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Blue Jackets sign Kole Sherwood
By Tom Williams
The Youngstown Phantoms have their first connection with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.
Kole Sherwood, who was projected to be one of the Phantoms’ top forwards this season, made himself unavailable to the USHL team on Tuesday when he signed a three-year entry level contract with the Blue Jackets.
“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” the native of the Columbus suburb New Albany told the Blue Jackets’ website.
“[The contract] was definitely a surprise.”
Sherwood’s signing comes one week after the Blue Jackets traded for former Mahoning Valley Phantom Brandon Saad and gave him a six-year, $36 million extension.
Saad, who won the Stanley Cup twice in his three seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, played for the Mahoning Valley Phantoms in 2008-09, the team’s final NAHL season. The following summer, Phantoms owner Bruce Zoldan folded the NAHL franchise to create the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.
Sherwood, who was a Phantoms affiliate player last season, played three games for the Phantoms late in the regular season. He scored a goal and an assist and finished plus 2.
His older brother Kiefer was a sniper for the Phantoms the past two seasons, helping the team win the Anderson Cup as the USHL’s top regular-season team
“I’m extremely happy for Kole,” Phantoms assistant coach Brad Patterson said. “To go into [the Blue Jackets’ tryout camp] as an undrafted player in that camp and get that contract is special.
“At the same time, it’s disappointing that he’s not going to be here.”
Because he was on the affiliate player list, Kole Sherwood, 18, attended some Phantoms practices last winter. Playing for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets, he finished second in scoring in the Tier 1 Elite Hockey League with 22 goals and 26 assists in 31 games. He led the league in goals.
“It’s nice,” Sherwood said of joining his hometown NHL organization. “Other [Columbus residents] have come into hockey, but I was the first native to sign with the hometown team.”
Patterson said Sherwood’s “skills jumped out at you — his strength, his power, his skating.”
He said the brothers have a lot of similarities in how they play. This fall, Kiefer will be playing for Miami University.
The Sherwoods participated in the Blue Jackets’ tryout camp last week in Columbus.
“We saw a hockey player that can play,” said John Davidson, Blue Jackets president of hockey operations. “I know he wasn’t drafted, but we invited [Kole] and his brother to our development camp with a lot of really good players there, and they both played very well.
“With Kole, he can skate really well and he’s got the ability to make plays. He had no fear, no trepidation whatsoever.”
Sherwood’s signing means he forfeits his eligibility to play for Boston College. He’s expected to play this fall for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.
Saad and Sherwood joining the Blue Jackets comes one month after Ty Loney, a Youngstown Phantom from 2010-11, became the first former Youngstown Phantom to sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. Loney is the son of Phantoms co-owners Troy and Aafke Loney.