Earlier this afternoon, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced the signing of 2021 first-round draft picks Corson Ceulemans to an entry-level contract beginning next season.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed 2021 first-round pick Corson Ceulemans to a three-year, entry level contract beginning with the 2023-24 season.@RuoffMortgage | #CBJhttps://t.co/LMJhLPTsha
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 7, 2023
Ceulemans, a 19-year-old collegiate defensive prospect currently playing for the University of Wisconsin, also signed an American Hockey League tryout contract with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate in Cleveland. Throughout his first two seasons in collegiate hockey, Ceulemans racked up 45 points in 67 games with the Badgers, playing the top four minutes in the program.
Corson Ceulemans Signs ELC with the Blue Jackets
Before his collegiate days, Ceulemans spent three seasons of Junior A hockey with the Brooks Bandits in Alberta, with his 25th overall selection coming after his third season in Brooks, in which he posted 11 points in eights games (in a season interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic) alongside a U18 World Junior Championship appearance with Team Canada, winning a gold medal along the way. In his freshman season, Ceulemans picked up a Mark Johnson Rookie of the Year team award after leading the Badgers in points. This season, Ceulemans ranked fourth.
Largely touted abilities of Ceulemans include his strong agile skating enabling effective physical use of his 6’2, 198-pound frame and his offensive zone abilities with the puck, including sucking in and creating higher-quality space from the blue-line and involvement in offensive play created in front of him.
What’s Next for Ceulemans and the Jackets
With Ceulemans’ season in Wisconsin done, he will report to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. After tonight’s game, Cleveland is slated to play the Grand Rapids Griffins in a weekend series, in which Ceulemans is likely to appear for his first professional hockey game. Ceulemans is a rather exciting prospect in the Blue Jackets system; NHL.com ranked him as the fifth-best Jackets prospect in a list featuring now NHL-regular Kent Johnson at number one. It is certainly possible for Corson Ceulemans to be a part of Columbus’s imminent youth revolution.
Main photo by: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch Ncaa Hockey Wisconsin Vs Ohio State
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