurt so he's got to be able to confidently go back into the battles and win those fights because you know the Jets do have a bunch of guys who are capable of putting Pucks in the net so if he's not going to be the guy doing that he projects more like a playmaker anyways but if he's not going to go and put out a ton of points he's got to find other ways to be more effective and a guy who doesn't really want to engage physically is not going to play a lot at the bottom six so I think there's still middle six potential there I still believe he's got a shot at being in the NHL but we got to see that he could play at least 50 games in a season before we could feel confident about that right now Stephen Ellis from daily face getting us ready for the Elias Salomonsson prospects tournament rookie Camp discussing the Top members of the Jets Prospect pool and I'll be honest the one guy that you know I've probably seen more than the others certainly we've seen him a couple times at camp that has really stood out at and the guy that I'm most excited to see come training camp is Elias salmonson who uh had a a monster season last year playing with W men winning a championship like I don't know that he's ever projected to be a guy that's going to be putting up kale Mar numbers but really did turn into a solid steady defenseman which is something the Jets have needed oh and he's got a right shot as well um how ready do you think this he is for the move to North America and you know if you had to bet on the Jets the Manitoba moose how much he'll play in the NHL where are you at on his Readiness to do that at least Stephen he's fully ready for the AHL no question about it I think this what we saw from him last year such a good skater wasn't afraid of anybody out there he was Fearless he'd play Heavy minutes uh on obviously a very good Swedish team there and then I thought he also looked good at the world juniors didn't put up a ton of points but that wasn't his role I think the what we saw there is a guy who probably is going to be a third pairing defenseman but he's going to be good at it will he become more of a shutdown guy in the NHL we'll see because you know growing up a couple years you saw somebody who really had offense on his mind but just things weren't clicking I feel like he's had to change his game a little bit but he's done so well at it a very good passer like a really good passer um moves a puck as well as anybody at this age um quick hands um to get himself out of trouble and again he's a good skater so I do think this is a guy that probably should spend two years in AHL just kind of getting up to speed and you know the thing about it is he's what 19 years old there's no rush for him right now I think he just turned 20 recently but he's 20 years old he's coming to play in a new area for the first time in his life like this is a chance for him to just like take your time let's see what happens by the time you're 22 you're probably ready to go in the NHL but right now no reason to rush him let him play a full year in Manitoba see what happens but I do like him a lot because what we saw this past year is you could tell like he didn't look like he was a teenager out there he looked like a full grown man that's been playing pro hockey for five six years yeah I'm sort of with you uh that you know in all likelihood he starts with a Manitoba moose I don't rule out though even this year him getting an opportunity maybe at times to play some games with the Jets like I think back to last year in training camp and it did seem like maybe it was a little bit of foreshadowing down the road uh that when he was in the lineup they had him paired with Josh morresy which certainly is you know High Praise for for a youngster that's coming in to get his first chance of Camp uh but much like morresy who was actually pegged to spend another year in the American Hockey League if an injury arises and you get that opportunity you can maybe speed along that process and I think he might be more ready than a lot of other players if he did get that opportunity to show that um maybe he can help the team the big Club right now and and stick around he'll certainly be a Hot Topic when we get through what about Nikita Chibrikov chiov chiov we saw last year with the Moose who like really he was an entertaining player a ton of energy um did score got a goal in his first NHL game um like I think he's probably another one of those guys that's maybe a little bit more ready for the battle when it comes to the National Hockey League but you know if he turns into an NHL how what sort of a player and what sort of a role do you think chiov has in Winnipeg it'll be interesting because I've I've kind of changed my opinion on him a few times the last couple years I really liked him as a junior player um I've I've liked what I saw back in Russia and then you see him this past year and you see those numbers clearly knows how to put the puck in the net but not a great skater I think that that's something he going to get better have to get better at not great defensively like I again watching him play a couple times this past year it felt like he lost a lot of battles that he should have easily won just because it looks like he was just not physically ready for it and get caught off guard but you put him in front of the net or you put him in a scoring chance like a power play or something like that and he puts Pucks in the net so you can't deny how good of a you know a produc point producer is I think that he should be given a chance to play games this year I think you know at bare minimum give him 1015 see what he could do there because I think he's every time he's gone to a new level whether it be you know Russian Junior League to Russian Pro to to where he is now he finds new ways to get creative and new ways to be effective and so even though there I do think there are some flaws in this game he's got to find a way to use you know the smaller ice and be quicker out there because he did lose a bunch of Puck battles last year that just felt like he shouldn't but if he could get better at that which is something that can be fixed at the NHL level I think he could be a decent