Columbus Blue Jackets Top 5 Draft Busts in Franchise History
By Ryan Ritchie
Columbus Blue Jackets Top 5 Countdown: Biggest Busts in Franchise History (2000-Present)
Columbus Blue Jackets are the next team in a series dedicated to the top five draft busts in franchise history. Over the next while, we plan to explore all 30 teams (in alphabetical order) big misses on the draft floor since their inception.
For those expansion teams from the early and late 1990s into 2000, their franchise draft history is obviously skewed in comparison to older teams. Even with a limited sample size to choose from, each and every franchise has been victimized by the imperfect art of selecting 18-year-old prospects.
Even though the Columbus Blue Jackets have a brief history, there are no shortage of notable misses. Interestingly enough, many of those came under GM Doug MacLean in their early years.
Columbus had their share of struggles on the draft floor for a long time, but it’s worth noting the Blue Jackets have done an excellent job over the last half decade and currently own one of the deepest prospect pools.
Honorable Mentions:
Dan Fritsche – 46th overall in 2003
Picks after Fritsche: Matt Carle (SJ) – 47th overall, Shea Weber (NSH) – 49th overall, Corey Crawford (CHI) – 52nd overall, David Backes (STL) – 62nd overall
Stefan Legein – 37th overall in 2007
Picks after Legein: P.K. Subban (MTL) – 43rd overall, T.J. Galiardi (COL) – 55th overall, Nick Spaling (NSH) – 58th overall, Wayne Simmonds (LA) – 61st overall
*Ryan Murray and Oscar Dansk – 2nd and 31st overall in 2012
Picks after Murray: Alex Galchenyuk (MTL) – 3rd overall, Morgan Rielly (TOR) – 5th overall, Hampus Lindholm (ANA) – 6th overall, Mathew Dumba (MIN) – 7th overall, Jacob Trouba (WPG) – 9th overall, Filip Forsberg (WSH) – 11th overall, Radek Faksa (DAL) – 13th overall, Cody Ceci (OTT) – 15th overall, Tomas Hertl (SJ) – 17th overall
Picks after Dansk: Ville Pokka (NYI) – 34th overall, Phil Di Giuseppe (CAR) – 38th overall, Jake McCabe (BUF) – 44th overall, Brock McGinn (CAR) – 47th overall, Colton Sissons (NSH) – 50th overall, Chris Tierney (SJ) – 55th overall, Damon Severson (NJ) – 60th overall
*It’s still too early to draw conclusions on Murray and Dansk. Murray has somewhat disappointed but continues to develop, while Dansk was loaned to a Swedish team in 2015-16. Both could go down as big misses if the pair can’t find a way to re-write the script on their careers.
Columbus Blue Jackets Top 5 Draft Busts
5. Alexandre Picard – 8th overall in 2004
The first round of the 2004 NHL Draft produced a decent amount of talent, but it contained a few noticeable misses at the top. Chicago took Cam Barker 3rd overall, Florida selected Rostislav Olesz 7th overall, and Atlanta followed Columbus two picks later at 10th overall taking Boris Valabik.
Picard spent the majority of his first seven years of pro hockey in the AHL. The talented power forward suited up for 67 NHL games over that span before leaving North America in 2012-13 to join Geneva of the Swiss-A League. After three seasons with Geneva, Picard joined Davos HC in 2015-16.
Picks after Picard: Ladislav Smid (ANA) – 9th overall, Drew Stafford (BUF) – 13th overall, Devan Dubnyk (EDM) – 14th overall, Lauri Korpikoski (NYR) – 19th overall, Travis Zajac (NJ) – 20th overall, Cory Schneider (VAN) – 26th overall, Mike Green (WSH) – 29th overall
4. Pascal Leclaire – 8th overall in 2001
Staying healthy was always a problem for Pascal Leclaire. After paying his dues in the minors for three years, Leclaire appeared in 33 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2005-06. Two years later, Pascal had a record of 24-17-6 with a 2.25GAA and .919 save percentage giving hope for the future.
Unfortunately he was limited to 12 games in 2008-09 and was eventually traded to Ottawa for Antoine Vermette.
