Daxon Rudolph Close To NCAA Commitment
According to Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects, a top prospect in the 2026 NHL Draft, Daxon Rudolph, might have narrowed down his choice of NCAA schools to three top-tier programs.
Rudolph reportedly is between Denver, Michigan State, and Boston College as his preferred destinations, with a visit to Denver expected to come later this week, per Robinson. A right-handed defenseman, he has a consolidated ranking of ninth among the major outlets that cover prospects eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft.
In his second season with Prince Albert, he scored 28 goals, tying Josh Morrissey for the club’s record in scoring by a defenseman, for 78 points in 68 WHL games. The 18-year-old added 27 points in 19 playoff games for the Raiders, losing in the Western league final to the Everett Silvertips. That capped off a career with 119 points and a +45 rating in his two seasons there.
The Lacombe, Alberta native notably competed in two separate tournaments before the WHL playoffs. As an assistant captain for Canada’s U18 team at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, he scored four points in five games and notched two assists in three games for the CHL team at this past Prospects Challenge.
The 6-foot-2 defenseman is known as a prospect who can string together offense. His passing and puckhandling are key attributes when he makes flashy plays, but also help him in his transition game and complement the steady offensive reads he visualizes. Defensively, his stick is active and precise in its ability to clog passing lanes and disrupt the flow of a puck carrier, which rounds him out with what many scouts project as a solid-floor for a blue-liner.
Any three of these schools would be a mutually beneficial partnership between program and player. Among his potential NHL draftees, Rudolph could join a few notable names, depending on the school he decides to attend.
Starting with the defending national champions in Denver, Rudolph could join an elite right side that already has fellow top prospect Ryan Lin, who recently announced his commitment to the Pioneers, and Blake Fiddler (2025-SEA-2nd). David Carle’s program has not only dominated in his tenure but has seen a few defenders in recent memory carry on their talents to the NHL past the NCAA, like former Hobey Baker winner Will Butcher, Scott Mayfield of the Islanders, and most notably, Zeev Buium.
Michigan State would also see Rudolph connect with a 2026 eligible right-shot defenseman. Chase Reid, a projected lottery selection, is likely to lead the charge in terms of blue line minutes after a great season with the Soo Greyhounds in the OHL, which has him slotted to be off the board early. Along with Reid, Tommy Bleyl is sure to add some competitiveness for ice time as another top prospect out of the QMJHL. So on the Spartans’ right side, Rudolph would join a hefty group with a potential commitment to East Lansing. Adam Nightingale already has a shiny resume, a great class of recruits, and is backed by a history of Spartans who’ve fared well in the NHL; Duncan Keith, Torey Krug, and Jeff Petry are a few to name, with former second overall pick Artyom Levshunov as a recent graduate.
Boston College would be the most intriguing option if Rudolph were to make a decision best for his ice time. Going off of College Hockey News, sophomore Luka Radivojevic, who scored 16 points in 34 games of his freshman season, is the Eagles’ best righty as of their roster projection. Nolan Joyce rounds out that side entering his senior season, but it would be a huge boost for Greg Brown‘s program if he were able to bring Daxon Rudolph to ‘The Heights’. Outside of forward Oscar Hemming, the Eagles don’t have a major first-round pick from the 2026 draft to boast on their team next season. Rudolph could certainly be that player.
Jack Nesbitt Commits To University Of Michigan
Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick Jack Nesbitt announced on social media today that he has committed to play NCAA hockey at the University of Michigan.
Nesbitt, 19, has played the last three seasons for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. Today’s announcement confirms his OHL career has now concluded. A 6’4″ center, Nesbitt has been a quality top-six center for the Spitfires in each of the last two seasons. In his draft campaign, he scored 25 goals and 64 points in 65 regular-season games, and 10 points in 12 playoff games.
This past year, Nesbitt kept up those levels of production – though he didn’t take a major step forward statistically. He finished 2025-26 with 25 goals and 58 points in 55 regular-season games, and 10 points in 13 playoff games. Nesbitt’s Spitfires made a run to the OHL’s conference finals, where they were dispatched in five games by the Kitchener Rangers, the eventual champions.
