The Columbus Blue Jackets landed in the top half of Corey Pronman’s latest U23 pipeline rankings, checking in at No. 13 in The Athletic’s assessment of every NHL team’s young talent.
At the top of the Blue Jackets list, as expected, was Adam Fantilli. The 2023 third-overall pick is still working to fully establish himself as a true NHL star, but Pronman’s ranking reflects how far he has already come. The 21-year-old center turned in a career-high 59 points in 82 games last season for Columbus.
Oscar Hemming came next. Columbus’ 2026 first-round pick was slotted as the organization’s second-best player under 23, with the 6-foot-4 forward viewed as a player who could develop into a good NHL piece down the line. In 19 games at Boston College last season, Hemming scored one goal and finished with eight points.
Cayden Lindstrom took the No. 3 spot. The 2024 fourth-overall pick had a relatively quiet freshman season at Michigan State, putting up three goals, 10 points and 94 penalty minutes across 31 games. Even so, Pronman’s ranking still points to plenty of upside, and a bigger jump this season would not be a shock.
After that, Pronman’s next Blue Jackets names were Denton Mateychuk, Jackson Smith, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Alessandro Di Iorio, Oiva Keskinen, Luca Marrelli, Charlie Elick, Kirill Dolzhenkov and Pyotr Andreyanov.
The big picture is simple enough: Columbus has a group of young players with real promise, and the question now is how many of them turn into impact NHLers. Fantilli and Mateychuk are already showing the way.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Fans Just Sent A Brutal Message About This Front Office
The offseason has brought a few notable additions for Columbus, including Valeri Nichushkin and Ryan Lomberg, but the bigger story around the Blue Jackets has been the unease hanging over the roster. Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko still have not re-signed, the franchise center remains unsigned as of Aug. 20, 2026, and a fanbase that has waited through too many false starts is looking at the front office with real skepticism. For a team trying to sell progress, the noise around its direction has only gotten louder.
A recent fan survey from The Athletics Dom Luszczyszyn captured that frustration in plain terms, with Columbus landing near the bottom of the league in how its own supporters view the front office. The result says as much about the burden of the unanswered contract business as it does about the lack of a truly transformative summer, and it leaves the Blue Jackets with more to prove than usual before the season even gets going. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Suddenly Face A Goalie Problem They Can't Yet Solve
Elvis Merzlikins offseason took an abrupt turn when the Blue Jackets announced the veteran goaltender underwent shoulder surgery after reporting discomfort during workouts. An MRI showed surgery was the best course of action, leaving Columbus to monitor a situation that has quickly shifted from maintenance to a deeper concern at a position the team cant afford to treat lightly.
The club said Merzlikins will be re-evaluated in a few weeks, but for now there is no clear timetable for a return. That leaves the Blue Jackets waiting on their No. 1 goalie and trying to plan around a recovery that remains open-ended, with the real answer still a ways off. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Contender Hopes May Ride On Two Massive Seasons
For the Blue Jackets to move from hopeful to legitimate Stanley Cup threat, they need more than a good season from the roster around the edges. The conversation around Columbus has turned to individual breakout years as much as team results, with the idea being that a true leap from a couple of core players could drag the club into the leagues upper tier and make its broader ambitions feel real.
Charlie Coyle is one of the names getting attention as a defensive-forward type who could end up in the award mix, while Zach Werenski is drawing even bigger notice after last seasons Norris Trophy run. The catch, of course, is that those kinds of honors tend to follow team success as much as individual play, so the Blue Jackets still have to prove the season is headed in the right direction before any of those trophy talks become more than a hopeful subplot. [Read more 🡒]