Blue Jackets Prospect Alessandro Di Iorio Opens OHL Season With Eight Points in Six Games

Alessandro Di Iorio’s early production gives the Blue Jackets a promising first read on a prospect whose draft position came after a more uneven stretch in junior hockey. The 18-year-old has three goals and five assists through six games with the Sarnia Sting, tying for second on the team in scoring. Sarnia is 4-2-1 through seven games after finishing near the bottom of the OHL last season.

Production paired with a stronger start in Sarnia

The points are the headline, but the team context makes this opening stretch more useful to watch. Di Iorio is the Sting’s captain, a role he also held last season, and his club has begun this year with a better record than its finish a season ago. That gives him an opportunity to build on his scoring while leading a group that has shown early signs of improvement.

His total of eight points in six appearances works out to more than a point per game, a strong start for a player still at the beginning of his development. Six games are far too few to settle questions about his longer-term ceiling. They are enough, though, to make his first weeks worth tracking, especially because the production has come alongside the responsibilities of the captaincy.

Di Iorio’s goal against Ottawa offers a useful snapshot of the attacking instincts that drew attention to him. He got to a loose puck in the neutral zone, then joined a two-on-one rush and finished the play. Sarnia credited Landon Pickersgill with an assist on the goal, Di Iorio’s first of the season. The sequence combines a quick reaction in transition with a direct finish, the sort of play that can turn a small opening into a scoring chance.

A third-round pick with room to rise

Columbus selected Di Iorio 94th overall in the 2026 NHL Draft. Before that selection, he had been viewed as a high-end junior prospect: he went second overall in the 2024 OHL draft. But two modest seasons on a Sarnia team that did little to improve around him, along with an injury last season, limited his visibility among scouts.

The Blue Jackets’ decision to take him in the third round reflected a bet on offensive ability that might not have been fully evident in those circumstances. His start in Sarnia is an encouraging early return on that bet, not a verdict. Sustained production, continued development and the quality of his play as the season unfolds will say more than a handful of games can.

The early signs suggest he’s bringing more pace to his game. He has used speed and awareness to find openings, including the transition chance against Ottawa. Those traits matter because scoring at the junior level depends on more than finishing: recognizing a loose puck, choosing when to attack and creating options for teammates all help an offensive player influence a shift.

That combination of skill and responsibility is why his captaincy adds useful context to the point totals. It doesn’t guarantee that he’ll become a top prospect, but it gives him a chance to show how his game holds up while carrying a leadership role on a team trying to climb from last season’s finish.

What the Sting’s season could mean for Di Iorio

Sarnia’s 4-2-1 opening offers a better platform for Di Iorio to test his game than a difficult team start would. If the Sting remain competitive, he’ll have more opportunities to contribute in meaningful situations and help establish a winning standard. A stronger club record could also give him a chance to experience OHL playoff hockey for the first time, though seven team games are too early to make any prediction about where the season will lead.

Di Iorio ranked 18th in the Blue Jackets’ summer prospect coverage. A productive season could strengthen his standing and put him in the conversation for a place higher on that list. The key is whether this pace holds as opponents adjust and the schedule continues. His first six appearances have made the case for watching closely; the next stretch will show whether he can turn a hot opening into a sustained breakout.

For Columbus, that’s the encouraging takeaway: a third-round pick with earlier top-of-the-OHL-draft pedigree is producing, captaining a team off to a better start, and showing flashes of the speed and offensive instincts that make his upside appealing. The sample remains small, but Di Iorio has given himself a strong start to build on.