As a prospect, Nesbitt is generally well-regarded, though some have questioned his eventual NHL upside. Entering the season, the team at Elite Prospects ranked Nesbitt the No. 8 prospect in the Flyers’ system, and he did not feature in their ranking of the top-100 prospects league-wide. In ranking him No. 8 in Philadelphia’s system, Cam Robinson wrote Nesbitt “projects as a reliable two-way forward who can play tough minutes and chip in offensively.”
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic rated Nesbitt the No. 4 prospect in Philadelphia’s system last month, and the No. 80 prospect leaguewide. Wheeler noted scouts have “questions about [Nesbitt’s] ultimate offense and whether he projects as more of a third-line player than a top-six one.”
Nesbitt will get the chance to try to answer those questions at Michigan. He’ll join a team filled to the brim with quality NHL prospects, including first-round pick forwards Michael Hage and Will Horcoff, as well as potential 2026 first-rounders in Adam Valentini and J.P. Hurlbert. Given how much talent Michigan expects to have next season, it will be interesting to see whether Nesbitt lands in the top-six as a freshman with the Wolverines, or if he is utilized in more of a supporting role.
Transaction Notes: Paquette, Gaudreau, Mayer
The Texas Stars, AHL affiliates of the Dallas Stars, announced the signing of forward Charlie Paquette to a one-year AHL contract. As is customary with AHL deals, the financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Paquette, 20, was a seventh-round pick by the team at last year’s entry draft. The Stars hold the exclusive rights to sign Paquette to an entry-level contract until June 1, 2027, but they have decided to give Paquette a place in their organization – albeit without an ELC – before that point.
The contract will allow Paquette to turn pro with AHL Texas next season. Paquette is a 6’2″ winger who has played in the OHL since 2021-22. Paquette experienced steady, positive development over the course of his time in junior hockey. He scored just seven points in 54 games as a rookie, but two years later managed 21 goals and 35 points. He became a point-per-game scorer in his final two years of OHL action, potting 66 goals and 133 points in his final 133 games of junior hockey. While he is not considered to be among Dallas’ top prospects, he’ll get the chance to try to make the Stars’ AHL team next fall, and will either begin his career there or with the franchise’s ECHL affiliate, the Idaho Steelheads.
Other transactions from around the hockey world:
- Minor-league goaltender Benjamin Gaudreau, 23, announced on social media earlier this week that he has committed to play college hockey next season at Clarkson University. While Gaudreau would have been ineligible to play college hockey in previous years due to his experience in professional hockey, more recent developments in the area of collegiate eligibility have paved the way for players with ECHL and even AHL games played to head to, or back to, the college ranks. Gaudreau is a 2021 third-round pick of the San Jose Sharks but the team let his rights lapse without giving him an entry-level deal. Gaudreau is perhaps best known for the place he occupied on Team Canada for the World Junior Championships in 2022-23. He had a shutout over Austria in the tournament and helped Canada win gold. Gaudreau spent last season with the Trois-Rivières Lions of the ECHL, posting an .897 save percentage in 29 games. In total, he has played in 72 games in the ECHL and five games in the AHL.
- Defenseman Connor Mayer has decided to head overseas to continue his professional career after spending the last two seasons in the AHL and ECHL. The former Colorado College blueliner signed a deal with HC Innsbruck of the ICEHL. Mayer will head to Austria after a 2024-25 season that saw him lose his spot in the AHL. Mayer signed out of college late in the 2023-24 season and spent most of 2024-25 in the AHL, getting into 22 games for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles compared to just four games in the ECHL with the Utah Grizzlies. Mayer then signed with the Hershey Bears but he only ended up playing in one game for the club. He spent most of 2025-26, 55 total games, with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. Now the 5’11” rearguard will head to Austria to join an Innsbruck franchise that has struggled mightily over the last two years – winning just 20 of their last 96 league contests.
Morning Notes: Carle, Berube, Kuhlman
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had an “initial conversation” with University of Denver head coach David Carle to “gauge his interest” in potentially filling Toronto’s vacant head coaching position, reports Elliotte Friedman in Monday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman cautioned that the talks between Carle and the Maple Leafs are purely preliminary, and that neither Carle, nor anyone else, should be considered the favorite in the process at this time.
