Columbus Blue Jackets: How Has Jarmo Done at the NHL Draft?

Teams with strong scouting will often find players after the first round. Really, if you’re picking after the first 15 spots in the first round; you have to nail some picks in later rounds to have successful drafts. The fact here is, the Jackets have done a really nice job after the first round – the numbers prove that.

Second round picks ran at a success rate of 35.2% during these 7 years (53 NHL players). This is where Jarmo’s drafting starts standing out: the Jackets hit at a 50% rate (3/6) during this span. While they haven’t found a superstar like Sebastian Aho, they have improved big time over the last few years, and are adding NHL players to the roster with picks in this range. I included Kevin Stenlund as a win because he spent most of his season in Winnipeg this year – but will admit that this is a fringe win.

The hits: Kevin Stenlund (2015), Andrew Peeke (2016), Alexandre Texier (2017). The misses: Dillon Heatherington (2013), Ryan Collins (2014), Paul Bittner (2015).

Second Round Grade: C. Peeke and Texier have become depth players, which is lovely. But two of the next five picks after Peeke were Jordan Kyrou and Alex Debrincat. So, there is that.

Third round picks have been another success story for the Jackets, especially when compared to the rest of the league. During this timeframe I could count only 22 NHL players picked in the third round, across the entire NHL (14.6%). Three of those – and maybe a fourth – were picked by the Blue Jackets, who hit on at least 50% of their picks over that time. Though again we have to note, the 2013 draft is an outlier here – Jarmo did not have his preferred staff yet. So, only partial credit here.

The hits: Oliver Bjorkstrand (2013), Elvis Merzlikins (2014), Keegan Kolesar (2015). Bonus: Daniil Tarasov. The misses: Vitaly Abramov (2016), Blake Siebenaler (2014).

Third round grade: A. Why an A, when there are only two guys on this list who became Blue Jackets? Well, Bjorkstrand is one of the best third round picks in the history of the franchise. But even if you discount him, they came away with two NHL goalies in this round. And, even though Keegan Kolesar and Vitaly Abramov didn’t play here, both were traded for key assets after the fact.

NHL teams have found 25 NHL players in the fourth round, slightly more on average than the third round (16.6%). The Jackets held only three fourth rounders over this time, but they found an NHL player with one of them – which puts them at a 33.3% success rate.

The hit: Emil Bemstrom (2017). The misses: Julian Pelletier (2014), Nick Moutrey (2013).

Grade: C. Bemstrom may be a 4A player, but with only three picks in this range, that’s a win. The one that really hurts here is 2014, when Devon Toews was picked one slot behind Julian Pelletier.