NHL.com Mock Drafts and the Columbus Blue Jackets

Mar 13, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; A general view of the Nationwide Arena ice resurfacing machine cleans the ice prior to the of the Edmonton Oilers against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets won 5-4 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Now that the lottery fun has been taken away due to another Edmonton Oilers win, mock draft season has come upon us. We previewed three yesterday in our weekend Ice Cap, one from Sportsnet that had the Columbus Blue Jackets taking RW Mikko Rantanen from Finland, and two others that had us taking Brandon Wheat Kings‘ D Ivan Provorov from Bleacher Report and Draftsite. Now two more emerge from NHL.com, one from Mike G. Morreale and another from Adam Kimelman. They both hop on the Zamboni of a certain player to the Jackets. See if you can figure out who from the descriptions.

Kimelman had this to say, “The Russian-born defenseman had an outstanding first North American season, leading all Western Hockey League rookies in scoring and finishing fourth among WHL defensemen. The Blue Jackets have stocked up on young, talented forwards in recent seasons; now it’s time to find some top-end defensemen.”

While Morreale said, “The 6-foot, 201-pound left-shot defender was fourth among Western Hockey League defensemen with 61 points (15 goals, 46 assists) in 60 games as a rookie and his strong play has continued in the playoffs with two goals and eight points in 10 games to help Brandon reach the WHL conference finals. The Russian logs a lot of ice time, is good on special teams and likes to be a physical presence.”

That’s right! The Zamboni carrying Provorov to Cbus gained more steam today as BOTH mocks had the Blue Jackets snagging Provorov 8th in their mocks. So far that’s 4 for 5, with Sportsnet being the lone exception, though they had Provorov going a pick earlier to the Philadelphia Flyers in theirs.

Why the consistency? It’s obvious that the Blue Jackets are lacking quality young defensemen to pair with their recent offensive push in recent drafts (Sonny Milano, Marko Dano, Kerby Rychel, Alexander Wennberg, and Ryan Johansen, along with their “in their prime” offense, Brandon Dubinsky and Nick Foligno) only Ryan Murray being the exception, though he missed a ton of his scheduled break out season with injuries. Even when/if Murray returns healthy you’re going to need more than 1 defender if you want to make a solid playoff push, or even the playoffs in general. Obviously more blueliners are going to be needed, with not much relief coming from the minors where the cupboard seems decently bare. The Blue Jackets have made a conscious effort to build through the draft, as they’ve cleared most of “older” players, having only 6 players 30 and older on the roster, and hopefully learning from their past trade horrors  (Derick Brassard). For this reason, I don’t expect the Jackets to be high rollers at the Free Agent Table this year (next off-season is a totally different animal as their youth start to develop and a serious playoff push becomes visible). With at least 7 centers and wingers part of their core, a young hot goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, it would appear the missing piece is on the blueline. (We’ll have a more in depth look at each position breakdown later in the week and into next week as we explore the talent in Columbus, the talent that will be in Cleveland next season, what could be available on the market via trade and free agency and the possible draft prospects.)

Now I believe in the draft you can’t always draft for need. You end up taking a 6.5 at position in need that ends up being a 2nd to 3rd line defensemen, when you could have a solid 1st to 2nd line winger. Trades become available, prospects don’t reach their potential, there are many reasons and scenarios that play out. Teams always need talent, they may not always need a defenseman or winger but they’re always going to be open to trades where they’ll be acquiring talent, especially young talent. Acquire assets and work everything out when you have a better grasp of exactly what you have. That said, Ivan Provorov is a match made in heaven, which is why it worries me. Very rarely do these things work out the way we want them to. Provorov is the 2nd rated defensemen behind consensus number 3 pick Noah Hanifin. Which means any team between the Phoenix Coyotes and the 8th pick (the Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils and the Flyers as Sportsnet had) could draft for need (or have Provorov rated highest on their board) and grab the 2nd highest rated defensemen. Leaving the Jackets a few options, trade up and guarantee your Provorov, or even higher as some have speculated, up to third because who knows that the Coyotes are feeling after the disappointment of falling out of reach of Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.

Or it could leave the Jackets to an interesting decision, go for need or best available player. It could work out and accomplish both with a lot of high ranked defenders such as Zachary Werenski, Thomas Chabot or Oliver Kylington. But what if the Jackets scouting staff believe another player to have a higher ceiling and better chance of NHL success? Would you want them grabbing another 1st round offensive player or dip a little and grab the defender to help complete the well rounded formation of the Jackets’ young core?