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Previously: Part 1Yesterday we began our sprawling update on all former Michigan Hockey players currently playing pro hockey around the world. In Part 1 we covered the firmly established, everyday NHLers with name-brand value. Today is the more odd-ball sequel piece, where we check in on our recently departed alums, those who have retired since the 2022 update article, and all the minor league/international players, so buckle in: Young guys finding their wayThis category is for the players who have left Michigan since the last article and haven't yet developed in the NHL to the point that they fit into one of the yesterday categories the way Beniers and Power already have: Gavin Brindley/Frank Nazar III/Dylan Duke: The recent signees only got into a couple games at the NHL/AHL level before the season concluded, given that Michigan's campaign went into mid-April yet again. Check back next year. Johnny Beecher, C, Boston Bruins: After spending a season in the AHL, Johnny Beecher finally got his crack at the NHL this season and carved out a role as a pretty generic 4th line center and penalty killer for a good Boston team. Then, in the first game of the playoffs, he scored the series opening goal against Toronto. Only seven goals and ten points in 52 games is indicative of a player who's probably never going to score much in the NHL but if Beecher can continue to hone his skills in the faceoff dot and on the penalty kill, he can perhaps grow into a Luke Glendening type career. Thomas Bordelau, C, San Jose Sharks: Bordeleau has played a couple seasons now in the AHL with good production and has been looking for his first full-time gig in the NHL. 27 games towards the end of this past season in San Jose was the closest he's gotten to that. Bordeleau chipped in 6 goals, most effective on the power play, during his short trial this season on a godawful Sharks team. I don't think Bordeleau has big time upside, but his faceoff abilities and skill should allow him to be a 3rd line center and hopefully he'll get a real shot to prove that next season, as he's still only 22. [James Coller]Kent Johnson, F, Columbus Blue Jackets: The first of our three Columbus players in this category, KJ has had to endure the bizarre saga that is the Blue Jackets franchise, a team that fired its coach before the season started and then canned its GM midseason, while a series of embarrassing headlines continue to plague the franchise. Johnson was caught up in that, as there seems to be some conflict between the player and the team. When he's played in the NHL, his ice time has been very limited, and they sent him down to the AHL this season even though he scored 40 points in the NHL last season. Johnson put up 15 points in 10 games in the AHL, making it pretty clear that sending him down was worthless. I continue to be befuddled by what's going on here, as Johnson has been an okay player at the NHL level. One with flaws yes, but he needs ice time to iron out those flaws. Plus, it's not like the Jackets are a team that is so good they can't give out ice time to young players anyway. If the Blue Jackets aren't going to give it to him for whatever reason, they should do right by the player and trade him to a new team. Hopefully new management in Columbus will resolve this situation and get him back on a developmental track, because this season was a fork in the road for Johnson, with only 16 points in 42 games, receiving under 14 minutes per game on ice. Adam Fantilli, C, Columbus Blue Jackets: Fantilli has mostly been spared the buffoonery of Columbus, but his rookie year was unfortunately hampered by injury. He played only 49 games due to multiple ailments, scoring a decent 27 points on a pretty bad Jackets team. Fantilli played this season at 19, so there's really no cause for alarm there. Next season, if he stays healthy, should see Fantilli begin an ascension to being a top line centerman in the NHL and maybe with it, he can lead Columbus out of the cartoonish ineptitude that has submarined the team basically since inception. [AFTER THE JUMP: increasingly obscure players]
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