The Blue Jackets success at the draft (or lack thereof) – 3rd Rd
- Updated: June 21, 2011
Onto the third round Jackets nation and before we get started I wanna say while still being judgmental, I’m gonna be a little easier on the picks. Because when I asked my sources (in other words I asked two people on twitter) about the third round being when the draft becomes a crapshoot, they agreed. The Blue Jackets have picked 12 players in the third round, six playing in the NHL scoring 29 goals and 90 assists for 129 points in 727 games played. The team has also selected two goalies winning 79 out of 177 games with 19 shutouts. Now for this round its almost all Doug MacLean picks, Scott Howson has only used one third round pick and that was in his first draft back in 2007. I found this odd but then I looked to see what happened to those picks well the 2008 pick was part of the R.J. Umberger trade, 2009 was part of a trade for more picks and 2010 was part of the Anton Stralman trade.
2000 3rd Rd Pick: #69 Ben Knopp(RW) Stats: Played in AHL and ECHL
PLAYER WE PROBABLY SHOULD’VE PICKED: Mike Rupp (#76 NJ) Jackets fans will remember the big Cleveland native from his season with the Jackets. His 89 points are second among the players picked in the third round but is more known for being a physical presence with three straight seasons with 120 plus penalty minutes.
2001 3rd Rd Picks: #85 Aaron Johnson(D) Stats: 116 GP 7-19-26 #87 Per Mars (LW) Never played in U.S. (other than USHL)
PLAYER WE PROBABLY SHOULD’VE PICKED: Now since these two picks were so close together I combined them since I’m selecting mostly the same ten players. Aaron Johnson I’m going to leave alone, he’s among the top five in scoring and games played among players selected in this round. As for Mars the Jackets could of selected the latest to the long list of Jacket killers Patrick Sharp (#95 PHI) scoring at least two points in four of the five games against the Jackets last season. Plus scoring 20 plus goals in five straight seasons with two with 30 or more.
2002 3rd Rd Pick: #69 Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (D) Stats: 145GP 4-6-10
PLAYER WE PROBABLY SHOULD’VE PICKED: Gregory Campbell (#71 FLA) or Erik Christensen (#73 PIT) Now while Tollefsen was a decent defensesive defenseman/tough guy, both of these players are consistent 20 plus point players. Another positive for selecting Campbell is we might have gotten a few more calls with Greg’s dad being ex-NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell.
2002 3rd Rd Pick: #96 Jeff Genovy (D) Never signed by Organization (but was traded to CHL affiliate one season)
PLAYER WE PROBABLY SHOULD’VE PICKED: ????? I cant answer that question Genovy was the last pick in the third round and of the ten players selected after him only 2 have played in the NHL and the leader in points and games played is ex Jacket Aaron Rome. This one stings a little because just one pick before Genovy was selected the Detroit Red Wings picked Valtteri Filppula.
2003 3rd Rd Pick: #71 Dmitry Kosmachev (D) Never played for Organization or in U.S.
PLAYER WE SHOULD’VE PICKED: Clarke MacArthur (#74 BUF) MacAthur is the leading scoring for the third round in 2003 and has scored 128 points in the last four season including 62 last year with the Leafs.
2004 3rd Rd Picks: #93 Dan LaCosta (G) Stats: 4GP 2-0-0 1SO #96 Andrey Plekhanov Played in AHL and ECHL
WHO WE SHOULD’VE SELECTED: Much like in 2001 I’m selecting from pretty much the same ten players. For the LaCosta pick we should’ve picked Tyler Kennedy (#99 PIT) Kennedy was the first pick of the fourth round has scored 105 points in the last three seasons with the Penguins. Kennedy’s first two season point totals I found interesting scoring 35 points in 67 games then scoring 25 in 64 the next season. As for the Plekhanov pick, again it’s the Red Wings but this time it was the very next pick with pick number 97 the Red Wings selected “The Mule” Johan Franzen who’s sixth in scoring behind five first round picks.
2005 3rd Pick: #67 Kris Russell (D) Stats: 276GP 16-60-76
DID WE GET IT RIGHT? Kind of a toss up, Russell is second in scoring among players selected in the third round of the ten players I choose from only one has played more than 100 games and that is LA Kings goalie Jonathan Quick who if I had done a should’ve selected he’d been a unanimous selection. Overall only five players picked in the third round have played more than 100 games and Russell being one of two playing more than 200.
2006 3rd Rd Picks: #69 Steve Mason (G) Stats: 173GP 77-67-23 18SO #85 Tom Sestito Stats: 13GP 2-2-4
DID WE GET IT RIGHT? Drafting a franchise goalie (save your comments on this I know it’s been rocky the last two seasons) in the third round is very rare with Mason and Quick being the only ones in all the drafts since the Jackets started. The two players I quickly thought of putting for a better choice were Brad Marchand(#72 BOS) or the stupid mustached hitting machine Cal Cluttebuck (#73 MIN). As for the traded Sestito the only reason I’ll say we got it right is because of the ten players picked after him only one has played in the NHL and his career lasted a whopping one game.
As I said before the Jackets haven’t used a third round pick since 2007 when they drafted Jake Hansen who is going into his senior season at Minnesota where he is the team’s second leading scorer among returning players. Of the later rounds the third is one of the better ones with six picks having played in the NHL compared to five from the second and most of those were guys who split time between the AHL and NHL while the players in the third are actual NHL players. Next up is the fourth round which will be another rough one with only two of the 12 have played in the NHL(five still being unsigned prospects).
About Jas Chaffin
