Jets Prospects Update – October 13th

With the AHL and NCAA regular seasons getting kicked off this past week now nearly every Jets prospect has seen game action. In this prospects update we’ll take a look at how the first weekend went for the Moose 2.0 as well as the rest of the hopeful future Jets.

After a 4 year lapse the Manitoba Moose regular season got under way this past weekend with a pair of games against the Toronto Marlies.

Though the Moose ended up losing both games they were able to take one to a shootout against a strong Marlies team and showed a marked improvement in play from the beginning of the first to the end of the second.

The Moose were heavily outshot in both games and required a very strong game from Comrie along with a late 3rd period goal to wrestle a single point away from the Marlies. While things didn’t go quite as well for Hellebuyck in his game, he’s already shown to be capable of carrying the load at this level and the Moose look to have a great goaltending tandem with these two.

Up front we saw some of the Jets camp standouts continue to bring their strong play in the AHL. JC Lipon, Ryan Olsen, and Chase De Leo all stood out in my viewings while others like Armia, Kichton, and Kosmachuck were able to chips in points as well.

This Moose team is quite young and has no real established AHL scorers so it will likely have to be a bit of a group effort unless one of the kids really steps up.

Sami Niku continues to log minutes on the senior team and establish himself in the professional game. For Kraskovsky the points aren’t there yet but the ice time is creeping up which would indicate he’s becoming more comfortable and being afforded more trust by his coaches. Nothing noteworthy to report with Telegin, he continues to play a depth role in the KHL.

Lemieux saw his suspension finish and he was able to get into a couple games. While he hasn’t shown up on the scoresheet yet, he is generating shots and with the ice time he’s getting its only a matter of time. 

Spacek’s hot play continued as he was able to pick up an assist in each of the games he played and kept his point streak dating back to the beginning of his season alive. Nogier saw his ice time cut into with the return of Haydn Fluery but is still heavily leaned upon by Red Deer and will continue to play an important role in the team’s top 4 defense.

Gennaro was able to pick up his first couple points of the season and continues strong play in a somewhat limited role for the Raiders.

Harkins had a strong weekend with 3 points in 2 games and should see his offense continue to improve the amount of time he plays.

Though the NCAA season has begun not all of the Jets prospects have seen game action yet. Kyle Connor, C.J. Franklin and Jamie Phillips all had the weekend off while Erik Foley sat out his team’s games after suffering an injury during pre-season play.

For those who did play it was a strong start for recent first rounder Jack Roslovic. Roslovic scored a goal and added an assist in 2 games played while displaying the hockey IQ that earned him such a high selection.

Also drafted this past offseason, Mason Appleton was able to make a quick contribution picking up 2 assists in his first two NCAA games. In addition to them, two defense prospects in Jack Glover and Tucker Poolman got into their first game action though they recorded no points.These two will be interesting to follow this year as they both should be given more time to play at their natural position this season, after spending time last season playing forward due to strong defensive depth.

Marcus Karlstrom got in to a couple more games with the Austin Bruins but was unable to record any points. It’s obviously still early in the season and things could change but given that he was already a long shot, it’s looking less and less like Karlstrom will be able to earn himself a contract with the Jets organisation.