Live from The Sphere in Las Vegas, we have the last edition of the NHL draft where all of the front offices and prospects are in the same room.
Broadcast Information
Round 1: Friday, June 28 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Rounds 2-7: Saturday, June 29 at 11:30 a.m. ET, NHL Network, ESPN+
Blue Jackets Picks
Round 1: #4
Round 2: #36 (by the end of Round 1, the Blue Jackets will decide whether to retain this pick or send it to Philadelphia to complete the Ivan Provorov trade. If they keep it this year, next year’s second round pick goes to Philadelphia)
Round 3: #69 (nice)
Round 3: #86 (from Los Angeles)
Round 4: #101
Round 5: #133
Round 6: #165
Prospects to Watch
Artyom Levshunov
Ivan Demidov
Anton Silayev
Sam Dickinson
Cayden Lindstrom
Levshunov seems increasingly likely to go to Chicago or Anaheim, leaving Columbus with one of Demidov, Lindstrom, or Silayev. Others that could be in play:
Zeev Buium: The 6’0″ 185 lb LHD led the University of Denver to the NCAA championship this spring, with an impressive 50 points in 42 games.
Zayne Parekh: A similar size to Buium, Parekh is a top 10 lock but is a RHD, which the Blue Jackets already have a surplus of. Hard to ignore the 96 points he put up in 66 games with the Saginaw Spirit (OHL), however, not to mention the point per game pace in the postseason as the Spirit won a surprise Memorial Cup title as the host team.
Of course, it’s also possible that Don Waddell finds a way to trade down and collect extra assets. This draft is deep enough at the top that they can move down within the top 10 and still get a player nearly as good as the ones on the board at #4.