Columbus Blue Jackets will pick No. 3 in NHL Entry Draft
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Columbus Blue Jackets will pick third overall in the NHL Entry Draft following the results of the NHL draft lottery Monday night.
This will be Columbus' highest draft pick since Pierre-Luc Dubois was also picked No. 3 overall in 2016. The Blue Jackets took David Jiricek 6th overall in 2022 and Kent Johnson 5th overall in 2021.
Columbus had the second-highest odds of winning the first overall pick, but will settle for the No. 3 pick on June 28.
CBJ Lottery odds
- 13.5% chance for #1 pick
- 14.1% chance for #2 pick
- 30.7% chance for #3 pick
- 41.7% chance for #4 pick
John Davidson, the Blue Jackets' vice president of hockey operations, said Columbus will use its pick to draft a center.
Center Connor Bedard, 17, is the consensus No. 1 draft prospect and has drawn comparisons to Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid. Anaheim will undoubtedly take him first, but Davidson said this year's draft has an abundance of talented centers.
“When you go through a draft, sometimes they're top heavy. One or two guys [stand out] and then the rest are not bad," Davidson said. "This is one draft where a lot of people do talk about Bedard as a generational player, number one, but when you go through the next number of players, these are very exciting players and very good players."
Columbus missed the playoffs for a third-straight season and fired coach Brad Larsen after two years at the helm.
The full draft order as announced Monday:
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Anaheim Ducks
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- San Jose Sharks
- Montreal Canadians
- Arizona Coyotes
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Washington Capitals
- Detroit Red Wings
- St. Louis Blues
- Vancouver Canucks
- Arizona Coyotes (Ottawa)
- Buffalo Sabres
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Nashville Predators
- Calgary Flames