Winnipeg Jets Select Jared Moe & Austin Wong To Finish the Day

The Winnipeg Jets wrapped up their 2018 draft day by selecting Jared Moe & Austin Wong with their 6th and 7th round picks.

Jared Moe is a 6’3″, 205 lbs, 18 year old goalie from Minnesota. Moe was ranked 97th by hockeyprospect.com and was ranked 10th among North American netminders by NHL Central Scouting.

Moe played last season in the USHL with the Waterloo Blackhawks and put up solid numbers in 32 games. Moe finished the season with a .919 sv% and a 2.23 GAA and helped lead the Blackhawks to 1st place in the entire USHL.

Moe has committed to the University of Minnesota for the 2019-2020 season which means he will be back in the USHL for  one more season with Waterloo.

Where will Moe fit? The Jets have plenty of netminder talent throughout the entire organization but it’s always smart to have an extra goalie in the pipeline. Currently the Jets have plenty of prospects including Comrie, Berdin, Phillips, and Holm. Moe can be added to this list as well and will be a long term prospect for the Jets. If Moe only starts his university career in 2019-2020, that means it could be another five or six seasons before he could be making an impact with the Moose.

 

The Jets selected Austin Wong with their last pick of the 2018 draft.

Looking at the point totals, it seems that Wong is a solid contributor to the lineup. He put up almost a point per game for the Okotoks Oilers in the AJHL. When looking at the rest of his numbers, one area particularly stands out. Wong led the entire AJHL in penalty minutes with an astounding 235.

In today’s NHL, the players who have grit and toughness also need to be able to score. It appears that Wong can do both as he had the most points out of the top 15 PIM leaders in the AJHL.

It may be frowned upon by scouts that Wong has been playing in the AJHL instead of a higher league, but it appears he was doing it for the sake of going to university as the NCAA has strict rules regarding CHL players. This doesn’t mean Wong was entirely off people’s draft boards, as he was ranked 175 by hockeyprospect.com and 216 by Future Considerations.

This may seem like a unique situation for players but it was brought into the spotlight last season with Cale Makar, the 4th overall pick. Makar played for the Brooks Bandits, also in the AJHL so he could keep his eligibility and attend UMass in 2017-2018.

Wong has committed to go to Harvard University in 2019-2020 after his next season with the Okotoks Oilers. This means the Jets have another prospect in the NCAA which has been a distinct trend in the last number of seasons.

Where does Wong fit? Wong is definitely another long term prospect and will most likely play a full four seasons at Harvard. With his gritty, tough style, look for Wong to crack the Moose lineup as an enforcer down the road. As for the rest of the organization, he could be battling fellow draftee Nathan Smith in the future as a grinder that can score a few goals.