Monday, June 8, 2009

Columbus Blue Jackets Draft Preview

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First Round Position: 16th

Best Picks of last 3 Years:

Steve Mason (G)-2nd Round 2006
Nikita Filatov (LW)-1st Round 2008
Jakub Voracek (RW)-1st Round 2007
Derrick Brassard (C)-1st Round 2006
Maxim Mayorov (RW)-4th Round 2007

Coming Down the Pipe - The Pipeline Show has been fans of the Blue Jackets draft strategy and results for a few years. For my money, Nikita Filatov might have been the most skilled player in last year’s draft while Derrick Brassard was on a rookie of year type pace before getting injured and passing the baton to goaltender Steve Mason. Jakub Voracek could end up being the most consistent forward out of the bunch in the long run, while Cody Goloubef was the only NCAA player to make Canada’s WJC team and skates extremely well on the back end.

Draft Trends - The Jackets are all over the map from Europe, through all 3 CHL leagues and to the NCAA. They’ve even dipped into the AJHL and NAHL for picks.

Millard: Jacob Josefson-The Blue Jackets have drafted some really skilled forwards lately so taking a solid 2 way centreman is okay, especially when they’re drafting outside of the top ten for the first time in team history.

Flaming:
Jacob Josefson – Still short on natural centers I would be stunned to see one with Josefson’s résumé get passed over by Columbus. He’s a safe pick at this point of the draft.

2 comments:

jmarcus said...

Josefson would be okay, but I don't see the Jackets passing up on an offensive d-man, especially if guys like Moore, Rundblad and Ellis are still available.

Guy Flaming said...

Both Moore and Ellis are already gone in our mock (well, Ellis is gone for one of us at this point).