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Columbus Blue Jackets: NHL Draft Preview
By admin | June 25, 2010
In the NHL, Last season, the Columbus Blue Jackets gave up the seventh most goals per game. To finish second-to-last in the Western Conference a year after making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, the poor defense was a big reason Columbus won just 32 games. With the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, the Blue Jackets have a chance to solve some of their defensive woes.
With the fourth overall pick, the Blue Jackets will make their first selection. Columbus assumed the three players taken before their pick would be LW Taylor Hall, C Tyler Seguin, and D Cam Fowler, in the months leading up to the draft. However, recent information indicates that Florida is interested in using the third overall pick to take D Erik Gudbranson. Blue Jackets are left free to take Fowler.
For the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, Fowler plays defenseman. He excels in moving the puck forward and he is an outstanding skater. Should Columbus take Fowler, he will join current Blue Jacket defensemen Mike Commodore and Jan Hejda to help Columbus’s transition game.
Columbus has seven other selections (including two second round picks), in addition to holding the fourth overall pick. For the draft, Don Boyd, the Blue Jackets director of player personnel, has high hopes. He believes this year’s class is very deep and that his team will have a great chance at striking gold with one of their eight picks.
At center and right wing, the Blue Jackets and their farm system could both use some depth. as far as the draft goes, this will matter very little to Columbus, as they intend on taking the best player available with each pick regardless of position. “You draft the skill and you trade (for) the position,” Boyd said.
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