According to previous reports, the Maple Leafs may be targeting a “fresh face” as their next head coach – a departure from their previous coaching search, which resulted in the hire of a Stanley Cup-winning veteran in Craig Berube. Carle, 36, is widely considered to be among the top coaching candidates who has never held a coaching role in the NHL, or even at the professional level. Carle has been the Denver Pioneers’ head coach since 2018-19, and is a three-time NCAA national champion in that role. He’s also won a gold medal as head coach at two World Junior championships – at both tournaments he got to coach. It’s been widely reported that Carle will be selective about where and when he eventually decides to turn pro (and if he even does) and has already withdrawn himself from consideration from one NHL search in the past.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- The Edmonton Oilers have received permission to speak with Berube, the former Maple Leafs coach, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Berube was fired by the Maple Leafs less than a week ago after his second season behind the bench there. The 60-year-old, as previously mentioned, led the St. Louis Blues to their franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup championship in 2019. Berube’s first season in Toronto was reasonably successful, as the club went 52-26-4, and won a playoff series for just the second time in the Auston Matthews-led “Core Four” era. But Toronto fell in the second round to the eventual champions, the Florida Panthers, and endured a disastrous 32-36-14 campaign in 2025-26. The Oilers are under significant pressure to win a Stanley Cup as soon as next season, and it appears the club may target the most experienced coaches available, and specifically those with a Stanley Cup win on their resume.
- 147-game NHL veteran Karson Kuhlman has signed a one-year contract extension with Rögle BK of the SHL, per a team release. The 30-year-old signed with Rögle last summer and had a solid debut season there, scoring 13 goals and 25 points in 52 games played, and seven points in 17 playoff games. Kuhlman has played in Europe since 2024-25, when he spent the year with Lukko in the Finnish Liiga. From 2018-19 through 2022-23, Kuhlman played in nearly 150 NHL games for the Boston Bruins, Seattle Kraken, and Winnipeg Jets. The NCAA national champion nearly won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2019, and also got the chance to represent the United States at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championships.
Morning Notes: Engvall, Burkholder, Kunc
New York Islanders forward Pierre Engvall has had a difficult run of things since signing his seven-year, $3MM AAV contract extension in the summer of 2023. The 29-year-old missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season with an ankle injury, and the year prior he saw his role in the NHL decline sharply. Without question, he’s hoping to rebound next season, and Stefen Rosner of The Elmonters reported that Engvall “is feeling better, and the hope is that he’ll be ready for training camp.”
Rosner also noted that “given the severity of the ankle injury, it’s fair to expect a gradual ramp-up before he’s back to full strength.” That Engvall still isn’t a guarantee to be at 100% health before training camp, despite missing the entire campaign due to his injury, is notable – underscoring just how severe Engvall’s injury was. The Islanders don’t have many viable routes to move off of the hefty financial commitment they made to Engvall, as he almost certainly wouldn’t be claimed off of waivers and his 16-team no-trade list makes finding a deal for him difficult. So their best hope for his future with the team is for him to be able to recover and rediscover the form that once made him a speedy 15-goal, 35-point forward.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- The Boston Bruins have invited Colorado College captain Max Burkholder to their development camp, reports Mark Divver of New England Hockey Journal. The 22-year-old is an undersized right-shot defenseman who had a breakout sophomore campaign in 2024-25. That year, he scored 26 points in 37 games and was named to the NCHC’s Second All-Star team. A lower-body injury cost him all but three games this year, but he’ll still get the chance to show off his talents at development camp with the hope of potentially earning a pro contract down the line.
- Utah Mammoth pending RFA Michal Kunc has signed a two-year contract to return to his native Czechia, according to a team announcement. Brno is Kunc’s youth team and the club with whom he made his professional debut, though it’s his performances with HC Olomouc that earned him his shot in North America. Kunc spent the entirety of 2025-26 in the AHL with the Tucson Roadrunners, scoring 16 points in 43 games. The Mammoth have an extensive track record of mining the European leagues, and specifically Czechia, for free agent talent. While players such as Kunc and Ronald Knot, for example, have come and gone, they have had some success, most notably finding a No. 1 goalie in Karel Vejmelka from Brno.
