Hockey's Future - The #1 Online Prospects Resource

The Columbus Blue Jackets' two minor league affiliates, the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL,  currently have a combined 12 Jackets prospects on their rosters, with a lot of movement up and down between them.  The group is comprised of six forwards, four defensemen and two goaltenders.  At 5'10 and 197.5 lbs, the average height and weight of the forward group is a bit on the smallish size.  The defensive quadruplets are taller, but lighter at just over 6'2 and 197 lbs.  The two goaltenders, at an average height of 6'2.5 and weight of 206 lbs, are giants in comparison.  Here's a look at how they are faring thus far on the season.  

Syracuse

Geoff Platt, C 

Height: 5'9    Weight: 180 lbs

D.O.B: 1985-07-10 (Mississauga, ON)

Geoff Platt was a huge surprise this season, coming on like gangbusters for the Crunch.  His play earned him a contract with the Blue Jackets in November.  He scored 84 points in 74 games last year with Erie and at the end of the year he joined Atlantic City of the ECHL.  He is currently leading the Crunch with 24 points in 21 games. These totals place him third in rookie scoring and 14th overall in the AHL scoring race.  He also leads the team with eight power play goals and has two short handed goals to tie him for second on the team. 

Steven Goertzen, RW 

Height: 6'1    Weight: 190 lbs

D.O.B: 1984-05-26 (Stony Plain, AB)

Goertzen was Columbus’ 11th pick, 225th overall, in the 2002 Entry Draft.  He is a physical player who skates well, the type of player that will show up every night, but won't be counted on to put up big numbers.  Goertzen usually won't hurt the club defensively. He's been called up twice to the Blue Jackets this season, and has played 20 games with them, four times as many as with the Crunch.  

Joakim Lindstrom, LW 

Height: 6'0 Weight: 187lbs

D.O.B: 1983-12-05 (Skelleftea, Sweden)

Columbus's second choice overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, Lindstrom is 29th in league scoring for rookies in the AHL so far this year with 13 points in 21 games.  With him just four points out of the top ten, the Crunch could have two high finishers for rookie honors come season's end.  The young left winger has a lot of offensive skills, so in time we should see him put top ten numbers up.

Andrew Murray, C

Height: 6'2    Weight: 218 lbs

D.O.B: 1981-11-06 (Selkirk, MB)

Andrew Murray, a 2001 NHL Draft selection (242nd overall, eighth round) of the Blue Jackets, is one of the Jackets bigger forward prospects at 6'2.  The 24-year-old rookie is a confident player who skates very well and uses his body to protect the puck.  He is willing to block shots and was the go-to guy for face-offs when he played with Bemidji State.  He has nine points thus far in 18 games with the Crunch.  

Tyler Kolarik, C

Height: 5'10  Weight: 195 lbs

D.O.B: 1981-01-26 (Philadelphia, PA)

This young American was drafted by Columbus in the fifth round, 150th overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.  He's a speedy centerman who is considered solid defensively.  In 13 games with the Crunch this season, Kolarik has posted an average of 2.31 penalty minutes per game making him the third most penalized forward on the Syracuse roster.   He has also played two games with Dayton, where he spent most of last year.

Mark Flood, D

Height: 6'1 Weight: 180 lbs

D.O.B: 1984-09-29 (Charlottetown, PEI)

Mark Flood was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the sixth round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, but went unsigned. Now 21, he has appeared in five games with Syracuse as a rookie this season with one goal.  The interesting thing about his stats is that while he's always had far more assists than goals, this season he is  heavier on goals, already surpassing his total from 2004-05.  In 11 games with the Bombers this season he has five goals, three assists and six penalty minutes.  He has decent offensive upside, but the knock on him has been his defensive play.  

Ole-Kristian Tollefson, D

Height: 6'2 Weight: 200 lbs

D.O.B: 1984-03-29 (Oslo, Norway)

Tollefson,  a 21-year-old Norwegian defenseman, has a hard-hitting style of play that is concisely described as Canadian.  He likes to hit and hit hard.  In the 2003 Blue Jackets' training camp, Tollefson injured a pair of forwards with punishing hits.  Hits from this guy have the potential to turn a game around, and a properly timed one can open the game right up.  He's got a mean streak, and is not easily intimidated.  Tollefson may not be an offensive threat, but he is also never a liability on the ice.  Drafted as Columbus's third pick, 65th overall, in 2002, he was recently called up to help the Jackets on Nov. 22 and has played five games with the club.    

Marc Methot, D

Height: 6'3    Weight: 196 lbs

D.O.B: 1985-06-21 (Ottawa, ON)

An alumnus of the high flying Memorial cup winning London Knights, Methot was drafted in the sixth round, 168th overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.  He is a stay at home defender who makes the safe play.  In an interview with Hockey's Future earlier in the year, an area he said he wanted to improve on was physical play, and so far, with 19 AHL games under his belt, he has 26 penalty minutes, for an average of 1.30 minutes per game. 

Aaron Johnson, D

Height: 6'2    Weight: 210 lbs

D.O.B: 1983-04-30 (Port Hawkesbury, NS)

Aaron Johnson was Columbus's fourth pick, 85th overall, in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.  He is an offensively minded defenseman who doesn't mind mucking it up.  In the early part of his junior career he managed consecutive 50-point, 100+ penalty minute seasons with Rimouski in the QMJHL.  His point production, as one would expect, has gone down as a pro, but is nevertheless admirable.  Currently, he sits eighth in scoring for defensemen in the league with 16 points in 19 games.  He was recently promoted again to the big club and he shouldn't be far off becoming a regular on the Blue Jackets' defensive corps as the 22-year-old is the type of defenseman teams swoon over: big, mobile, mean and productive.   

Andrew Penner, G

Height: 6'3    Weight: 212 lbs

D.O.B: 1982-12-12 (Scarborough, ON)

Andrew Penner was signed as a free agent out of the OHL.  Penner has proven himself a competent backup at the AHL level, but it remains to be seen if he can push his game up another level.  Last season Penner split his time between both of the Jackets' affiliates.  This season he has suffered knee injury, played three games with the Bombers, and was held to just seven games as the backup in Syracuse.  

Pascal Leclaire, G

Height: 6'2    Weight: 200 lbs

D.O.B: 1982-11-07 (Repentiguy, PQ)

A very agile goalie with a fantastic glove hand, Pascal Leclaire was Columbus's first pick, eighth overall, in the 2001 draft. He favors the butterfly style and is quite confident when there is a lot of traffic around him.  As forecast in the Crunch preview, the Crunch goalies are facing a lot of shots -- 733 shots in 21 games -- for an average of 35 shots per game.  Consequently, the man touted as the Blue Jackets' goaltender of the future must prove he can play more consistently and crank out a few wins when the defense fails in front of him.  After seven games his goals against average of 2.82 would seem to indicate that he is doing just that.  

Tim Konsorada, RW

Height: 6'1 Weight: 215 lbs

D.O.B: 1984-03-21 (Lamont, AB)

This former captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings is a tough, gritty player with a strong defensive style of play.  Konsorada was drafted by the Jackets in the sixth round in the 2002 Entry Draft.  With the exception of the 2003-04 season when he was slowed down by an injury, Konsorada's point production steadily increased over the course of six seasons with the Wheat Kings.  Now in his first season of pro hockey with the Daytona Bombers, he finds himself third in team scoring with 17 points.