Prospect Report: Malatesta heads to Memorial Cup

Opportunities like these don't come around very often for such players as James Malatesta.

A fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft by the Blue Jackets, Malatesta and his Quebec Remparts squad are champions of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, downing Halifax (and fellow CBJ draft pick Jordan Dumais) by a 4-2 final in the championship series.

By virtue of winning the Q, Quebec advances to the Memorial Cup, the fabled championship of Canadian junior hockey, along with OHL champion Peterborough, WHL champion Seattle and host Kamloops. Quebec begins play Friday against Kamloops.

Should Malatesta and the Remparts leave with the crown, it would put him in rare air among Blue Jackets prospects. The only previous CBJ draft picks to win the Memorial Cup after being drafted were 2002 draft pick Dan Fritsche and 2003 draft pick Marc Methot (London, 2005), 2010 draft pick Mathieu Corbeil (Saint John, 2011) and 2000 draft pick Shane Bendera (Red Deer, 2001). In 2016, Kole Sherwood, a New Albany native who signed with the Jackets in 2015, won the trophy with London.

In addition, in recent years, Tyler Angle captured the Cup with Windsor in 2017, but he wasn't chosen by the Blue Jackets until the 2019 draft and did not skate in the Memorial Cup games. Michael Chaput also won the Cup with Shawinigan in 2012 after the Blue Jackets traded for the 2010 third-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers. Others to win the Cup before being drafted by the Jackets include Aaron Johnson (Rimouski, 2000) and Brent Regner (Vancouver, 2007).

Quebec clinched the QMJHL championship with a 5-4 win at Halifax in Game 6 on Sunday. Malatesta had a goal in that win, his 14th of the postseason, and he finished with a 14-6-20 line in 18 playoff games to win the Guy Lafleur Trophy as MVP of the QMJHL playoffs.

It's been an excellent season for Malatesta, who is a natural goal-scoring talent in addition to playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. A well-built 5-9, 191 pounds, Malatesta would have finished among the top scorers in the Q had he not missed time with injury, but he still posted career bests of 37 goals and 66 points in 55 games.

He figures to spend next year in Cleveland, where his combination of skill and tenacity should make him a player to watch.

Dumais Caps Incredible Season

As usual, Dumais was brilliant for Halifax all the way to the end. The 2022 third-round draft pick had three primary assists in the Game 6 loss, but it wasn't enough for a Mooseheads team that was looking for its first QMJHL title since 2013.

Dumais missed the first two games of the series with an upper-body injury but returned for the last four, posting a goal and four assists for five points. He completed the postseason with a 5-16-21 line in 15 games.

Of course, for those following along, that came after a historic season for Dumais in which he posted a 54-86-140 line in 64 games, good enough to earn the QMJHL regular-season MVP award. He also set a points record for a drafted CBJ prospect, had the second most points in the Canadian junior ranks this year behind Connor Bedard, and posted the third most points in the Q in the past 20 years behind Sidney Crosby and Alexander Radulov.

Dumais just turned 19 in April, which is good and bad news. The good news is he's one of the younger players from his draft, but the bad news is his age cut-off means he must make the Blue Jackets next year or return to the Q for what could be another historic season of production.

Another Champion

Malatesta wasn't the only CBJ draft pick to win a championship this season, and the other wasn't very far up the road.

The Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL captured the Clark Cup this year, winning the top American junior league with a three-game sweep of the Fargo Force that was finished up on Friday night.

The Ohio-based squad has plenty of ties to the Blue Jackets, including draft pick James Fisher. The Boston-area native was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 draft by the Jackets and spent this year with the Phantoms, posting a 3-7-10 line in 42 games. A big body (6-2, 170) who can skate on the wing or at center, Fisher is headed to Northeastern University next season to continue building his career.

Another tie -- Providence-bound Braiden Clark was also on the roster. Clark is the son of Blue Jackets director of player personnel Chris Clark and posted a 2-5-7 line in 39 games for the Phantoms this year.

There are also two Ohio State commits on the roster -- forwards Jake Rozzi (18-29-47 in 61 games) and Kenta Isogai (14-25-39 in 61 games).

Looking Ahead

We're just over a month away from the 2023 NHL Draft, which will be held June 28-29 in Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

There will be plenty of coverage between now and the draft, but in the meantime, CBJ Radio's Dylan Tyrer has been talking to draft observers as part of the Pipeline Podcast to help Blue Jackets fans get ready for the upcoming event.

Columbus has the No. 3 pick in the upcoming draft and is expected to have plenty of options -- including USNTDP star Will Smith, Swedish forward Leo Carlsson and Russian wing Matvei Michkov -- in what is thought to be a top-heavy draft.

Today, he spoke with Blue Jackets director of hockey analytics Zac Urback, who breaks down how analytics can play into how a team makes a draft pick.

CBJ Radio

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The Pipeline Podcast: CBJ Director of Hockey Analytics Zac Urback

Last week's podcast was with Adam Kimelman of NHL.com, host of the NHL Draft Class podcast.

CBJ Radio

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The Pipeline Podcast: NHL.com's Adam Kimelman

Also be sure to check out Tyrer's interview with Dan Marr, VP of NHL Central Scouting.

CBJ Radio

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The Pipeline Podcast: Director of NHL Central Scouting Dan Marr

Photo of James Malatesta provided by Vincent Ethier/Canadian Hockey League