Tonight (Friday, June 27), the NHL will host the first round of the annual entry draft, beginning at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The prospects and commissioner Gary Bettman will be at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, while the front offices will be back in their home offices, much like the COVID drafts of 2020 and 2021. Rounds 2-7 will be held beginning at noon on Saturday, June 28, and can be viewed on NHL Network or ESPN+
The full draft order and live tracker can be found here.
The picks for YOUR Columbus Blue Jackets are as follows:
Round 1, Pick 14
Round 1, Pick 20 (acquired from Minnesota for David Jiricek)Round 3, Pick 13
Round 4, Pick 13
Round 5, Pick 32 (acquired from Florida for Daniil Tarasov)
Round 6, Pick 31
Round 7, Pick 13
Round 7, Pick 26 (acquired from Vegas for Jonathan Quick)
News and Notes
- A short time ago, the Jackets sent a 2nd (2027) and 3rd-round pick (2025), plus Gavin Brindley, to Colorado for Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood. Waddell had reportedly been looking for a right-shot center, and he found that in Coyle. The Wood acquisition, however, is a bit of a head-scratcher. That appears to be of enormous benefit to Colorado as he is signed for $2.5m through 2029.
- Two moves were made by Don Waddell yesterday. First, he traded pending RFA goaltender Daniil Tarasov to the Florida Panthers for a fifth round pick. Tarasov was clearly the odd man out behind Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins, and it makes sense to give him a fresh start elsewhere. The pick isn’t much, but it’s preferable to not making Tarasov an offer and letting him go to unrestricted free agency.
- The other move was a trade that sent Cameron Butler to Minnesota for Brendan Gaunce. This is more of an organizational depth move, with Gaunce most likely to play the most of the season in Cleveland, where he was Monsters captain in 2023-24.
- The Jackets were rumored to be finalists to acquire New York Islanders defenseman and pending RFA Noah Dobson. Instead, he was traded to Montreal for both of their first round picks (16 and 17) and forward Emil Heineman. Per Aaron Portzline, the Habs were looking for both Columbus firsts, plus a young player like Dmitri Voronkov, AND a prospect. I was happy to be in the mix for Dobson but not for that price tag. He also received an 8 year extension with an average annual value of $9.5M. Again, I like the player, and I know the cap is going up, but that’s a lot to invest in potential.
- Finally, congrats to former staffer and longtime community member MrSwift, who will be getting married this evening to his longtime partner (and also a loyal reader), Maria. They’re great people and big Jackets fans and I speak for us all in wishing them nothing but the best in the future.