Who is Sascha Boumedienne and update on Jets prospect cupboards
Looking at what the team needs for day two of the draft
The Winnipeg Jets selected mobile defender Sascha Boumedienne with the 28th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
So who is the young American… I mean Finn… I mean Swede?!
Who exactly is this left-shot d-man, and how do the Jets’ prospect cupboards look after adding the smooth-skating blue liner?
The series thus far
Winnipeg Jets 2024-25 Season and Playoffs Review
In our first post, I reviewed the Jets’ performance as a team in both the regular season and playoffs. I looked at team-level results and the general performance of the roster and its components.The case for and against Winnipeg Jets extending Nikolaj Ehlers
In our second post, I took a deep dive into Nikolaj Ehlers—Kevin Cheveldayoff’s biggest offseason question.Should the Winnipeg Jets actually sign Jonathan Toews
I then pivoted in our third post, covering some trending news: the idea of signing Jonathan Toews for the 2025–26 season, and what that might realistically look like.Which Winnipeg Jets’ free agents are worth keeping
I took a look at the value the Jets received from their free agents, how they project to perform, and made some suggestions on whether or not they’re worth keeping based on their impact.If I were Kevin Cheveldayoff… (Part 1: Needs)
I took stock of the team’s current strengths and weaknesses and began building a plan for maximizing Winnipeg’s contention window.
Sashca Boumedienne’s Profile
Sascha Boumedienne has been a bit of a world traveler — hence the earlier weak joke. Born in Finland, raised primarily in Sweden, and then off to Ohio to play for a AAA U16 club, Boumedienne has collected passports like zone exits. (I’m sorry; I’m trying to delete this)
He played for the Youngstown Phantoms (of Kyle Connor fame) before making the jump to Boston University. There, he posted a modest 13 points in 40 games.
While that’s not eye-popping production for an offensive defenseman, it’s worth noting Boumedienne was the youngest skaters in the NCAA — born in January, and playing in a league filled with older, physically mature competition.
Scouting Notes
Boumedienne’s a very attentive player, he scans non-stop and proactively picks up rotations and switches. Intensely fights for positioning, getting inside when possible and bringing players into the wall when not. Times his close-outs as the second in to appear just as the opponent slips around the first defender.
From Scott Wheeler’s write up at The Athletic:
Today, Deskins talks about Boumedienne as an “unbelievable player” with “uber talent” whose tools of skating and shooting are both NHL skill sets. Ward also said “he’s got a deadly NHL shot” and called his hockey IQ and vision “elite.”
“Sascha’s a really dynamic player with the puck,” Ward said. “I would say the biggest growth that he has needed to have the last two years is maturing as a player and as a teammate and without the puck defensively. And Jay and his staff and Sascha have committed to getting him to that point and you can see it in the second half with his play.”
That growth defensively over time has been particularly important.
“He’s got an elite stick,” said Deskins. “I think actually from watching him this year that he has come a long way in his defending, which is the area that we expected him to struggle with being a young kid in our league last year. And he actually did better than I think we would have even thought in our league last year and I think he has taken another big step this year.”
Mobile, two-way defenceman with a booming shot, though may need the PP to be effective at higher levels.
Video Highlights
The Numbers
#GoJetsGo #NHLJets select Sascha Boumedienne 28th. I ranked him 39th. An elite performance at the WJC raises Sascha's stock. Given the premium on D in this draft, the pick makes sense here.
Winnipeg Jets get Sascha Boumedienne at 28th pick. Great value there. Was ranked 26th in Hockey Prospecting Top 32. He had a nice pre draft season and went to the NCAA in his draft year and didn't see a jump in his equivalency. But the NCAA is by far the hardest league a player can play in in North America in their draft year. Likely a depth defender rather than a game breaking star dman. But based on what was left... the value for the Jets is about as good as it gets.