Snapshots: Garand, Team Canada, Poirier
The New York Rangers are likely to give young goaltender Dylan Garand the inside track to become the team’s backup netminder next season, reports Vincent Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic. Veteran Jonathan Quick has been the No. 2 on Broadway for the last three seasons, but has played his final NHL game. Garand, 23, has been waiting in the wings, and it appears he’ll be given a strong chance to win the role at training camp next fall. The former CHL Goalie of the Year has been the No. 1 goalie for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack for the last three years, and went 2-0-1 with a .948 save percentage in his first three NHL games this year. Garand was an AHL All-Star in 2024-25 and his playoff performances have been especially impressive, as he has a .927 save percentage in 17 games across two runs.
While Garand does seem ready for the NHL, Mercogliano did also say that Rangers GM Chris Drury will most likely add “some level of veteran competition” for Garand. The Rangers already have veteran Spencer Martin (72 career NHL games played) under contract at a one-way, league-minimum rate for next season. But Martin struggled this season (.864 save percentage in six NHL games, .873 in 22 AHL games) and isn’t likely to be a part of their long-term plans. According to Mercogliano, Drury could add another veteran beyond just Martin, “either on a cheap, short-term deal or a professional tryout contract,” to compete with Garand.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Hockey Canada has secured some significant commitments for its roster for the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championship tournament, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. According to Dreger, Macklin Celebrini, Mark Scheifele, Mathew Barzal, and Morgan Rielly have all committed, landing the team some significant names from the NHL. Additionally, potential 2026 No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna will be on the roster as well. McKenna isn’t the first top prospect to play for Canada at Worlds in his draft year. Porter Martone played for Canada at last year’s tournament before he was selected No. 6 overall, while Adam Fantilli won the tournament in 2023 just shortly before he was selected No. 3 overall. Joining the team will give McKenna the chance to compete against men, something his main rival to be picked No. 1, Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg, has been able to do all year playing for Frolunda in the SHL.
- Carolina Hurricanes prospect Justin Poirier has transferred from the University of Maine to Penn State, reports Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. The 19-year-old ranks as the No. 7 prospect in the Hurricanes’ system, according to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. The Hurricanes selected Poirier in the fifth round, No. 156 overall, at the 2024 draft. That was a somewhat surprising result for a player who scored 69 goals across 85 regular season and playoff contests in his draft year. Poirier was able to translate his QMJHL scoring to the college level, posting 18 goals and 29 points in 27 games for Maine. There will be big shoes for him to fill in the Nittany Lions attack, as the team’s top three scorers from last season will all be playing pro hockey in the fall. Additionally, Penn State’s fourth-highest scorer, J.J. Wiebusch, transferred to Wisconsin.
Transaction Notes: Miller, Okhotyuk, Robins
Montreal Canadiens prospect Quentin Miller transferred from the University of Denver to Western Michigan University a week ago, Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reported. He is one of two Canadiens goalie prospects to transfer this week, as 2025 fifth-rounder Alexis Cournoyer left Cornell University to join the Wisconsin Badgers on April 20. Miller, 21, was a fourth-round pick of the Canadiens at the 2023 draft. He won a QMJHL title and Memorial Cup as a backup with the Quebec Ramparts, and has been a tandem goalie at multiple levels for much of his time since being drafted.
Miller went 12-10-2 in 25 games for Denver this season, posting a .916 save percentage and 2.39 goals against average, but lost the No. 1 goalie spot to freshman sensation Johnny Hicks. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler recently ranked Miller the No. 14 prospect in the Canadiens’ system, writing “The Habs will likely want to see him be the guy somewhere before they commit to signing him.” Miller has a clear lane to being the undisputed No. 1 in Kalamazoo – last year’s starter Hampton Slukynsky has turned pro after two years in college and incoming freshman Owen Lepak hasn’t been a team’s starter since 2023-24, when he led the NAHL’s Maryland Black Bears to the Robertson Cup Final.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Former Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils defenseman Nikita Okhotyuk signed a three-year contract extension in the KHL, keeping him in Russia through May 2029. The Flames still hold Okhotyuk’s signing rights since they qualified him when his last NHL contract expired. The 25-year-old defenseman played in nine games as a Flame and has played in 67 career games at the NHL level, split between Calgary, New Jersey, and San Jose. Over the last two seasons with CSKA Moscow, Okhotyuk has skated in 129 contests and scored 23 points.
