Blue Jackets unveil 25th anniversary logo
The Blue Jackets say they are celebrating their 25th anniversary with, among other things, a logo that honors a quarter-century of team history.
Video provided by the Columbus B
The Blue Jackets went 2-1-0 at the 2025 NHL Prospects Challenge in Buffalo without top prospects Cayden Lindstrom and Jackson Smith.Forward prospects Luca Pinelli, Oiva Keskinen, and Owen Griffin were offensive standouts during the showcase.Forward Jordan Dumais was a precautionary scratch for the final game due to lower body tightness.Free agent invitee Nicholas Sima led the team with three goals, including the overtime winner in the final game.
The days of the Blue Jackets taking a team stacked with high draft picks to a prospects showcase are shrinking in the rearview mirror.
They still have highly regarded prospects, but the top two weren’t available for the Jackets’ three-game slate Sept. 11-14 at the 2025 NHL Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, New York. Top prospect Cayden Lindstrom, picked fourth overall in 2024, is getting ready for his first collegiate season at Michigan State and 2025 first-round pick Jackson Smith (15th overall) is at Penn State.
Despite their lack of star power, though, the Blue Jackets put together a competitive team of drafted prospects and free agents that went 2-1-0 after downing the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime to conclude the showcase Sept. 14.
Nicholas Sima, a free agent, took a pass from Owen Griffin (2025 fifth-round pick) in 3-on-3 OT and slid the puck between the goalie’s pads to end it with his second goal of the game. The Blue Jackets won their final two games against the Buffalo Sabres and Penguins by a combined margin of 12-9 after opening the weekend Sept. 11 with an 8-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.Â
Here are five takeaways from the Blue Jackets’ time in Buffalo:
Columbus Blue Jackets forward prospects Luca Pinelli, Owen Griffin and Oiva Keskinen shine
Finding quality NHL contributors in the mid-to-late rounds can feel a bit like drawing lottery tickets, only they’re not randomly chosen. Many hours and travel miles teams put into scouting amateur players can pay off with picks made beyond the first two rounds, and this Blue Jackets prospect team showed promise.Â
Luca Pinelli, selected 114th overall in 2023 (fourth round), led the Jackets in scoring with five points on a goal and four assists. He led the way in the second game with a goal and three assists in the victory over the Sabres and now looks to carry that success into the preseason leading into his first full professional season. Pinelli may be one of AHL Cleveland’s top scoring forwards, and a strong effort there could lead to his NHL debut at some point this season.Â
Keskinen, a seventh-round pick in 2023, finished the showcase with four points on a goal and three assists. He centered the top line and first power-play group, showing impressive skills, skating and poise with the puck. Keskinen has steadily improved with Tappara in Finland’s top circuit, Liiga, and will continue that climb if he doesn’t make the NHL roster in his first Blue Jackets training camp.
Griffin, an undersized center from the OHL’s Oshawa Generals selected in the fifth round of the 2025 draft, joined Pinelli and Keskinen by standing out offensively. Centering the Blue Jackets’ third line, he added four points on two goals and two assists in the showcase, which was his first action in a Blue Jackets’ uniform.
Jordan Dumais scratched for Columbus Blue Jackets’ finale at 2025 Buffalo NHL Prospects Challenge
After skating in warmups for the Blue Jackets’ final game, forward Jordan Dumais was scratched for precautionary reasons related to lower body tightness.Â
The issue isn’t considered a concern heading into the start of training camp, which starts Sept. 17 with medical testing and evaluations before on-ice work starts Sept. 18 at Nationwide Arena. Anything related to the lower body with Dumais, however, raises slight concern after two sports hernia surgeries delayed the undersized scoring winger’s development since he was taken 96th overall (third round) in 2022.
Nicholas Sima leads large group of Columbus Blue Jackets free agents at 2025 Buffalo NHL Prospects Challenge
Sima’s two-goal game to lift the Blue Jackets to victory over the Penguins in the finale wasn’t the only time he drew notice for producing offensively. He scored three goals to lead the team in goals at the showcase, displaying a scoring knack to go with a rugged style and big body at 6 feet 3, 194 pounds.
Sima, 20, is out of eligibility at the junior level after playing in the OHL with the North Bay Battalion and Saginaw Spirit. He’ll look to start his professional next and took an impressive stride forward in this showcase event with the Blue Jackets.
NCAA commitments prompt Columbus Blue Jackets to ice large contingent of free-agent prospects
Twelve of the Blue Jackets’ players in Buffalo (52%) were there on amateur tryout offers. That included forward Tyler Peddle, whom they selected in 2023 (seventh round) and opted not to sign prior to losing their exclusive negotiating rights with him.Â
That’s a large percentage of a prospects roster dedicated to prospects who aren’t affiliated to their showcase team, but that’s a trend that likely will continue with more drafted prospects opting to play collegiately. Lindstrom and Smith weren’t the only missing prospects for the Blue Jackets, who have a contingent of mid-to-late round picks from the past two drafts playing for NCAA teams.
Tyler Peddle gets new memory with Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets were a part of another special memory for Peddle, who faced his younger brother, Brady, in the finale against Pittsburgh.Â
Under the direction of former general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, the Blue Jackets made a trade in 2023 to select Tyler Peddle with the final pick in the draft. His brother, a defenseman, was selected 91st overall by the Penguins 91st in 2025 (third round).
Tyler is a power forward who stands 6 feet 1, 209 while Brady is a physical defenseman who’s 6-3, 203. They didn’t square off in a brotherly scrap, but Tyler did drop the gloves in the second period against Penguins defenseman Quinn Beauchesne. Adding to the family’s Blue Jackets ties is their father, Brad Peddle, an amateur scouting consultant while also holding his full-time position as head coach for St. Francis Xavier University’s hockey team in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Dispatch Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.socialÂ