Top Twenty Winnipeg Jets Prospects #17

By Scott Macumber | Mar 9, 2016

Winnipeg, Manitoba – This is the fourth prospect profile in our series of the Twenty Top Prospects and today we are switching gears a little bit and we are going to take a look at a position where the Winnipeg Jets have been hurting since they were the Atlanta Thrashers, we are going to look at the goaltender situation as our #17 Top Prospect is Jamie Phillips.

Jamie Phillips is a great goaltender in the Jets Prospect system who stands tall at 6’3 and 175 lbs and is currently playing at Michigan Tech Huskies in the NCAA, although he was born in Canada. Phillips was drafted in the 4th round of the Ontario Hockey League Sarnia Sting, Phillips picked the Junior A route instead and it served him well.

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Phillips played his first junior A career in the Central Canada Hockey League where he played for the storied Pembroke Lumber Kings franchise and still holds a franchise record for the best record by a goaltender with 25 wins 6 losses and a tie and posting 6 shut outs and a .913 save percentage. Phillips how ever left Pembroke to play for the Toronto Jr. Canadians of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Phillips didn’t finish the season with the Jr. Canadians however after just 11 games Phillips was picked up by the Powell River Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League where he would finish the season with a 16-6-1 record with 5 shut outs and a .921 save percentage which caught the eye of NCAA programs before Phillips picked Michigan Tech.

Jamie Phillips was selected in the 7th round at the 190 spot in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, and has many scouts have said “Jamie is a sleeper pick he will have a career in the NHL, but Winnipeg’s depth chart is so deep, Phillips may end up somewhere else”. Winnipeg however says that he will stand in the crease with a Jets jersey on eventually.

Phillips is currently in his fifth season with the Huskies and will look to turn pro next season, now Phillips has really done great at Michigan Tech every year his workload as got heavier and he is expected to take the team deep into the frozen four tournament every year, Phillips has posted a 21-7-5 and a .921 save percentage with three shutouts.

“Jamie is a sleeper pick he will have a career in the NHL, but Winnipeg’s depth chart is do deep, Phillips may end up elsewhere”

Last season Phillips posted a 28-9-2 record with a 1.74 goals against and a .933 save percentage which got Phillips a nomination for the Hobby Baker Award, which is awarded every year to the top NCAA Player in the United States and the Huskies went deep in the NCAA playoffs last year making the regional semi-finals before losing to the powerhouse Saint Cloud State.

Phillips didn’t see a lot of playing time in his first two seasons at Michigan but two seasons ago Phillips took over the number one spot at Michigan State and since then has posted big numbers and his skills have got better and better, now his size has a lot to do with his potential but his lateral movement is unreal for a player so young he is a smart player who see’s the ice really well and is good at cutting down the angles.

Phillips will finish his university career at seasons end and he will turn pro, there have been rumors he could be started in the ECHL with the Winnipeg Jets affiliate Colorado Eagles again because the deepness of the Winnipeg Jets depth chart, however he will more then likely start at a back up in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose.

Phillips may not see time on the Winnipeg Jets bench for a while with Connor, Michael and Eric in front of him but a career in the NHL is a sure thing for Phillips just the when and the where are the questions that need to be answered.