His career fizzled out after two years in the Canadian Capital.
Picks after Leclaire: Tuomo Ruutu (CHI) – 9th overall, Dan Hamhuis (NSH) – 12th overall, Ales Hemsky (EDM) – 13th overall, R.J. Umberger (VAN) – 16th overall, Marcel Goc (SJ) – 20th overall, Tim Gleason (OTT) – 23rd overall
3. Nikolai Zherdev – 4th overall in 2003
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Tough to blame management for this debacle. Technically scouts in Columbus had it right after Zherdev posted 34 points as a rookie in 2003-04, 54 points in 2005-06 coming out of the lockout.
After missing the start of 2006-07 due to a contract dispute, Zherdev re-joined the team posting 32 points in 71 games.
Coming off a disappointing year, Nikolai Zherdev responded with a career-high 61 points in 2007-08.
Recognizing the need to sell high, Zherdev was shipped to the Big Apple along with Dan Fritsche in exchange for Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin. Even though management was able to salvage something before Zherdev left for the KHL in 2009-10, it was a crucial miss with a top five pick.
Zherdev returned to play for Philadelphia in 2010-11, but a disappointing 22-point season saw him return to Russia. He has since spent time with five different KHL clubs over the past five years.
Picks after Zherdev: Thomas Vanek (BUF) – 5th overall, Milan Michalek (SJ) – 6th overall, Ryan Suter (NSH) – 7th overall, Dion Phaneuf (CGY) – 9th overall, Jeff Carter (PHI) – 11th overall, Dustin Brown (LA) – 13th overall, Brent Seabrook (CHI) – 14th overall, Zach Parise (NJ) – 17th overall, Ryan Getzlaf (ANA) – 19th overall, Brent Burns (MIN) – 20th overall, Ryan Kesler (VAN) – 23rd overall, Mike Richards (PHI) – 24th overall, Corey Perry (ANA) – 28th overall
2. Nikita Filatov – 6th overall in 2008
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Not sure which is worse; the fact that scouts missed so horrifically on a player who even today at 26-years-old is a less than mediocre talent in the KHL, or looking at some of the names called after Nikita Filatov.
However you want to judge it, the Columbus Blue Jackets missed a golden opportunity to add a core piece to their roster.
Filatov spent his first three years of pro hockey bouncing back and forth between the NHL/AHL. In 44 games with Columbus over that span, he scored six goals, seven assists (13 points).
He was traded to Ottawa in the summer of 2011 for a 3rd round draft pick (T.J. Tynan). Filatov played 15 games (12 points) for AHL Binghamton, while also appearing in nine games for Ottawa before fleeing for the KHL late in 2011-12.
Playing for Moscow Dynamo in 2015-16, Filatov totaled three assists in 21 games.
Picks after Filatov: Colin Wilson (NSH) – 7th overall, Mikkel Boedker (ARZ) – 8th overall, Josh Bailey (NYI) – 9th overall, Tyler Myers (BUF) – 12th overall, Erik Karlsson (OTT) – 15th overall
1. Gilbert Brule – 6th overall in 2005
Brule seemed like the logical choice at the time coming off an impressive 87-point campaign with WHL Vancouver, but safe to say this was a heavy contributor in Doug MacLean being relieved of his duties in 2006-07 after Gilbert Brule posted a disappointing 19 points in his rookie season.
His time with Columbus was short-lived (four years) before it became clear that Brule was indeed a bust.
Traded to Edmonton in the summer of 2008, Gilbert spent three seasons with the Oilers, which included a career-high 37-point campaign in 2009-10. After spending a couple more years in the Desert with the Coyotes, Brule left North America in 2014, spending the last two seasons playing in the KHL.
Next: Las Vegas Expansion Mock Draft
Picks after Brule: Anze Kopitar (LA) – 11th overall, Marc Staal (NYR) – 12th overall, Martin Hanzal (ARZ) – 17th overall, Tuukka Rask (TOR) – 21st overall, T.J. Oshie (STL) – 24th overall, Andrew Cogliano (EDM) – 25th overall, Matt Niskanen (DAL) – 28th overall