Every year, I like to do a recap of the Blue Jackets' draft picks, both to get a better sense of the prospects coming into the system of the team on my beat as well as honing my own prognosticating skills. Two years ago I pegged third round pick Oliver Bjorkstrand as a potential steal and noted that Marko Dano (27th overall) was a better selection than Kerby Rychel (19th overall), and both of those predictions are looking pretty good so far, especially after Chicago insisted that Dano be the centerpiece of the Brandon Saad trade. My full writeups on the Jackets' 2013 and 2014 draft classes are on the old Rotowire blog if you want to take a gander. Now, it's time for 2015:
1 (8) - Zach Werenski, D, U of Michigan (NCAA): The Jackets lost 2011 fourth round pick and late-blooming talent Mike Reilly to the Wild via college free agency, so GM Jarmo Kekalainen made it his mission to restock the pool of blue line prospects in the system. After unsuccessfully trying to trade up for Noah Hanifin, who went with the no. 5 pick to the Hurricanes, and then seeing Ivan Provorov go one pick before Columbus to the Flyers, watching Werenski get tabbed by the Jackets became the least surprising selection of the first round after the McDavid-Eichel duo at the top of the draft. Arguably the most talented offensive defenseman in this year's draft, Werenski already has NHL size and mobility despite the fact that he was the youngest player in the NCAA last season. He needs work in his own end when it comes to things like positioning, and he could be more assertive physically given his six-foot-two frame, but those are both things that should come with maturity and experience. He projects to be a first unit power play stalwart and big-time fantasy asset, especially considering that by the time he's ready for the NHL in a few years, the Jackets' roster will be crawling with talented young forwards. Best-case scenario, Werenski becomes a more defensively-responsible James Wisniewski.
1 (29) - Gabriel Carlsson, D, Linkoping (SHL): Kekalainen dipped into his reserve of day two picks to jump back into the first round and nab Carlsson, strengthening the blue line pipeline even further. The 18-year-old saw a handful of games in the Swedish top division last season after spending most of the campaign on Linkoping's junior team, and while he doesn't posses much, or really any, offensive upside, he's already six-foot-four with a huge wingspan and excellent hockey IQ, and figures to become a shut-down defender once he matures. The Jackets already have two prospects in that mold in Dillon Heatherington and Ryan Collins, but in Kekalainen's mind you can't have too much blue line depth (call that a bit of foreshadowing).
2 (38) - Paul Bittner, LW, Portland (WHL): Projected as a possible first round pick, the Jackets happily snapped Bittner up when he slid into the second round. A prototypical power forward who can actually skate too, Bittner will do the dirty work in the corners and can let loose a big shot. His overall game needs a lot of refinement, and he could stand to use his size better and improve his compete level in his own zone, but his draft stock seems to have slipped not because of any particular weakness in his own game but due to concerns that his offensive production last season for Portland was the result of playing with elite linemates (including Bjorkstrand) rather than his own skill. He'll need a lot of development time, but Bittner could prove to be one of the steals of this draft crop.
2 (58) - Kevin Stenlund, C, HV71 (SHL): The captain of HV's junior team last season, Stenlund played 17 games in the top tier as an 18-year-old, and at six-foot-three he provides yet another influx of size into the Jackets' organization. Right now he projects best as a third line center, as he has very good hockey IQ and a mature, responsible game in all three zones, and while he's a smooth passer with some good offensive instincts he doesn't really look like he'll be a big scorer. The big concern with Stenlund is his health, as he's had two knee injuries already that have slowed down his development as a skater and made him possibly a little gunshy when it comes to using his size effectively, but the talent is certainly there for him to become an effective NHLer if he can stay on the ice.
3 (69) - Keegan Kolesar, RW, Seattle (WHL): Oh look, another kid with size. I'm sensing a trend. Unlike some of the previous Jackets picks though, Kolesar knows full well how to use his six-foot-two, 217 pound frame to maximum advantage. He's a gritty Canadian kid who plays hard in all three zones, battles for the puck in the corners, shows flashes of offensive upside, isn't afraid to drop the gloves and has all the hallmarks of a future abrasive bottom-six fan favorite. Not bad in the third round.
5 (129) - Sam Ruopp, D, Prince George (WHL): When Kekalainen sets his mind to something he sees it through, as every pick he made in the last three rounds went to the blue line. Ruopp served as Prince George's captain last season, and at a lanky six-foot-three he racked up 140 PIMs in 64 games. His skating needs work and he isn't going to supply much offense, but if he fills out and gets stronger on his skates, he's another potential stay-at-home blue liner.
5 (141) - Veeti Vainio, D, Espoo Blues (SM-Liiga): The smallest player taken by the Jackets in this year's draft at six-foot-one and 169 pounds, the 18-year-old Vainio scored at better than a point-a-game pace for Espoo's junior team and got a cup of kahvi with the main club last season. He can skate and has a big shot, and no one doubts his offensive skills, but he needs to put in a lot of work on the defensive side of things to ever sniff the NHL. If he fills out a bit, and commits himself to becoming a better defender though, there's some definite sleeper potential here.
6 (159) - Vladislav Gavrikov, D, Locomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL): The captain of Lokomotiv's second-division MHL squad (another pattern in these picks... Kekalainen likes picking players who have shouldered some responsibility in their young careers), Gavrikov saw 16 games in the KHL last season as well as plenty of action with Russia's junior team. A solid, physical defenseman, he doesn't have much offensive upside and will need to improve his skating and positional play to get to the NHL, assuming he even wants to play outside the KHL.
7 (189) - Markus Nutivaara, D, Oulon Karpat (SM-Liiga): A little bigger than Vainio, Nutivaara is already 21 and hasn't shown either elite offensive potential or shut-down defensive potential, which probably explains why he was available in the seventh round. Still, he worked the power play for Karpat, and has enough size to compete in the NHL if his skills develop, so why not.