It could have gone in a lot of directions for the Blue Jackets last night. In the end, nothing changed.
The San Jose Sharks won the lottery and will select first overall, almost certainly taking highly touted (and Bay Area native) center Macklin Celebrini.
The Chicago Blackhawks held onto the #2 overall pick, followed up by the Anaheim Ducks (#3) and finally our Blue Jackets (#4).
My immediate reaction to the lottery draw: while it stinks that we came up short again, at least we didn't fall in the order. I guess that's a sign of how jaded we Blue Jacket fans are by this whole process. We've been stung a few times.
Owning the fourth overall pick is nothing to be upset about, however. In fact, nearly every Stanley Cup winner in recent memory has had a player they selected with a top-four pick. Most of them have multiple.
The Blue Jackets drafted Adam Fantilli third overall last summer. They're about to add another top-four pick this year, in what should hopefully be their last year jockeying for a lottery pick in this rebuild.
So, who might the Blue Jackets use this pick on? First, we'll have to figure out how the teams in front of us may pick. Let's take a look.