The Winnipeg Jets have invited Latvian defender Kristian Rubbins to the Young Stars Tournament. Rubbins joins Antoine Waked as invites pursuing an Entry Level Contract out of their tryout, like Axel Blomqvist did in 2013.

The Winnipeg Jets are in desperate need of improving their defensive prospect pipeline. While Joshua Morrissey is a legitimate top-prospect, the cupboards are fairly bare after that, with longterm projects such as Logan Stanley and Tucker Poolman or long shots with high upside such as Luke Green and Sami Niku.

The left side is incredibly thin. At the professional level the organization mostly consists of older and quickly aging pieces: Toby Enstrom, Mark Stuart, and Brian Strait. Meanwhile, the “younger” pieces are pretty much what they already are with depth pieces Ben Chiarot and Julian Melchiori. While Jacob Trouba has been exceptional even on his off-handed side, the Jets really could use a few prospect successes to replace these players. 

As it stands, all of the Jets’ hopes for leftside depth all lie in Morrissey, Stanley, and Niku, three players that all have under a 40 percent pGPS%. It is unlikely the Jets hit all three, and more likely one than two.

Rubins went undrafted after being ranked 99th for European skaters, so it appears that teams do not think much of Rubins, or at least not enough to spend a pick on him. The defender still has enough to warrant the invite and the Jets could really use Rubins working out.

The left-shot defender is considered a defense-first type defender. He skates fairly well for a player with a 6’4 frame and has a decent breakout. This could lead comparisons to the Jets’ 2016, fourth-round selection, Jacob Cederholm. Cederholm is also a 6’4 defense-first type defender who can skate well for his frame.

Cederholm is about a month and a half younger than Rubins. Cederholm spent most of his time in the Swedish SuperElit junior league, putting up five points in 35 games. Rubins, meanwhile, scored over twice as much, putting up 11 points, and only in 21 games. Both spent a bit of time in pro for their clubs, but neither put up any points.

This type of scoring in junior is not enough to make Rubins an top-tier prospect, or even in the same breath as someone like Luke Green, but it is fairly respectable for a defensive defender. The size and scoring combination component gives Rubins an 18.2 percent pGPS rating, which is fairly good for a late round pick, let alone a camp invite.

Rubins was drafted in the WHL Import Draft by the Medicine Hat Tigers and is expected to play in the WHL next season. The Tigers have one overager leaving the CHL in Ty Stanton, and three 20-year-old defenders leaving in Connor Clouston, Clayton Kirichenko, and Tamas Laday leaving provided they do not return as overagers.

All of these players with the exception of Laday is a left-shot and all of these players with the exception of Laday played significant minutes.

The time is ripe for Rubins. The Jets are in need of more depth in their prospect cupboards, especially for left shot defenders. The Tigers are in need of a left-shot defender, giving Rubins an opportunity for big minutes and responsibilities as he develops in the WHL.