More and more mock drafts seem to be putting Ryan Ellis with the Blue Jackets pick at 16. I personally don't think it will happen because you can't pick a 3rd pairing power play specialist in the 1st round. At 5'9" and 173 pounds he may never have enough bulk and strength to be able to sit on the first 2 pairings. The Blue Jackets already have an Ellis type player on the team in Kris Russell. Do you see him on the first pairing anytime soon?

That being said, Ellis is a very offensively gifted defenseman. Scored 22 goals and 89 points in 57 regular season games and he didn't stop come playoff time. In 20 playoff games this year, Ellis had 8 goals and 31 points. The biggest reason for his point production is his shot. He has a right handed NHL slap shot right now and he is able to get it through to the net which either leads to goals or juicy rebounds for the forwards crashing the net.

Ellis is also considered a very smart hockey player and his puck movement ability is excellent. Comparisons to Brian Rafalski or a right handed version of John-Michael Liles are players that you can compare him to. Ellis would certainly help a power play that ranked last in the league last year but it probably will take 2 years minimum of seasoning before he would be ready to make the jump and probably more likely 3 years.

Don't think I will be upset if Ellis drops into the Blue Jackets lap but the closer that we get to the draft and the more you look at how depleted the CBJ's list of center prospects are, I just can't see them taking anything but a center. That is why in my mock draft I skipped Ellis and picked Jacob Josefson. We will have to wait and see if I'm right on June 26th.

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Speaking of June 26th, I have put together an NHLTweetup for the NHL Draft. Thanks to the Columbus Blue Jackets, I coordinated with them for the people of Twitter land to get reserved seats at the draft unlike the general public. Working on giveaways and different things but it should be fun. I will posting soon the place you will need to RSVP at NHLTweetup.com . Be sure to go there and RSVP, it will be the only way I will be able to track how many are coming and insure your seat. More instructions will be at the NHLTweetup.com site. Click "Columbus" when you get there and that will lead you to it.

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Eric Smith
Eric.Smith@HockeyBuzz.com

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