Jets Prospect Report - January

It was a busy summer for Jacob Julien. After being selected by the Winnipeg Jets in the fifth round in Nashville, the London, Ontario native went to development camp in the early summer and followed that with taking part of the 2023 Youngstars Classic in Penticton.

The tournament featured the top prospects from the Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks. Julien left BC with some confidence from that event into his first full season with the Ontario Hockey League London Knights.

“You definitely played with most of the best players and best prospects for each team. So that’s always a challenge,” said Julien.

“They’re much more fast paced and they’re obviously better players. So, when you come back you kind of keep to that pace and just try to do your best.”

Julien arrived in London for the start of the 2023-24 campaign and the 19-year-old recorded seven points in his first 15 games of the season.

“I think I got off to a little bit of a rougher start for my liking, in my opinion,” said Julien.

“But you know, just trying to bounce back and I think things have been going well.”

Since November 11, Julien has been on fire. He has put up 39 points (14G, 25A) in the following 22 games. Part of that success has been because he has been playing on the Knights top line and top power play unit.

“After six, seven games in, my confidence kind of rose and then you start getting a couple of multi-point games and you start winning,” said Julien.

“That obviously helps out a lot. So, I think around that time.”

 On top of that, Julien was counted on more by the coaching staff through December when Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan was named to Canada’s World Junior team. Defenceman Oliver Bonk also played for Canada in Sweden.

“Yeah, I think I did pretty well when they were away. Obviously, they are fantastic players, big pieces to our team right now. I mean, I just tried to do my best, just try to win games,” said Julien.

“When you’re missing your better players or you’re missing big pieces of your team. You kind of just try to step up and kind of bring everyone with you, help everyone, even the younger guys coming in. I’m just trying to help out, just do my best and do whatever I can to get the win.”

The production is even more impressive when you consider Julien didn’t join the Knights until mid-November last season. He was playing with the London Nationals in the Greater Ontario Junior League where he had 41 points in just 22 games. He then played 40 games with the Knights and added valuable experience with London with 20 playoff games on top of that.

Julien is part of one of the most successful major junior hockey programs in this country. Dale Hunter and his coaching staff have developed some of the biggest names in the NHL. So as the points and wins pile up this season, Julien understands what he has to do to keep things on track.

“Just honestly, just keep working hard. Sticking to the systems, doing what the coaches say,” said Julien.

“I mean, just doing that and doing whatever you can to help the team. Put the team first and everything, everything else will play out by itself.”

MOOSE UPDATE

The Jets AHL affiliate have hit a rough patch of the season having lost four straight games heading into a three-game road trip in eastern Canada starting January 10. Goals have been tough to come by as of late and an injury to Chaz Lucius hasn’t helped.

The AHL announced its rosters for the 2024 All-Star Classic in San Jose on Wednesday and Moose forward Brad Lambert will represent the team in northern California in February. Lambert is the first Moose rookie to go since Mason Appleton and Sami Niku in 2018.

“Obviously it means a lot, it’s a huge honour. There’s a ton of guys in that room that are deserving of going there,” said Lambert.

“So, to be picked is a huge honour. I owe a huge thank you to all the guys in that room for helping me and supporting me.”

Lambert shares the team lead in points (24) with fellow rookie Nikita Chibrikov and his 11 goals leads the Moose. The Jets 2022 1^st round pick is sitting sixth in the AHL in the rookie scoring race.

Parker Ford is heating up at the right time for the Moose with seven points in his last nine games. Ford has been playing primarily with Lambert and Jeff Malott.

The Moose will play in Belleville Wednesday before heading to Laval for a pair of games on January 12-13. They will return to Winnipeg for a four game homestand with two games against Grand Rapids on January 19-20 and a back-to-back with Chicago on January 23-24.

OTHER PROSPECT NOTES

• F Rutger McGroarty won a gold medal with the United States at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Sweden. McGroarty played his first games since getting injured in mid-November with Michigan. The 2022 first round pick of the Jets was named captain and proceeded to record nine points (5G, 4A) in seven games including a multi-point effort in the gold medal game against Sweden.
• D Elias Salomonsson (2022, 2^nd round) and F Fabian Wagner (2022, 6^th round) won silver with the host Swedes. Salomonsson had a solid tournament playing primarily with Red Wings first round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka and finished with an assist. Wagner started the tournament on the Swedes second line before playing the majority of his time on the fourth line and was a big part of Sweden’s penalty kill.
• F Colby Barlow returned to the Owen Sound Attack lineup from an extended absence due to an injury on December 30. The Orillia, Ontario product scored four goals in his first three games back and is up to 19 points (13G, 6A) in 19 games this season.
• G Thomas Milic was named to played with Canada’s Spengler Cup team in Davos, Switzerland over the holidays and last week was named to the 2024 Warrior/ECHL All-Star Classic. Milic has gone 9-3-2 this season with Norfolk and will play in the All-Star Classic on January 15.
• F Connor Levis was traded from Kamloops to Vancouver for three draft picks. Levis is from Vancouver and had 28 points in 37 games with the Blazers this season.