Glen Miller: Kekalainen Appears To Be a Great Get For the Jackets

Sell all your assests rebuild and don't look back

Should have grabbed Burke

JD is one of the top executives in the league, what he did for St. Louis he will do for Columbus

Heard he was the front runner on Sprtsnet last night during the Oiler game.

From your research it looks like a great grab.

Good luck.

Glen Miller: Kekalainen Appears To Be a Great Get For the Jackets
- Glen Miller

Best thing about Kekalainen is that he is willing to develope young player and has a keen eye for talent. Good get and prett neat that he's the first Euro to be a NHL GM.

Kekalainen is a genius when it comes to talent evaluation, and especially European talent. He will do wonders with the three first rounders.

Last time he had that he drafted Perron, Berglund and Eller. Odds are the picks he's going to have will be higher than those three, so things are looking good for once in Ohio.

Should have grabbed Burke
- Holy_Makinaw99

I'm stoked! Wouldn't be surprised if the decision to bring up Drazenovic was his.

As has been stated, he's a solid evaluator of talent. It's a well deserved opportunity. I'll be very interested to see him make the transition from scouting and drafting to handling all the day to day operations, contract negotiations, etc.

I'm happy for him to get this shot.

Kekalainen is a genius when it comes to talent evaluation, and especially European talent. He will do wonders with the three first rounders.

Last time he had that he drafted Perron, Berglund and Eller. Odds are the picks he's going to have will be higher than those three, so things are looking good for once in Ohio.
- QuebecPride

You mean Eller, Perron, and Cole.

Bergy was the year before.

Glen Miller: Kekalainen Appears To Be a Great Get For the Jackets
- Glen Miller

After reading numerous comments regarding Kekalainen's track record , clearly it will be exciting coming this 1st of june .

That being said , I am also surprised of the progressive move behind this hiring, maybe this is a preview of what holds the futur of the nhl, Europeen GM's .

If you read around (outside of HB) at what Blues fans have to say about Kekalainen's draft record, it's interesting to see it's kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, you have people who see the talent he amassed and give him credit for it; on another hand, you have people say "well yeah, he was in charge - but it was the guys underneath him that found guys like Perron and Oshie, they deserve all the credit" and then you have others who talk about his lack of success in the 2nd round and his spoot record outside the 1st round. What's especially funny is the, "but he never got a Datsyuk or a Zetterberg in his time here" comments - because superstar players come out of the 6th and 7th round all the time (and because scouts just knew in those drafts that those 2 guys were going to explode into the players they became, and everyone passed repeatedly until Detroit finally figured out they should draft them).

It's even more interesting to see those comments, and then look around the league and see fans of other teams talk about all the talent the Blues have and how they're positioned to be a force for years to come, and then look back at JK's record in Ottawa and all the pieces he amassed there. For whatever reason, Blues fans have a near-perpetual issue with never believing their players are good enough, and that everyone else's players are better - and they seem to be the only group who doesn't realize just how good the talent is. (Whether that talent unlocks its full potential is an open question - but if that was easily predictable, everyone could be a draft genius.) Yes, it's easy to identify where JK missed in the draft - but look at his overall record and compare it to what other guys did in that span. It's pretty damn good.

The thing Columbus has to look forward to is this: Kekalainen is going to build the team ground-up, starting from the amateur scouting system. I wouldn't expect (another) full rebuild, and I wouldn't expect the team to be dramatically better overnight, but I would expect pieces both on the roster and within the franchise to move over the next 18 months as he gets the groundwork for what he wants and for the fans there to see pretty good progress to finally being respectable, finally being over .500, finally contending for the playoffs every year, and finally breaking into the elite tier in the NHL.

If you read around (outside of HB) at what Blues fans have to say about Kekalainen's draft record, it's interesting to see it's kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, you have people who see the talent he amassed and give him credit for it; on another hand, you have people say "well yeah, he was in charge - but it was the guys underneath him that found guys like Perron and Oshie, they deserve all the credit" and then you have others who talk about his lack of success in the 2nd round and his spoot record outside the 1st round. What's especially funny is the, "but he never got a Datsyuk or a Zetterberg in his time here" comments - because superstar players come out of the 6th and 7th round all the time (and because scouts just knew in those drafts that those 2 guys were going to explode into the players they became, and everyone passed repeatedly until Detroit finally figured out they should draft them).

It's even more interesting to see those comments, and then look around the league and see fans of other teams talk about all the talent the Blues have and how they're positioned to be a force for years to come, and then look back at JK's record in Ottawa and all the pieces he amassed there. For whatever reason, Blues fans have a near-perpetual issue with never believing their players are good enough, and that everyone else's players are better - and they seem to be the only group who doesn't realize just how good the talent is. (Whether that talent unlocks its full potential is an open question - but if that was easily predictable, everyone could be a draft genius.) Yes, it's easy to identify where JK missed in the draft - but look at his overall record and compare it to what other guys did in that span. It's pretty damn good.

The thing Columbus has to look forward to is this: Kekalainen is going to build the team ground-up, starting from the amateur scouting system. I wouldn't expect (another) full rebuild, and I wouldn't expect the team to be dramatically better overnight, but I would expect pieces both on the roster and within the franchise to move over the next 18 months as he gets the groundwork for what he wants and for the fans there to see pretty good progress to finally being respectable, finally being over .500, finally contending for the playoffs every year, and finally breaking into the elite tier in the NHL.
- Chip McCleary

I agree 100%. It's easy to look back at drafts gone by and identify players your team should have drafted because they turned into better players than the ones your team actually drafted. But there is no guarantee those same players would have developed the way they did if your team drafted them. It's an exercise in futility to do that.

The key here is philosophy as you said. He and Davidson both believe in building through the draft and developing those players into assets. Whether those assets pay dividends directly on the ice for the team or are cashed in for value elsewhere doesn't matter as long as they are successful.

I agree with your projections on when Columbus can be good too. This roster isn't devoid of talent as it is and if they can parley the three first-round picks this year into at least two impact players and ultimately find a netminder capable of being a legitmate #1 in this league then Columbus can start to contend by 2014-2015.

After reading numerous comments regarding Kekalainen's track record , clearly it will be exciting coming this 1st of june .

That being said , I am also surprised of the progressive move behind this hiring, maybe this is a preview of what holds the futur of the nhl, Europeen GM's .
- Alexzanki

I see no reason why not. Kekalainen brings the best of both worlds figuratively speaking. He may be Finnish but he made his bones in North America and worked his way up in NHL front offices. The fact he was most recently a GM in Finland doesn't diminish his resume or take away from the time he spent in the NHL.

Ultimately John Davidson hired a guy he was familiar with from their days together in St. Louis and a guy he feels is ready to be a GM. I trust Davidson to make good decisions here and even if there is an adjustment period for Kekalainen to grow into the position having Davidson and Craig Patrick to lean on is invaluable.