Jets Nation Prospect Profiles 2016: #8 Brendan Lemieux

We are in the dregs of summer, so we take a critical look at the Winnipeg Jets organizational cupboards and highlight who we feel are the Jets’ “Top 20 Prospects” when looking at a combination of potential and probability of positive impact for the franchise.

We continue our prospect profile turning to a son-of-a-pest who may be more than just a pest, Brendan Lemieux.

Sometimes the apple does not fall far from the tree. Being the son of a NHL player often leads to some unfair comparisons, but many make the connection with both Claude and Brendan Lemieux in their ability to agitate the opposition and play on the edge. Sometimes the comparison is there in their ability to play past the edge as well.

That said, there are some other comparisons between son and father outside of the pest role. Claude was more than just a bottom-six plug and could score goals, putting up 369 goals over his NHL career and twice winning most playoff goals.

Lemieux has developed the same ability to put the puck in the net, at least in junior, with 106 career OHL goals in 209 games.

Lemieux had a strong campaign two seasons ago, in his 2014-16 OHL season, crossing over a point per game pace with 60 points in 57 games. There were some concerns, however, with the almost all of Lemieux’s scoring being generated on the powerplay as the net front presence, banging rebounds and redirecting shots. In addition, there were some quality of teammate concerns as the three other forwards on the power play were arguably the OHL’s most dominant line.

The Jets’ winger proved that he was more than just a pest who could play in front of the net on the power play. After a trade to the Windsor Spitfires, Lemieux cut his penalty minute pace to nearly a third of his previous two seasons, increased his even strength scoring and assist production, while playing in a major role on the Spitfires top line.

Lemieux grew into more than just a potential fourth-line agitator prospect.

In terms of analytics, Lemieux’s boost in scoring shined well on him. The winger’s pGPS% comes to 29.1 percent, with a 60 percent of the NHL comps peaking as third-line players or better.

The bulk of his statistical cohorts peaked as third or fourth-line players, with few being higher or lower. So, Lemieux is still pacing to be a bottom-six player who will likely need a year or two in the AHL, but there is some interesting upside that may have been unfairly ignored until now.

For these reasons Lemieux rose to #8 in our prospect profiles