With their 4th round pick the Blue Jackets have selected left winger Julien Pelletier from Cape Breton of the QMJHL.
Pelletier scored 25 goals and added 50 points in 67 regular season games. He's 5'11 and under 180lbs so he's a little undersized, but he doesn't shy away from contact and clearly has some skill.
In the 5th round Columbus went with another left winger in Tyler Bird.
With their final selection of the draft, Columbus elected to go with their 3rd defenseman in Olivier LeBlanc. The 5'11" 160lb defenseman definitely needs to bulk up, but he posted 33 points in 56 games so he's not without talent.
1st 16th overall - LW Sonny Milano (U.S. U-18 team) 2nd 47th overall - D Ryan Collins (U.S. U-18 team) 3rd 76th overall - G Elvis Merzlikins (Lugano - Swiss-A) 3rd 77th overall - D Blake Siebenaler (Niagara IceDogs - OHL) 4th 107th overall - LW Julien Pelletier (Cape Breton - QMJHL) 5th 137th overall - LW Tyler Bird (high schooler committed to Brown U) 7th 197th overall - D Olivier LeBlanc (Saint John Sea Dogs - QMJHL)
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The Blue Jackets selected 6'3" Latvian goaltender Elvis Merzlikins and defenseman Blake Siebernaler with their 3rd round picks.
Siebenaler is a smooth-skating puck-moving defenseman who is loaded with upside. If he reaches his potential he could be a top-4 guy who can contribute on the power play.
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The Blue Jackets have traded the 63rd overall pick to Detroit in exchange for the 76th overall pick this year and a 3rd rounder in 2015's deep draft. This is a great move by Kekalainen to add a relatively high pick in a deep draft in exchange for moving down 13 slots where there guy will likely still be available.
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After taking left winger Sonny Milano from the U.S. U-18 team with their 1st round pick, the Blue Jackets followed that up be selecting a teammate in defenseman Ryan Collins.
Collins is a 6'5" defenseman who is committed to the University of Minnesota. He has two points in 26 games last season while tallying just 10 penalty minutes. He's a good skater for his size, but likely will never be a big offensive producer.
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The Blue Jackets took care of some housekeeping today when they announced the signing of defenseman Dalton Prout to a two-year, one-way contract extension.
Prout, 24, was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1.
The 6'3" blue liner played in a career-high 49 NHL games last season and recorded six points while averaging a little over 17 minutes a night.
His ceiling probably isn't much higher than what he is right now, but he's a serviceable depth defenseman and was worth inking to a new deal.
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Jarmo Kekalainen and the Columbus Blue Jackets landed one of the most talented players in the draft when they they selected speedy, skilled winger Sonny Milano with the 16th pick.
With six more draft picks today, including three in the next 37 picks, the Blue Jackets figure to be quite busy.
There is still a ton of talent on the board including wingers Ivan Barbashev and Brendan Lemieux, as well as defenseman Roland McKeown. Should the Blue Jackets want to add a goalie, the top rated goaltender Thatcher Demko is still on the board as well.
All four of these guys garnered 1st round grades from most, and while they may not be available at 47, the Blue Jackets have the assets to move up should they think highly of one of these players.
I'll be updating this after each pick the Blue Jackets make so be sure to check in throughout the day.
They own the following picks today:
1st 16th overall - LW Sonny Milano (U.S. U-18 team) 2nd 47th overall 3rd 63rd overall 3rd 77th overall 4th 107th overall 5th 137th overall 7th 197th overall
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