Jake Neighbours

Jake Neighbours
Neighbours with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2022
Born (2002-03-29) March 29, 2002 (age 22)
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shoots Left
NHL team St. Louis Blues
National team  Canada
NHL draft 26th overall, 2020
St. Louis Blues
Playing career 2021–present

Jake Neighbours (born March 29, 2002) is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Blues in the first round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft with the 26th overall pick.

Early life

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Neighbours was born on March 29, 2002, in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada.[1] When praised for his maturity, he cites the wide age gap between his half and step-siblings as the reason. In an interview, he said "once you get to the age of 10 or 11 and your brothers are 14 years older than you, your brothers don't want to hang out with you anymore if you're going to be an annoying kid. So I've learned from a young age to be mature and relaxed so my brothers would want me around."[2]

Playing career

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Growing up in Alberta, Neighbours competed with the Calgary Midget AAA Buffaloes of the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League[3] and Airdrie Xtreme in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League. He transferred from the Xtreme to the Kelowna Pursuit of Excellence Bantam Prep team before being drafted fourth overall pick in the 2017 Western Hockey League (WHL) bantam draft by the Edmonton Oil Kings. During his draft-eligible year, Neighbours recorded 68 points in 30 regular-season games and 11 points in the playoffs.[4]

Neighbours joined the Oil Kings for their 2018–19 season, recording 24 points in 47 regular-season games and earning two WHL Rookie of the Month awards. His play helped push the Oil Kings into the post-season, where he was the team's only rookie to score during the playoffs.[5] After returning from a loss with Canada White, Neighbours suffered an upper-body injury during a fight against a Red Deer Rebels player and was forced to sit out for 12 games. Upon returning to the lineup in February, he was given a five-minute major for boarding and game misconduct, followed by a four-game suspension.[6] In his sophomore season with the Oil Kings, Neighbours averaged more than one point per game, tallying 70 points in 64 regular-season games before the WHL season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Prior to the pause in the season, he was invited to participate at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game[7] and was ranked 30th amongst all North American Skaters by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's Midterm Draft Rankings.[8] He was also the recipient of teams' Most Improved Player Award and Scholastic Award,[9] having previously named to the league's named to WHL Academic Spotlight for December as a student at Salisbury Composite High School.[10]

Leading up to the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Neighbours was ranked 26th among North American skaters, a boost from his previous rank of 30.[11] He was eventually drafted in the first round, 26th overall, of the 2020 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues.[5] Neighbours began the 2020–21 season with signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Blues on October 17, 2020.[12] He attended the Blues' training camp but was re-assigned to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Utica Comets, to begin the season as he is eligible to be on the AHL roster until his junior season starts.[13]

Neighbours made the Blues opening night roster for the 2021–22 season and made his NHL debut on October 16, 2021 at Ball Arena against the Colorado Avalanche where the Blues won 5–3 and Neighbours registered 9:00 minutes of ice time, three hits, and one shot on goal. In his second game against the Arizona Coyotes on October 18, 2021, Neighbours recorded his first NHL point as he recorded the primary assist after making a nifty play behind the net and dishing it to Klim Kostin who would score a goal which wound up as the game winning goal in a Blues 7–4 victory. In the second period of his fourth game against the Los Angeles Kings, Neighbours received a pass from Brayden Schenn and put the puck past Kings goalie Cal Petersen to score his first career NHL goal. The goal made it 4–1 Blues and they ended up winning the game 7–3, meaning Neighbours’ goal was the game winning goal.

