The Three Worst Draft Picks in CBJ History
As we near the 2022 NHL Draft and focus on the top-20 prospects for the Columbus Blue Jackets, what better opportunity to take a look at some of the worst draft picks in the history of the franchise? For the long suffering CBJ, we all know there have been plenty of draft horror stories, and it would be easy to find more than a few clear misses. But for the purposes of this article, let’s dive into some picks that were obviously incorrect, and look at who the team should have taken.
Since it typically takes roughly five years to know how well you did at the draft, we’re only looking at selections made in 2017 or prior. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the three best picks ever made by the team, using the same parameters.
Gilbert Brule, 1st round (#6 overall), 2005 NHL Draft
Following the cancellation of the 2004-05 NHL season due to lockout, the league drew weighted lottery balls for every team in the league prior to the 2005 NHL Draft, with the Blue Jackets winning the sixth pick. Heading into a draft with a somewhat clear top-5, this left the team seemingly just barely on the outside, until the Montreal Canadiens surprised many by taking goaltender Carey Price … allowing Gilbert Brule to fall right into the lap of then-GM Doug MacLean.
At first glance, the pick seemed like a dream come true. Living in a WHL city at the time, I was fortunate enough to see Gilbert first hand and knew how talented he was. He was coming off of a 39 goal, 87 point, 169 penalty minute season with the Vancouver Giants, and looked like the next coming of Jeremy Roenick. He was a tremendous playmaker at the junior level, slinging highlight reel passes and playing an exciting, physical brand of hockey for a smaller player. It finally seemed like the Blue Jackets had a legitimate potential top-line center at their disposal, a great setup man for Rick Nash.
But for Brule and the Blue Jackets, it just wasn’t meant to be. They rushed him to the NHL too early, and after skating in just 7 games in the fall of 2005, Brule was returned to Vancouver, where he finished out the year on a high note, scoring 23 goals and 38 points in just 27 games.
Unfortunately for Brule, he was never quite the same player at the professional level, spending just two seasons with the Blue Jackets before being dealt to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Raffi Torres. Brule would play just 299 games in the NHL, scoring 43 goals and 156 points for the Blue Jackets, Oilers, and Phoenix Coyotes. He last played hockey in China – for the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL, in 2020.
Who they should have taken: Anze Kopitar (#11 overall, LA Kings)
Nikita Filatov, 1st round (#6 overall), 2008 NHL Draft
The sixth overall selection was again unkind to the Blue Jackets when they hit the podium in 2008, they just didn’t know it yet. After the Tampa Bay Lightning made Steven Stamkos the first overall pick, there was a run on defensemen before the Blue Jackets selected the second forward in the draft: Nikita Filatov.
Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson thought they had just landed a franchise-altering player in Filatov, considered by many to be the second best player in the entire draft. The excitement grew when he scored his first NHL hat trick in just his sixth game in the league, in spite of just under 10 minutes on the ice that night.
But things quickly deteriorated for Filatov, who left for Russia soon after the hat trick that became his lone standout performance for the Blue Jackets. Character issues abounded for Filatov, which led to the line he’s most remembered for:
After four or five clips, Filatov steps back from the monitor, looks at the coaches and says, flatly: “Filly don’t do rebounds.”
The talent was obvious, he had high end hands and creativity, and a knack for scoring goals. He had the ability to become a highlight reel player for a franchise turning the corner, rapidly improving under then head coach Ken Hitchcock. But he bounced around the Blue Jackets system for just three years before being dealt to Ottawa for a third round pick (TJ Tynan) in 2011. He would play in just 53 NHL games, scoring a modest 6 goals and 14 points, before returning to Russia for good.
A clear miss when you consider that, Filatov was the only top-10 pick from the 2008 draft with less than 300 games played in the NHL, and one of just 9 players taken in the first round to play less than 100 games.
Who they should have taken: Tyler Myers (#12 overall, Buffalo), Erik Karlsson (#15 overall, Ottawa)
Alexandre Picard, 1st round (#8 overall), 2004 NHL Draft
As mentioned at the start of the article, Blue Jackets history is riddled with complete whiffs at the draft, but this is especially true under Doug MacLean. The worst of these misses? The 2004 draft, where the team traded back and selected left wing Alexandre Picard. In fact, the entire 2004 draft was a disaster and likely set the franchise back in a big way.
Once again finding themselves just outside of a clear-cut top-3 (Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Cam Barker), the Jackets entered the draft open to the idea of trading their #4 pick. MacLean would do just that, dropping back four spots and acquiring pick #59 in the draft from Carolina. The Canes used the fourth pick to select Andrew Ladd, who is still in the NHL and just played career game #1000 this past season, while the Jackets selected Picard four spots later.
After MacLean made his selection, he would boast to the fanbase that he got the player he would have taken fourth overall, with the eighth overall pick. Picard was coming off of a QMJHL season where he scored 39 goals, 80 points and added 88 minutes in penalties. He was touted as another Rick Nash like player to the fanbase, a guy who could come in and be a talented, physical winger, and play in the team’s top-6.
But it never panned out for Picard, who would skate just 67 games in the NHL and never scored an NHL goal. He just never put it all together at any point in time, and took his talents overseas in 2012. Worse yet? The 59th pick turned into Kyle Wharton, who only managed 33 games in the AHL. Ouch.
The entire 2004 draft class for Columbus (12 picks made) would only combine for 374 games played, dominated by the 205 appearances from ninth round pick Grant Clitsome.