middle sex player uh Stephen what do you think of alons Frey who uh the Jets picked in the first round in Vegas it's funny I I again Hit or Miss for me but the the real hits were at the u18s where I thought he was one of Sweden's best players and played all situations for them played a lot of minutes and uh when Gabriel Elias and Ottawa Senator Prospect was you know benched I think it was two different times in the tournament we saw alfons Frey go out there and and take a spot and look really good so I think you know not a huge guy out there but I do see him as someone who will could on the power play in a couple years can put up 25 30 points um probably not going to be a top pairing defenseman but good enough and skilled enough where if you need him to pinch up higher in the lineup you he can because he's been doing that for so long at a young age and he's really smart so I really did like that pick at number 37 um I I gotta ask you about Jacob Julian Jacob Julien who's number nine and you know like usually guys that are fifth rounders you know more often than not don't make the NHL um he had a hell of a season last year in London and uh you know once we started kind of paying attention to what was happening in the OHL playoffs he seemed to be everywhere I mean now how how far did this young man come last year and what do you make of him as an NHL Prospect when he was drafted I had never heard of him um or or at least have watched London nights games and didn't notice him whatsoever but you know the one thing that really became clear was there there was a one point where he just didn't really want to pursue hockey it didn't look like that was going to be a career path for him but then he got with the right coach coaches and the right the right people and it's like no look if you use you know your pure strength and all that to your your advantage you're going to make this work out and the the Jets took a chance on him in the fifth round and when you're drafting in the fifth round you're looking for someone who could be a hidden gym and honestly like again that draft was one year ago but that already looks like one of the best value picks in the draft because of just the fact that this year he went out there he was so much more confident shooting like I went back and watch some video clips of him in his draft year and L like he was afraid to when he got the puck he didn't know what to do he was not willing to make passes or if he did he was more just dumping the puck in he wanted to take control and once he started to see those results you saw somebody who was just playing with so much confidence and when a player this is a very minor thing but if you look at a prospect and they're smiling a lot that's a sign of someone who is very very confident in themselves and you need confidence when you're a teenager to go out there and be as effective as possible of all the pressure that's being put on you knowing like this says Make It or Break It for your career and I feel like he handles that really well we saw that in the OHL playoffs a guy that didn't seem to matter if he was going up against a more skilled player or anything like that he was ready for the challenge he could score he can hit he could he can be strong defensively he's an allaround threat so I really like where he is in his development and I think that the Jets you know found even if he doesn't end up becoming a full-time NHL they found a value pick at least um one more guy that I wanted to Dmitry Rashevsky ask you about but he's not a guy that we're going to see this weekend because he's still in the KHL is damitri rashevsky and this guy to be honest amongst Jet fans is probably the biggest mystery of players in the prospect pool just because he's in Russia has not been over here um how good of a prospect is rashevsky and you know do will he ever even come to North America do you think or is he a guy that you know sort of is a little bit older right now at 23 and has a pretty good thing going back in the Homeland with the K in the KHL has thing like by the time that he would be eligible to sign a contract he'd be you know Midway through being 24 years old that'd be next spring because he's an October baby um but you know already not looking to a great start to this year um granted you know not exactly playing with the greatest lineup around him but i' I've watched him now three times and haven't really noticed him a whole lot out there um with Dynamo the one thing about him last year was he went out there and was one of the better goal scorers on a team that didn't have a ton of goal scorers to work with so he had to go out there and do a lot and I thought he did pretty good so you know the thing with him it's he's not a good skater he's not a great two-way player and if you're not going to be a top six player and he won't you need to be able to at least do those two things well and he doesn't so I am a little concern there it would be interesting because I I do have him as my number 10 Prospect for the Jets Prospect pool he's a guy that I think you know if he signed it would be with the intention of trying to have him make the NHL team next year but there's going to be a bunch of other guys coming through that can do a bit more that will be challenging him there so if I would be completely honest unless he blows the doors off this year and you know is Untouchable I I don't know if he's a guy that you really need to think about long term here and just say you know what okay fine it just maybe doesn't work out maybe see if another team wants his rights because there is definitely some skill there he knows how to shoot the puck and goals are hard to find for most of the KHL like that's the thing every time you hear a guy that signs as a free agent it's usually somebody who just had this explosive year but scored 22 goals or something like that like not like anything crazy but scoring goals are so much harder in the KHL where you see goalies putting up 940 950 save percentages so um him going out there and putting up 24 last year hopefully he gets more than that this year he clearly knows how to score I just don't think he's well-rounded enough to be an NHL threat [Music]