Garret’s Thoughts
These models use statistical cohorts as comps and project based on players with similar developmental paths. The numbers paint the picture of a pretty good chance at Boumedienne becoming an NHLer, which is a solid outcome for a late first-round pick. That said, his upside doesn’t look all that high, with some fairly low probabilities of hitting a top-pair ceiling in either model.
However, I’m not overly concerned.., yet. Boumedienne played in the toughest amateur league in North America for offensive production, and he did so as one of the youngest players in the entire NCAA (a January birthday).
Points are a very, very strong signal; players who have both the skill and their coach’s trust to earn the right opportunities tend to translate well to the next level.
That said, Boumedienne was on a team with four NHL-drafted defenders already. Cole Hutson and Tom Willander ate up the lion’s share of power play time. Normally, not getting PP minutes at 18 is a red flag for offensive upside but I’d be more concerned if this were his sophomore season.
He has time to earn that usage, potentially as soon as this upcoming season with Willander gone pro.
Another important note: Boumedienne entered the NCAA season quite a bit underweight. He put on about 10 pounds over the school year while focusing on strength training, an advantage to the NCAA’s lighter game schedule and heavier dry land training. That development arc adds a layer of optimism to his projection.
Boumedienne fits the mold the Jets have clearly targeted lately: highly mobile defenders. His skating has even drawn comparisons to Alfons Freij, Winnipeg’s first pick from last year.
Speaking of Freij, I know some fans are anxious about the Jets using so many early picks on defensemen recently… but I wouldn’t worry.
Think about this timeline:
Morrissey, DeMelo, and Samberg all started making real top-four impacts around ages 22–23.
That puts Elias Salomonsson 1–2 years away, Freij 3–4 years away, and Boumedienne 4–5 years away.
By the time Boumedienne is 22, Freij will be 23, Salomonsson 25, Heinola 28, Samberg 30, Pionk 33, Morrissey 34, and DeMelo 36. A lot can change in that span. Many of those names might not even be here.
Winnipeg’s Prospect Cupboards
The Manitoba Moose aren’t flush with game-breaking talent looking to really push for a high-impact NHL role.
Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert have been good, albeit unspectacular, forwards. They may come in as rookies and be decent bottom-six pieces, but neither put up results that look like someone really ready to make a difference.
Parker Ford may have some upside there untapped, but still isn’t some hidden gem ready to be a feel-good NHL story.
Elias Salomonsson is a bit of a different story. His impact will always be more on the defensive side of things, and he wasn’t given much power play time over the season. Still, his impact was solid for a rookie, and he looks poised to translate into an NHL depth role soon, if not immediately.
The only problem is the Jets have four right-shot NHL contracts ahead of him, with DeMelo, Pionk, Luke Schenn, and Colin Miller.
Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke of youth having a real opportunity this year, but it seemingly looks like more lip service… just like last year.
NHLEs look at how players who score similarly in a particular league performed in the NHL the following year. It is an imperfect but still decent method for comparing the scoring of skaters across different leagues, with the exception of the AHL, since call-ups move up and down to the NHL all the time.
Dmitri Rashevsky is staying in Russia, and Kristian Vesalainen likely never crosses the Atlantic again. This means the Jets’ two best-performing “prospects” with strong potential to be impact skaters next season are not available (and that’s a stretch).
Note that NHLEs don’t tell you which prospect is better, as they don’t account for age or other factors. Example: Boumedienne scored similarly to Garrett Brown last season, but at a very different age and in a different situation.
This shows us how the Jets have solid prospects with Brayden Yager and the three CHL left wingers, and maybe Zachary Nehring after a solid NCAA season. But after that, there isn’t much—and those pieces aren’t trending toward elite performers.
We can look at this another way using Hockey Prospecting’s models:
Again, we see a lot of likely NHLers, but—other than some long shots with Yager and Kevin He—Winnipeg doesn’t have much in the way of potential star power.
I think the model undersells Salomonsson and Freij given its inputs/outputs, but still, the general sense is likely on the mark.
The overall picture is:
The Jets have some solid prospects that project as middle-of-the-roster types in Yager, He, Freij, Salomonsson, and now Boumedienne.
