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Jet Greaves

Columbus Blue Jackets Extend ECHL Affiliate

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Kalamazoo Wings will continue to be the Columbus Blue Jackets’ ECHL affiliate for next season, after signing an extension today. Blue Jackets director of player personnel Chris Clark released a statement explaining the new agreement:

We enjoyed working with Head Coach Nick Bootland and the K-Wings organization last season as they offered a great place for some of our prospects to play and develop. The Blue Jackets and Monsters are pleased to continue that relationship as Kalamazoo will once again be our ECHL affiliate for the 2022-23 campaign.

As part of a three-tiered development system, the ECHL is important for maintaining the depth and success of an AHL program, while also providing playing time to raw prospects. In this case, Kalamazoo saw Jet Greaves for 15 games, an undrafted netminder that ended up signing an NHL contract partway through the season.

Greaves, 21, could be back in the ECHL at some point during next season, given the goaltending depth that the Blue Jackets have built by re-signing Joonas Korpisalo and extending Daniil Tarasov. The low minors give an organization more playing time for netminders, given the relative lack of opportunities at the position.

The Wings had previously been affiliated with the Blue Jackets between 2014-16, and have been in operation since 1974 (though not always in the ECHL). The team went 36-35-1 last season and did not qualify for the postseason.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Jet Greaves

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Jet Greaves to a three-year entry-level contract, and will recall him to serve as backup for this evening’s game. Greaves will be behind Jean-Francois Berube, who gets his first NHL start in several years as both Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins deal with injury.

Greaves, 20, had been playing on a minor league contract, splitting the season between the Kalamazoo Wings and Cleveland Monsters. In the AHL, the undrafted goaltender put up a 4-6 record in 13 starts, posting an .898 save percentage. This is his first year of professional hockey after two years with the Barrie Colts, neither of which were all that exceptional. Suddenly he finds himself on the way to the NHL, with the Blue Jackets dealing with a depth issue at the position.

The only other goaltender that could have been recalled by the Blue Jackets is Cam Johnson, who is on a one-year, two-way deal himself. But Johnson has spent most of the year in the ECHL and actually played last night for Cleveland, allowing three goals on 18 shots. Given the lack of options, Greaves finds himself the beneficiary of a three-year deal that makes him an NHL goaltender, at least for the day.

The entry-level contract will keep him in the organization through 2023-24, not bad for a 6’0″ goaltender that has just 28 games of professional experience under his belt.

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