BUFFALO ― There’s more than two weeks left to rework prospect rankings or make trades, but the NHL draft is quickly approaching.
After a week of activity at the league’s scouting combine wrapped up Saturday at Harbor Center, it’s time for teams to make final preparations for a draft that’s been highly anticipated for a couple years. The team making the most noise with the draft looming, by far, is the Blue Jackets.
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After their reported choice for head coach, Mike Babcock, was leaked June 3, Columbus proceeded to dominate the news cycle. They acquired defensemen Ivan Provorov in a three-team pact that included the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings, completed another trade with the New Jersey Devils to add defenseman Damon Severson and had dinners in Buffalo with prospects Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Will Smith.
Got all that?
It’s been a busy offseason in Columbus and there’s still more to come with the draft, free agency and official naming of Babcock as head coach. Before shifting the focus to those things, here are five Blue Jackets takeaways from the scouting combine:
Columbus Blue Jackets unlikely to trade third pick in NHL draft
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was asked Saturday what it would take for a team to acquire the third overall pick from Columbus in a trade.
“It would take a whole lot,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s willing to offer that much.”
Pressed further, Kekalainen said he’s already taken multiple calls from opposing GMs and expects to get more between now and the time the Blue Jackets are put on the clock to make their first pick June 28 in Nashville.
None of the offers have moved the needle.
“Not even close,” Kekalainen said.
Columbus Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen disappointed Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson didn’t test
Adam Fantilli, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s top player as a Michigan freshman center, is widely expected to be selected second by the Anaheim Ducks. Experts also feel the Blue Jackets will take Carlsson third, with an outside chance Kekalainen pulls a draft surprise by taking the U.S. national team development program’s Will Smith instead.
Only Smith took part in combine testing.
Fantilli and Carlsson opted out, citing their recent participation at the men’s world championship as a competitive disadvantage. Kekalainen was disappointed not to get data on two of the highest-ranked prospects in the class.
“I think they could’ve at least sort of showed up here, in my opinion, and gone through some of the testing,” he said. “If you’re medically not cleared to test, then no problem, but I think it would’ve been good to see them at least go through the floor and do some of the tests that they can, and they wouldn’t have any lingering effects from their season that just ended. But I get their position, too, that they haven’t been able to prepare for this like some of the other guys and they don’t want to look bad because they don’t have time to get to know the testing or prepare for it.”
Kekalainen watches three vertical jump tests closely: vertical leap, squat jump and no-arm jump. All three are performed on a force plate and leaps are measured by inches of lift off the plate.
“If there’s a concern about skating and the guy can’t get off the force plate there, that kind of confirms the concerns that you have on skating,” he said. “And then, on the other hand, if you see somebody who looks really fast on the ice and they can fly off that thing, then it’s like, ‘OK, there’s a reason why he’s such a good skater.’”
Smith didn’t finish among the top 25 prospects in any of the three vertical jump tests. It would’ve been interesting to see whether Fantilli or Carlsson could’ve finished in that group.
Leo Carlsson is determined to play center in the NHL
Carlsson played the past two years in the Swedish Hockey League, which is the top men’s professional league there. He was 16 to start his rookie season with Orebro, so Carlsson was moved from center to left wing to take some responsibilities off his plate.
Carlsson stayed on the wing this year for Orebro, which has led some draft analysts to make an assessment that he’s not a center. Carlsson, who centered Sweden’s top line at the men’s world championship and world junior championship, disagrees.
He played center at lower levels until being shifted to the wing in the SHL and plans to play in the middle again for whichever NHL team selects him. Carlsson is listed at 6-foot-3, 194 pounds, so he’s got plenty of room to add strength and bulk to a wiry frame.
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Regardless, Carlsson considers himself a center and was happy to play that position for Sweden in May while skating with young NHL forwards from the Detroit Red Wings – Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren.
“It was perfect,” Carlsson said. “I played wing the past two years, basically, so center is my position and that was nice to play center again. I was called up to the SHL team last season, so it’s hard for a 16-year old to play center in the SHL right away. … I think I’m ready to play center (in the NHL) right away. Basically, every team is wondering, but yeah, I am a center.”
Michigan’s Adam Fantilli ‘on the fence’ about returning to college
Fantilli is 6-2, has a bigger frame than Carlsson and has a saltier disposition when he plays. Those traits have convinced a lot of experts that he’s bound for the NHL next season, but that’s no sure thing at this point.
Despite winning the NCAA’s highest individual award as a college freshman, the Hobey Baker Award, Fantilli said he hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll return to Michigan for another season. Recent Michigan stars who returned for a second year included three of the first five picks in the 2021 draft: defenseman Owen Power (No. 1, Buffalo Sabres), center Matty Beniers (No. 2, Seattle Kraken) and forward Kent Johnson (No. 5, Blue Jackets).
All three were NHL rookies last season and have bright futures. Fantilli hasn’t committed either way yet, but remains wide open to the possibility of playing another college season.
“The team that I go to, I’m gonna have talks with them and see how they feel about me possibly coming in,” he said Saturday. “If you ask me, I don’t think I could go wrong with either decision. Going back to Michigan would be an amazing spot for me, as well, to develop and, obviously, the NHL is every kid’s dream. So, I’d love to be doing that too. Like I’ve said to everybody, I could not be more on the fence about the decision right now.”
Fantilli’s older brother, Luca, will be a sophomore defenseman for the Wolverines and the idea of playing another season with him is enticing.
“I’ve been able to play with him the last four years,” Fantilli said. “It’s been amazing. Not a lot of people are able to do that. I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t want to go back there and play with him, but I wouldn’t say that’s a deciding factor.”
Columbus Blue Jackets scouted Michkov, Russian prospects by video
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to make it difficult for NHL teams to scout prospects who play in Russia. That’s the case with dynamic scoring winger Matvei Michkov, who some feel is nearly as talented as Connor Bedard ― the wunderkind Canadian center who’s expected to go first overall to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blue Jackets didn’t have a scout based in Russia to get a live look at Michkov this past season and the forward didn’t attend the scouting combine. That’s how it went for most NHL teams trying to gauge his talent level almost exclusively through video scouting.
That combined with Michkov being signed to a KHL deal that will likely keep him in Russia for three more years are reasons many expect him to drop outside of the top-10 picks. Kekalainen has selected Russian prospects in seven of the past eight drafts, including the last six in a row.
“I don’t think anybody can have a leg up these days in scouting in Russia,” he said. “But (Michkov’s) a good player and I’m sure he’ll get drafted high. A very talented young player.”
bhedger@dispatch.com
@BrianHedger
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 Columbus Blue Jackets takeaways from the NHL combine
