Mid-season accolades for the Cleveland Monsters are rolling in after they've rolled to a comfortable lead in the AHL's North Division.
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Less than two weeks after head coach Trent Vogelhuber was named as the North Division coach for the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic on Feb. 4-5 in San Jose, California, three Blue Jackets prospects were named to his team's roster Wednesday. Joining Vogelhuber in San Jose will be forward Trey Fix-Wolansky , defenseman Jake Christiansen and goalie Jet Greaves .
All three have played key roles in the Monsters surging to the top of their division with a seven-point cushion over the second place Syracuse Crunch, the Tampa Bay Lightning 's AHL affiliate.
Fix-Wolansky, picked by the Blue Jackets in the seventh round of the 2018 draft , is tied for fifth in the AHL in scoring with 32 points on 12 goals and 20 assists in 29 games. He has also become the Monsters' all-time franchise record holder for goals (72), assists (99), points (171), power play goals (24) and winning goals (11) with his efforts this season.
Christiansen, a non-drafted free agent who signed with the Blue Jackets in 2020 out of the junior level Western Hockey League, is seventh among AHL defensemen in scoring with 24 points on six goals and 18 assists in 29 games.
Greaves, another non-drafted free agent from juniors (OHL), originally signed an AHL contract with the Monsters in 2021 before earning a three-year NHL entry-level deal with the Blue Jackets in February 2022. He leads the AHL with 17 wins (17-4-0) in just 21 appearances and has a 2.68 goals-against average with a .913 save percentage.
The AHL all-star skills competition is Feb. 4 in San Jose, and the 2024 AHL all-star challenge ― a 3-on-3 tournament format pitting division rosters against each other ― is Feb. 5. Christiansen represented the Monsters last year at the AHL's all-star events, so this will be his second career appearance.
It's the first for Vogelhuber, Fix-Wolansky and Greaves. Cleveland's four representatives are the most from any AHL team this season. All three players have also appeared in at least one NHL game for the Blue Jackets this season.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Three Blue Jackets prospects join Vogelhuber as AHL all-stars
