Blue Jackets’ Hits & Misses in Drafting Complete Fourth – Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

We learned earlier this month that the Blue Jackets will have a full pick in the 2024 NHL draft. They circled that tree over the last several picks, picking third in 2023 (Adam Pintlilli), sixth in 2022 (David Jiricek), and fifth in 2021 (Kent Johnson). Each of those players on the stage to be NHL relts and potential players and potential players and the next general manager can draft a player of the same caliber on June 28.

When it comes to signing up for the fourth time, the Blue Jackets are hit and miss. They’ve done it three times in franchise history and while all three players wound up dressing in a large number of NHL games, none had the impact that could be relied upon for a top-five pick. In this piece, we will take a look at those players and finish by looking at some of the regular players yore managers go through to select those people.

2000 – Rostislav Klesla

The Blue Jackets’ first draft pick was fourth overall, so it almost certainly should have been their position in the June team draft. With that offer, they selected Czech defenseman from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Rostislav Klesles.

Kolles had a great time with the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) Brampton Battalion and there was all the equipment the NHL of that era wanted in a defenseman. He had bis-bod-bod-bod-3), can contribute to the defense (45 points in 67 games), and in the penalty box a lot (174 penalty minutes in these 67 games). Thinking with common sense at the time, he checked all the boxes.

He went on to have a great NHL career as a defensive defenseman. The biggest problem was availability. He only played in 515 games for the blue jackets over ten seasons, which is only 62.8 percent of the total. When he was in the lock, he was one of the few reliable defenders of the team and reached 20: 34 on the ice. Not a true pairing defender, but a legitimate option-four.

It’s interesting to think how different the trajectory of the blue jackets would have been if they were given the second or third slot in the year 2000. If we look at the players that the team has passed away, really no one was written close which is really painful to look back. Scott Hartnell (sixth overall) and Niklas Kronwall (29th overall) had perhaps the biggest impact in the first round. Kella was not a “home run” for the blue jackets but, when you look at the entire area with 2000 combined weaknesses

2003 – Nikolai Zerdev

This is a little ‘oof’ for the blue jackets. In 2003, which is widely considered to be the best draft class in the history of the NHL, they selected Nikolai ZERdev. The Russian forward had all the talent in the world, and he was able to briefly translate that to the best league in the world. He was a color in the pan for many reasons, but mostly it was not being frustrated which led to issues that are not in his dark throughout his career.

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As the fourth overall pick, Zurdev Fling has the 54th most games played and the 28th most featured players drafted that day. Definitely not the price the team wants. As for the players selected after Zherdev continued to make an impact in the NHL, tell me if any of these players ring bells:

• Thomas Vanek (5th)
• Ryan Suter (7th)
• Jeff Carter (11th)
• Dustin Brown (13th)
• Brent Seabrook (14th)
• Zach Passise (17th)
• Ryan Getzlaf (19)
• Brent Burns (20th)
• Ryan Kesler (24th)
• Corey Perry (28)
• Patrice Bergeron (45th)
• Shea Weber (49)
• Joe Palelski (205th)

I can’t imagine the Blue Jackets wishing they had done something to go back and pick one of those guys over Zherdev (I hope you hear the sarcasm). After all, it really is 20-20.

Fodor Tyutin was a long-term benefit that came from this selection, as he was returning from Zherdev’s Exodus to New York .. Columbus.

2010 – Ryan Johansen

The most recent fourth pick of the blue jackets was Ryan Johansen, a very talented center and senior from the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (whl). While he only spent 309 games in the Union Blue Jersey, this selection was actually a huge success when you look at the entire chain of events that set the move in motion. It’s a chain that still benefits the team to this day.

After a 33-point season as a 21-year-old and a 71-point season as a 22-year-old, it finally looked like the Blue Jackets had found his first official number one center. However, some friction between Johansen and Head coach John Tortorella ultimately punched his ticket to the Nashville Raiders in one common trade — one for one, for defensive end Seth Jones. Jones was a lynchpin on the defensive end during his six seasons in a Blue Jackets uniform – what happened to be the team’s most successful season.

Jones was then traded in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft as the Blue Jackets hoped to restart their build and gain traction. For Jones, the Blue Jackets started by trading up in the first round from 32nd to 12th overall (where they selected Cole Sillinger). On top of that, they got another WRITE-Round PICK in 2022 (which was the sixth perfect pick that they used to select David Jiricek), the second pick (which they traded for Adam Boqvist (who was the exth single pick in 2018). Although the decision is still out As for the success or failure of many of these assets, it’s hard to deny that the Blue Jackets won the trade.

Bottom line: If the Blue Jackets hadn’t drafted Johansen in 2010, they wouldn’t have the long-term pieces of Sillinger, Jiricek, and Boqvist right now. Funny how things work for so long in sports, eh?

This June, the Blue Jackets have a real shot at drafting a player who can make the difference as they continue to aspire to playoff contention. Their history of picking a perfect fourth shows that the impact of a TOP-Five Draft Pick can be felt directly as a long piece, like Klesla, or indirectly by bringing back a trade outfit, like Johansen and Zerdev.