Photo courtesy of the Youngstown Phantoms

YOUNGSTOWN — Over the last year or so, the Youngstown Phantoms have made an effort to become a premier junior hockey destination in North America.

That effort looks to be paying off.

On Friday, at their contest against the US National Team Development Program, the Phantoms announced the signing of Sascha Boumedienne, a 15-year old Swedish defensive prospect who already is turning heads.

Boumedienne is a highly-touted player who has been talked about as one of the top defense prospects in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Despite being targeted by 30 teams worldwide, the left-shot defenseman chose Youngstown.

“Youngstown just seems like a perfect fit for me,” Boumedienne said. “They play the game how I want to play. It’s really close to home. It’s obviously a great, great place. They’ve got a young team there and it seems like they have a really bright future.”

Boumedienne is a skilled, puck-moving defender. He mentioned Colorado Avalanche defenseman and Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar as a player who he’d like to try and model his game after.

Ward doesn’t want to pigeonhole Boumedienne as an X-type player or Y-type player, but he did talk about the young defender’s ceiling.

“I think Sascha is going to carve his own path for himself. I hesitate to pigeonhole into a comparable,” Ward said. “I think Sashca is a possession-driven defenseman. He’s very offensive-minded. He defends very hard. He’s got a great stick. His vision and playmaking ability are of the elite level. He joins the rush, he wants to be part of the attack, which is exactly what we’re looking for.

“The most important thing about Sascha is that he plays with no fear. And I think when you play with no fear, you can be a very dangerous hockey player. When you’re not afraid to make mistakes, and you’re not afraid to be a player, I think the development curve is exponentially quicker and there’s an exponential amount of growth that can happen.”

“One of the most exciting things is that Sascha is coming in here, and he knows exactly how we want to play,” Ward said. “We love the way he plays the game. He’s going to go compete with Team Sweden and those are the guys we want. We want guys who want to be on the biggest stage, want to be on the highest level and who want to drive themselves every day to be the best of the best of the best. I think Sascha is going to be one of the best defensemen in the entire world, and we’re excited that he’s in a Phantoms jersey.”

The son of Josef Boumedienne, former NHLer and current Director of Pro Scouting for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Sascha was found by the Phantoms scouting department and co-GMs Ryan Kosecki and Jason Deskins.

After that came the visits. The Boumedienne family made the trip up I-71 to Youngstown to meet with the Phantoms’ team and staff. It was a team effort in making the signing happen, and Deskins wants to make sure the coaching staff gets its credit.

“When he came in to meet our staff and the coaches, it was an unbelievable experience. I think (head coach) Ryan Ward, (associate head coach) Andy Contois and (assistant coach) Brandon Gotkin did a great job basically painting a picture of what it’s like to be a Youngstown Phantom on a day-to-day basis and what it’s like to be part of the family here. I definitely think it’s really important to note that because I think they were the ones that sealed the deal on this.”

He won’t be joining the Phantoms until next season. First, he’s finishing his time with the Ohio Blue Jackets 16U AAA squad, where he’s racked up 25 points (7 goals, 18 assists) in 28 games.

Before then, the young blueliner hopes to increase his strength to prepare for the rigors of the United States Hockey League.

“I feel like I should just keep on playing the way I’m playing right now,” Boumedienne said. “Some things I want to get better at is I just want to get stronger and be a bit better in the corners and winning (puck) battles. That’s the thing that I’m focusing on right now, getting stronger and bigger so I can compete with the USHL guys.”

This morning, Boumedienne is heading over to Sweden to participate in a camp put on by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Like his father did, Boumedienne represents Sweden during international competition.

The Phantoms surrender their first-round selection in the 2023 USHL Phase I Draft in the acquisition.

Former tender deals include Kyle Connor (2012), Tyler Farmer (2014), Curtis Hall (2016) and Trevor Kuntar (2017).

byauger@tribtoday.com