With the first pick of the third round, the Jackets continued to improve the situation in goal by drafting Finnish goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo was ranked third on the European Goaltender list by Central Scouting, right behind second round pick Oscar Dansk.
Korpisalo was drafted from the Jokerit system in Finland, suiting up for their junior and U-18 teams for the past two seasons. Last season he had a 2.04 GAA and 0.920 SV% in 38 games, to go along with 4 shutouts for Jokerit’s junior squad.
This pick signified a commitment to improving the organizational weakness between the pipes. Korpisalo joins second rounder Oscar Dansk and trade acquistion Sergei Bobrovsky in a trio of recent additions to the goaltending group.
This pick has the potential for international intrigue- both Korpisalo and Dansk have a good chance at being the men between the pipes for their respective National teams- Korpisalo for Finland and Dansk for Sweden. You already know the rivalry that exists between these two Scandinavian nations, imagine these two going head to head in a national tournament, then returning to North America to duke it out for playing time in the Columbus net.