Blue Jackets delight in their fortune, add four more on NHL draft's second day

New York Times

9 hours ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio — NHL general managers and scouts have been known to make grandiose comments when draft weekend is complete and a new batch of prospects has landed in their pool. That sixth-round draft pick? He was way higher on their board. That seventh-round pick? Yeah, he reminds them of (insert generational talent here) … yeah, Patrice Bergeron!
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That's why Don Waddell's comments on Saturday afternoon demanded confirmation. Did the Blue Jackets GM just say that? Yes. Yes, he did.
The Blue Jackets drafted highly touted defenseman Jackson Smith with the No. 14 pick on Friday, surprising exactly nobody. They selected goaltender Pyotr Andreyanov at No. 20, surprising many, as Andreyanov was predicted to go late in the second round or early in the third.
On Saturday, the Blue Jackets traded back into the third round to select Swedish defenseman Malte Vass with the No. 76 overall pick. And then Waddell said …
'We drafted right, identically, as our list was laid out,' he said. 'The first three guys (Smith, Andreyanov, and Vass) were all in the top 14 on our list.'
Come again?
'Correct. That is correct,' Waddell said. 'I can say, probably, it's never happened in my history (in hockey). It's our board, so we'll see in a few years if we're right or not. Our guys put a lot of work into it. We had mid-season meetings, end-of-season meetings, and meetings this week, and the list was unanimous. When you're sitting there at 76 and you're able to get a guy who is still on your top 15 list, there's only one decision to make and that's what we did.'
We got exactly who we wanted!
Don Waddell says we were able to get 3 of our top 14 players. Hear more from him after selecting 6 new players in this year's draft!
📺 https://t.co/DwAA0r1OX9@OhioHealth | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/J62zK3Rs5v
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) June 28, 2025
The Blue Jackets bolstered their forward corps with a trade with Colorado on Friday for Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood, but so far this offseason their defense and goaltending have not been improved.
On Friday, the Blue Jackets were deep in trade talks with the New York Islanders for defenseman Noah Dobson, but they backed out when the asking price, in Waddell's opinion, got too steep. On Saturday, the Anaheim Ducks traded goaltender John Gibson to the Detroit Red Wings for goaltender Peter Mrazek and two draft picks. The Blue Jackets, according to sources, were not involved in trade talks with Anaheim for Gibson.
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The Blue Jackets did make two trades: a fourth-round pick this year (No. 109) and a fourth-round pick next year to the Red Wings to move up to No. 76 and draft Vass, and two seventh-round picks (Nos. 205, 218) to the Seattle Kraken to move up higher in the round (No. 198).
They had other trade offers, too, Waddell said, but they were only pick-for-pick trades, not offers involving players that could boost a roster immediately.
By now, you should probably realize Waddell is going to follow his scouts' advice and his own eyes — he saw his share of these amateur players — without caring if that matches 'conventional' wisdom or a wide array of mock drafts.
Vass, a highly physical defensive defenseman, was projected by most to be a third-round pick, which is exactly where the Blue Jackets drafted him. But Waddell confirmed he would have taken Vass with the 20th pick in the first round if all other players on the Jackets' master list were taken.
'In Vass' case, when he starts to fall, you say, 'OK, let's think about teams we could make a deal with,'' Waddell said. 'We had already started down that road and made a deal (to get back into the third round).
'I read a lot of stuff — and heard a lot of stuff — about 'Oh, we took a goalie early.' But we wanted to take a goalie and we thought (Andreyanov) was the best goalie. We just felt that, instead of taking a chance — yeah, maybe I could have moved back a few spots — but the worst case scenario is somebody takes him in front of you and you're saying, 'What kind of strategy was that?' I'm a huge believer that if you really like a guy and your number is up, just take the player.'
Malte Vass delar ut en tackling #HlinkaGretzkyCup #fbkse pic.twitter.com/4SCWqFWJkC
— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) August 9, 2024
Vass (6-foot-2, 194 pounds) is headed to Boston University next season. He spent most of last season (40 games) playing for Färjestad in Sweden's second league, but did draw in for five games with the top club.
Fifth round, No. 160: C Owen Griffin — A smallish center (5-foot-10, 160 pounds), Griffin played his way into greater prominence in the second half of his season, especially in the playoffs. He had 22-29-51 in 62 games for Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League, but led the entire OHL in playoff goals (16) and was sixth in points (29). The Blue Jackets saw him play extensively this season, in part because they were checking in defenseman Luca Marrelli, a third-rounder from last year's draft.
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Sixth round, No. 173: LHD Victor Hedin Raftheim — He doesn't turn 18 until August, so Raftheim (already 6-foot-3, 181 pounds) has some filling out to do. In 34 games with Brynäs in Sweden's under-20 league, he had 1-3-4 and 22 penalty minutes.
Seventh round, No. 198: C Jeremy Loranger — The Blue Jackets like Loranger enough to trade two later seventh-round picks to move up the board and grab him. He's a small center — 5-foot-9, 161 pounds — but he lit up the British Columbia Hockey League for Sherwood Park with 40-65-105 in only 54 games. He's committed to play at the University of Nebraska-Omaha next season.
The Blue Jackets expect all six players drafted this weekend, among others including last year's No. 4 overall pick Cayden Lindstrom, to attend their summer development camp, which runs July 2-5 in the practice rink attached to Nationwide Arena.
'We're happy with the haul we had here,' Blue Jackets assistant director of amateur scouting Trevor Timmins said. 'Now, these are prospects. I mean, we hand them over now to our development team, our development coaches, to help them develop.
'They're young men. They're prospects. Hopefully, they become NHL players for the Blue Jackets.'
(Photo of Malte Vass: Leila Devlin / Getty Images)