- Former San Jose Sharks prospect Tristen Robins plans to sign in North America for 2026-27, according to an official announcement from his former club Rytíři Kladno. Robins was a second-round pick of the Sharks in 2020 and skated in a total of 150 AHL games while a member of the organization. Robins looked to be pushing for an NHL role as recently as 2023, when he scored 38 points in 62 games as an AHL rookie. He earned three NHL games that season and was ranked as the organization’s No. 7 prospect by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. He wasn’t able to build on that rookie campaign and ended up dealt from the Sharks organization in 2025. Playing on a one-year deal in the Czech league, Robins scored 18 goals and 35 points in 45 games, and will hope to earn another shot in an NHL organization this fall.
Blue Jackets Sign Boston Buckberger
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed two-time NCAA national champion defenseman Boston Buckberger to a two-year, entry-level contract. The deal will start next season. He attended development camp with the Blue Jackets in 2025.
In the official team announcement, president of hockey operations and GM Don Waddell said of Buckberger:
Boston Buckberger is a smart, skilled defenseman who can play in all situations and has a championship pedigree. He was among the top scoring defensemen in college hockey this year and a big part of Denver’s championship team. We are very excited that he is now part of the Blue Jackets organization.
As Waddell mentioned, Buckberger made a name for himself on a national stage at Denver. He was an instant-impact defenseman for head coach David Carle, scoring 27 points in 44 games. He was able to build on that strong freshman campaign the following year, potting nine goals and 30 points in 41 contests. This season, he scored 10 goals and 28 points in 42 games.
While Buckberger has never been the Pioneers’ top offensive option from the blueline (Zeev Buium held that honor the first two seasons, and Eric Pohlkamp this year) he has nonetheless been able to consistently deliver value in whatever role he played. We named him as a player to watch in this year’s NCAA free agency class earlier this month, noting that “there might not be big upside” in Buckberger “returning for his senior season.”
That’s something Buckberger appears to have agreed with, as he elected to sign his entry-level deal and forgo returning to the Pioneers.
Columbus does have a track record to point to when it comes to developing top NCAA blueliners. They signed then-University of Michigan captain Nick Blankenburg in 2022, and he quickly became an NHLer for the Blue Jackets. He also impressed with the Nashville Predators and was a trade deadline addition of the Colorado Avalanche.
While Buckberger isn’t an exact one-to-one stylistic comparable for Blankenburg (he’s a bit bigger, for example), he’ll nonetheless likely hope to have an early career that resembles how Blankenburg’s has gone.
Boston Bruins Sign Max Lundgren
The Boston Bruins have signed NCAA free agent goaltender Max Lundgren to a one-year entry-level contract, per a team announcement.
The deal carries a $952.5K cap hit and will be for the 2026-27 campaign. This news comes just over a week after Lundgren told Mark Divver of New England Hockey Journal that he would be attending Bruins development camp this summer.
Lundgren, 23, was the No. 17-ranked NCAA free agent according to the team at Elite Prospects. The Swedish goalie has had a strong three-season run in North America since crossing the Atlantic in 2022. He put up a .913 save percentage in 41 games as the starter for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers in 2022-23, and began a two-year run at Merrimack College in 2024-25.
He had a solid freshman campaign last season, posting a .909 save percentage despite going 8-13-0. But it’s his sophomore campaign that really positioned him to sign with an NHL team. In 39 games, Lundgren went 21-16-2 with a .920 save percentage.
Lundgren’s performance in his final NCAA game etched his name into Merrimack history. His 49 saves against UConn in the Hockey East tournament final gave his program, which entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, its first-ever Hockey East playoff championship. Merrimack has been a member of the conference since 1989-90.
With his college career ending on a high note, Lundgren will now join the Bruins organization. It’s a big opportunity for Lundgren, who joins an organization with an excellent track record of developing goalies.
