Komoka's Jacob Vandeven: 
From forward to defenceman to Boston Bruins prospect

Jacob Vandeven's life has had a few twists in it dating back to last season.

We're talking twists that could make Skeleton Key or Gone Girl feel completely linear.

In October of 2025 the big man from Komoka, Ont., was a prospect of the Owen Sound Attack.

A good one. 

He was a forward. A responsible, 200-foot player determined to one day make it to the Ontario Hockey League.

Could he have imagined that one calendar year later he would no longer be an Attack prospect, he would no longer be a forward and he would be a fifth round draft pick of the Boston Bruins?

"No, it's been a whirlwind for sure," admits Vandeven. "I mean, first of all, switching positions and then coming to London, and then getting into the lineup, making playoffs and then getting drafted."

That's hard to script.

So how did it happen?

Let's start with Knights assistant coach Dylan Hunter.

"He was always a really good skater and had a good head for the game," says Hunter. "We knew him from being a local player. He was always that shutdown centreman who really understood the defensive side (of the game)."

London acquired Vandeven on Jan. 8, 2026 in exchange for defenceman Julian Brown.

On paper the deal looked like an 19-year old defenceman being traded for a 17-year old forward.

But the Komoka Kings , where Vandeven was playing, had already given him a chance to try the other side of the ice.

Then-Kings head coach John Warren says Vandeven would play games as a forward most of the time but at practice he was on the blue line.

"He continued to get better and better at the position," remembers Warren. We had a tough game against St. Marys and we figured, 'no time like the present' and we threw him in and he did well so we tried it the next night and had the same result and he has never looked back."

That first game still stands out in Vandeven's memory as well.

"Playing against a top team (like the Lincolns) helped me because I was up against the best players and had to adjust and I went from there."

"From there" ended up being a late-season call up to the Knights as a defenceman.

Vandeven played in Erie and impressed the coaches enough that he played in seven more regular season games and then when London's first round playoff series began against Sault Ste. Marie, Vandeven was in the lineup.

All that time - as a defenceman.

"He plays a humble game," Dylan Hunter points out. "He's a coach's player who does what he has asked and he has really worked at it. He has put in the homework and now he's really finding out who he is going to be."

And that just might be on "D" at the next level.

On June 27, 2026 Vandeven was sitting in his living room with family members and the NHL Draft was on in the background.

He knew there might be a chance that his name would be called and when it was it came earlier than anyone may have expected.

The Boston Bruins drafted him in the 5th round, 157th overall.

"I wasn't focused on the draft at all. I had my grandparents over and we were all watching as some of my buddies and people I played against were picked," says Vandeven. "Then we just heard my name come up on the TV and I went into shock. Everyone got pretty excited."

And now the excitement comes in where Vandeven goes from here.

If he was able to make the changes he has that seamlessly, how good can he become with more and more ice time and experience.

The London Knights and the Boston Bruins are looking forward to finding out.