After playing the first nine games of the Blues season, Neighbours was sent back to the WHL to return to the Edmonton Oil Kings. During the 2021–22 WHL season, Neighbours recorded 17 goals and 28 assists in 30 regular season games along with three goals and 14 assists in 19 playoff games as the Oil Kings eventually defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds in six games to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

International play

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Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2023 Finland/Latvia

On October 16, 2018, Neighbours and Oil Kings teammate Sebastian Cossa were two of 66 players selected to represent Canada at the 2018 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.[14] Prior to the start of the tournament, Neighbours named captain of Canada White while Kaiden Guhle of the Prince Albert Raiders was selected to lead Canada Red.[15] The following year, Neighbours was named to the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team for the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup,[16] where he helped them win a silver medal.[17]

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2017–18 Calgary Buffaloes AMHL 33 26 31 57 12 5 1 3 4 12
2017–18 Edmonton Oil Kings WHL 11 0 4 4 6 — — — — —
2018–19 Edmonton Oil Kings WHL 47 11 13 24 25 16 4 8 12 10
2019–20 Edmonton Oil Kings WHL 64 23 47 70 39 — — — — —
2020–21 Edmonton Oil Kings WHL 19 9 24 33 17 — — — — —
2021–22 St. Louis Blues NHL 9 1 1 2 2 — — — — —
2021–22 Edmonton Oil Kings WHL 30 17 28 45 38 19 3 14 17 16
2022–23 St. Louis Blues NHL 43 6 4 10 24 — — — — —
2022–23 Springfield Thunderbirds AHL 23 9 7 16 2 — — — — —
2023–24 St. Louis Blues NHL 77 27 11 38 21 — — — — —
NHL totals 129 34 16 50 47 — — — — —

International

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Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2018 Canada White U17 6th 5 3 3 6 2
2019 Canada HG18 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 0 0 0 4
2023 Canada WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 10 1 4 5 2
Junior totals 10 3 3 6 6
Senior totals 10 1 4 5 2

Awards and achievements

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Award Year Ref
WHL
Ed Chynoweth Cup 2022 [18]

References

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  1. ^ "Jake Neighbours". eliteprospects.com. Elite Prospects. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  2. ^ McCarthy, Dave (April 23, 2020). "2020 Draft: Neighbours' maturity part of what makes him top prospect". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  3. ^ Warner, Alyscia (January 31, 2020). "2020 NHL Draft Profile: Jake Neighbours, Edmonton Oil Kings". oilkings.ca. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  4. ^ Van Diest, Derek (May 26, 2017). "Jake Neighbours happy to join Edmonton Oil Kings". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Strasser, Scott (October 7, 2020). "Jake Neighbours selected by St. Louis Blues in NHL Draft". airdrietoday.com. Airdrie Local News. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  6. ^ Warner, Alyscia (June 12, 2019). "SPOTLIGHT: The wild rookie ride of Jake Neighbours". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  7. ^ Warner, Alyscia (January 16, 2020). "Jake Neighbours and Team Red searching for a win in tonight's Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  8. ^ Warner, Alyscia (January 13, 2020). "Three Oil Kings listed on Central Scouting Midterm NHL Draft Rankings". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  9. ^ "Oil Kings Awards". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  10. ^ Warner, Alyscia (January 17, 2020). "Jake Neighbours named to WHL Academic Spotlight for December". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  11. ^ Warner, Alyscia (April 8, 2020). "Neighbours, Williams listed on NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  12. ^ Pinkert, Chris (October 27, 2020). "Neighbours agrees to 3-year entry-level deal". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  13. ^ Birnell, Ben (January 12, 2021). "Utica Comets' roster grows with players from Canucks, Blues". Observer-Dispatch. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  14. ^ Warner, Alyscia (October 16, 2018). "Neighbours and Cossa selected to represent Canada at World U17 Hockey Challenge". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  15. ^ "Neighbours named captain of Canada White at World Under-17 Hockey Challenge". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. November 5, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  16. ^ Warner, Alyscia (July 30, 2019). "Neighbours named to Team Canada for 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  17. ^ Warner, Alyscia (August 10, 2019). "Neighbours, Canada claim silver at Hlinka Gretzky Cup". oilkings.ca. Oil Kings. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  18. ^ "Oil Kings capture Ed Chynoweth Cup with shutout victory in Game 6 of 2022 WHL Championship". whl.ca. June 14, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
[edit]
Awards and achievements
Preceded by St. Louis Blues first round draft pick
2021 		Succeeded by
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