The Providence Bruins already have the reigning AHL Goalie of the Year in Michael DiPietro, who is under contract through next season. But the organization’s No. 4 and No. 5 goalies, Simon Zajicek and Luke Cavallin, respectively, are set to be RFAs this summer.
Cavallin, 24, has been excellent at the ECHL level (including a stellar playoff run last season that ended in a Kelly Cup title) but could end up seeking a spot in an organization with a goaltending depth chart more favorable to him getting AHL games. Zajicek, who is also 24, has a .920 save percentage in the AHL this season but has only gotten into 17 games. There is the possibility to consider that Zajicek, who led the Czech Extraliga in save percentage last season, could elect to return to Europe.
In any case, the Bruins have added a talented young goalie to an organizational pipeline at the position that is already well-stocked with talent. Whether the move is plainly about adding an additional young talent to their organization, or signals something more about the future of the Bruins’ other minor-league goalies, remains to be seen.
Cayden Lindstrom, Jackson Smith To Return To NCAA
Cayden Lindstrom and Jackson Smith, two of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ top prospects, will not turn pro at the conclusion of their respective freshman campaigns in college hockey. Instead, each will return and play their sophomore season in college, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported today.
That Lindstrom has decided to remain in college hockey is not a massive surprise. The 20-year-old, who plays at Michigan State, missed all of 2024-25 as he managed a back injury that ultimately required surgery. Health issues stalled Lindstrom’s first year of development after he was selected No. 4 overall at the 2025 draft, and that has left Columbus likely more willing to be patient with his growth.
In addition to the impact his back surgery had on his development, another factor contributing to Lindstrom’s decision is his uneven freshman campaign. Portzline wrote that Lindstrom “has been challenged by NCAA-level hockey, perhaps more than most expected,” as he posted just three goals and 10 points in 29 games. He became more productive as the season went on, and showed real flashes of the talent that made him such a tantalizing prospect in his draft year.
But the reality Columbus has had to deal with is simply because of just how much time Lindstrom missed due to injury (even dating back to his draft campaign, when he was limited to 36 regular season and playoff contests in the WHL), he’s not on the same developmental timeline as the players drafted around him.
Both Beckett Sennecke (2025’s No. 3 pick) and Ivan Demidov (2025’s No. 5 pick) have been two of the league’s most impressive rookies this season. Columbus and Lindstrom would surely prefer for his development, in an ideal world, to have played out on an accelerated track the it has for those two wingers. But both Sennecke and Demidov have enjoyed good health over the last two years in a way Lindstrom simply has not.
With the Blue Jackets making a push for the playoffs this season, and boasting a deep group of centers that includes Adam Fantilli, Charlie Coyle, Sean Monahan, Cole Sillinger, and Boone Jenner (who has played more wing since the team added Monahan, but is a natural center), there is not an immediate roster need that might push the team to bring Lindstrom to the pro ranks early.
Instead, the team’s success at the position gives them the flexibility to keep Lindstrom in college and allow him to develop at his own pace. If he can have a healthy, productive sophomore campaign with the Spartans, it’s entirely possible we’ll see Lindstrom in the NHL next spring. Despite his injuries, Lindstrom could still very well end up a dynamic No. 2 center behind Fantilli for the team, giving the club an enviable set of promising young players at the position.
Pivoting to Smith, his return to Penn State for his sophomore season is more of a surprise. The No. 14 pick of the 2025 draft has had a strong debut campaign with the Nittany Lions, scoring 11 goals and 26 points in 34 games. He was named a second-team Big Ten All-Star and set the record for the most goals in a single season by a defenseman in Penn State program history.
According to Portzline, “the Blue Jackets have been delighted” with the improvement in Smith’s defensive game over the course of the season, and are content to have him spend another year in an environment where he’s excelling.
Columbus has been one of the league’s best teams since bringing veteran coach Rick Bowness behind their bench, and stand a real chance of reaching the playoffs. But despite having a real chance to play into the spring, it does not appear the Blue Jackets will be doing so with the help of some of their top prospects. Instead, Blue Jackets fans will likely be able to see both players at another rink in Columbus – at Ohio State, whenever the Spartans or Nittany Lions make the trip to play the Buckeyes.