They also have some good depth on the wings with Chibrikov, Barlow, Walton, and maybe Nehring.
I’m not sure if Lambert will translate into an NHL centre, but Lambert and Yager are potentially decent middle-six centres if they hit—but the Jets have no one to eventually take the reins from Mark Scheifele.
The Jets’ defensive group is basically Freij and Boumedienne on the left side, and Salomonsson on the right side—and then an empty void.
They have two interesting goalie prospects, but they are not trending anywhere close to the same level as Connor Hellebuyck at the same point.
Overall, the Jets could use a bit of everything. Elite centre depth is both a short- and long-term problem, but that likely doesn’t fix itself today. The Jets have some decent wingers but could use more on the right side—and a lot more on defense.
If I were Kevin Cheveldayoff (Part 1.5?)…
A reminder that the Jets’ needs are:
Adding a legitimate top-six scoring winger or centre
Depending on the quality of #1, the team likely needs the other
Moving out cap deadweight and performance anchors in Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn
Adding a legitimate top-four, right-shot defender
Replacing depth roles with cheap, quality skaters
Adding to the prospect cupboards in pretty much all positions, except maybe left wing
In an optimal world, the Jets roster would look something like this:
Kyle Connor - Mark Scheifele - Gabe Vilardi
2nd Line LW - 2nd Line C - Cole Perfetti
Alex Iafallo - Adam Lowry - Nino Niederreiter
4th Line LW - Jonathan Toews - Vlad Namestnikov
1-2 Depth Forward(s)
Josh Morrissey - Top-Six RHD
Dylan Samberg - Neal Pionk
3rd Pair LHD - Dylan DeMelo
1-2 Depth Defender(s)
With Lowry out for a chunk of the year recovering from hip surgery, Toews gets elevated and adds another forward line position spot.
The Winnipeg Jets have Morgan Barron, David Gustafsson, Brad Lambert, and Nikita Chibrikov vying for the forward spots. I don’t think any of them have proven themselves strong enough for the two second-line spots.
The Lowry line could be treated almost like a second line given the calibre of forwards—especially if Niederreiter bounces back a bit in impact this season. Although, who knows how well Lowry recovers. The larger issue is that they do not produce offense at a second-line level even if they are winning their linematches.
Winning games 2–1 takes more “luck” than winning 4–2—despite them being the same amount of outscoring pace—or even 4–3.
The Jets need a competent scoring line in their middle six, and the prospect cupboards don’t have any easy answers. Maybe one of Chibrikov or Lambert could be good enough with strong linemates to insulate them, but I don’t think a combination of 37-year-old Toews and decent-but-not-excellent Perfetti is the solution.
I’m highly doubtful the Jets add a right-shot defender, even if they move out Schenn’s contract. I’m still shocked they spent the draft capital they did on someone who has been terrible for many years just because they wanted someone physical.
Maybe Salomonsson fits in on a third-pairing right-shot role, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he spends one more year in the AHL and follows the Dylan Samberg development track.
On the left side, I heard the Jets looked at moving Stanley last year, but there hasn’t really been smoke this season. Too bad, as even doing a bit “better,” he was still very much a disaster. They have one more season to see how Ville Heinola looks in a more regular role (who thus far has been far less bad than Stanley) before he likely jumps to Europe or gets one more shot elsewhere as a Group 6 UFA.
Getting back to prospects, I heard some whine about Sascha Boumedienne being another left-shot defender. I get where the fear is coming from, but I don’t agree.
Sure, the Jets’ two best defenders are left shots, with Morrissey and Samberg. Sure, the Jets’ top pick last year was a left-shot defender, with Freij. But who knows if both Freij and Boumedienne hit their ceilings, and even if they do—who knows where Samberg and Morrissey are at that point?
The Jets garnered quality value from the draft with Sascha Boumedienne, although they need a lot more to insulate their shallow prospect cupboards. Right now, the team shouldn’t focus on need, but rather on trying to find more quality value picks with high upside.