Jackson Smith

Obviously, the Hockey East is still there, and the NCHC is really good.

But I think right now with, especially with what Penn State had last year, obviously not a g- not as good of a season as the year prior, but having guys like Gavin McKenna, Jackson Smith, and all those big WHL stars who were first-round NHL draft picks on their team really did a lot for the Big Ten and obviously Penn State.

Now, obviously, we know Gavin is gone.

He has also moved on to greener pastures, who, um, he's with the Toronto Maple Leafs now, first overall pick, the first overall pick in Penn State hockey history.

But that'll be a really interesting game to watch.

This time it's at home for the N- the Nittany Lions.

You don't have, as we said, Gavin, but you did retain a lot of talent, guys like Jackson Smith, who are coming back for another year.

And you also nagged a couple guys out of the transfer portal.

So they've really only got one guy, and I, and I, I hazard a guess that every team has one guy that they're worried is he gonna re-sign? Is he gonna cause us problems? So I think they're in a lot better shape going into training camp right now than they were, say, a month ago.

In their pipeline, defenseman Jackson Smith, the 14th pick in the 2025 draft.

He had 26 points in 35 games at Penn State last season.

Cayden Lindstrom, the fourth pick in the 2024 draft, and perhaps my favorite name in the entire NHL, played 14 games with the Blue Jackets last year, Luka Del Bel Belusz up front.

But they missed on drafting Caden Lidstrom over Demidov in 2024, which leaves their prospect pool in a mediocre situation.

Jackson Smith and Oscar Hemming are the only prospects who landed on Scott Wheeler's top 100 drafted prospects ranking.

In other words, there isn't a young stud that will come in quickly to change the franchise outlook in the way you'd hope for a team that's missed playoffs six years in a row.

I thought Columbus was going to make it last year.

Anyway, I think I've got time to squeeze one more in.

Let's talk about another surprise on my list, which is Jackson Smith is number eight on my list, which does mean, yes, that he is ranked below Caden Lindstrom and Oscar Hemming, which surprised me on both counts.

I'm a huge Jackson Smith fan.

I think he was excellent for Penn State this year.

I believe led rookie defenseman in scoring for them.

And also he might get there anyway.

He's still very young.

I think there's, again, you can afford to be patient with someone like Jackson Smith because you have Wierenski right now.

Once you start, and then, you know, 2025, we'll see.

Jackson Smith, 14th overall.

They also drafted a goalie, 20th overall.

We'll see how that works out for them.

You know, there's a couple of guys that could hit Matejsa level on this list.

And, you know, there's guys like Jackson Smith, Oscar Hemming, Tim Lindstrom, the former first-round picks, Piotr Andrianov, et cetera, et cetera, right? Like, there's promise on the list for sure.

But it feels like we've moved from that time a couple of years ago where there were so many good players that the Blue Jackets had that were 25 and under.

And now they are mostly, it seems, a team of, older players.

And in the last few years, like Marvin Harrison, let's not forget, couldn't get on the field as a freshman.

But who were you taking off? You weren't taking Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, or Jackson Smith and Jigba off the field.

And then after that, you weren't taking Marv or Emeka off the field.

Last year, you weren't taking Jeremiah or Carnell off the field.

So they've really only got one guy, and I, and I, I hazard a guess that every team has one guy that they're worried is he gonna re-sign? Is he gonna cause us problems? So I think they're in a lot better shape going into training camp right now than they were, say, a month ago.

ago.In their pipeline, defenseman Jackson Smith, the 14th pick in the 2025 draft.

He had 26 points in 35 games at Penn State last season.

Cayden Lindstrom, the fourth pick in the 2024 draft, and perhaps my favorite name in the entire NHL, played 14 games with the Blue Jackets last year, Luka Del Bel Belluz up front.