CBJ to select 16th in 1st Round of NHL Draft

When Aaron Portzline tweeted where the Jackets would pick in the first round of the NHL draft he thought it would bum out CBJ fans because it made them face the reality that it’s now officially the off-season. To me it said “well better get to work prospect boy”. As I said in my state of the prospect pool post, my knowledge is limited right now (the troubles of following a play-off team) but that’s nothing a few hours with my hockeyprospect.com blackbook can’t fix. The Jackets will pick 16th in the NHL Draft which ties their lowest original pick. (The team was supposed to pick 16th in 2009 but traded down twice to eventually pick John Moore at 21.)

To recap the picks currently available to the Jackets:

2014
1st Round 16th
2nd Round 47th
Could Get Toronto’s 2nd Round Pick (Anaheim’s Choice) 14 or 15
3rd Round 77th
3rd Round Edmonton Pick From LA(Scrivens trade)
4th Round 107th
5th lost in Schultz Trade
6th lost in Gaborik NYR deal – pick later traded to Minnesota
7th Round 197th

2015(<-I gotta be me 😉 )
1st
2nd
2nd Toronto’s from LA if not used in 14
3rd
3rd(PHI-Mason Deal)
4th
5th
6th
7th

As for what the Jackets need to focus on in this draft – and I mean not just at 16 but overall – I think it’s time to restock the defense corps. Over the last three drafts the Jackets have stuck to drafting forwards and  goalies using 16 of 19 picks on those positions and only three on defenseman – one being 2012 first round pick Ryan Murray. The last time the Jackets drafted multiple defenseman was in 2010 when they selected Brandon Archibald (who isn’t even in hockey anymore, no offense Brandon), Austin Madaisky and Dalton Prout. Currently the Jackets defensive prospects outside of Springfield are Mike Reilly (probably 2-3 years away) and Dillon Heatherington (1-2 years) and that’s it along with Gianluca Curcuruto who the CBJ need to make a decision on before the draft. That small sample size is yet another reason why I think we should add to the guys holding up the blue line. As for the 16th pick, over the last four years are some good young players including a Jarmo pick, Vladimir Tarasenko, and the Capitals power forward, Tom Wilson, that have gone at that number. Before them…you have to go back to 2001 when RJ Umberger was selected 16th (I’m a homer), before that the best pick was probably Markus Naslund in 1991.

Now as for who the Jackets should choose at 16 – here’s a few options

Julius Honka-Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
11th ranked North American Skater
Ok Honka is a bit of a familiarity pick as Honka is Jackets’ prospect Dillon Heatherington’s D partner in Swift Current. Where Heatherington is a defensive defenseman Honka is an offensive dynamo. He leads all WHL rookie Dmen in scoring with 56 points in 62 games. Honka makes up for his size with excellent skating ability and a very high level of hockey sense along with being surprisingly strong defensively. Honka was part of the Finnish World Junior Team that won gold and picked up an assist in seven games. If you want to read into that and think Jarmo will draft more Finns – well this one is for you.

Anthony DeAngelo-Sarnia Sting (OHL)
14th ranked North American Skater
DeAngelo is the next ranked defenseman that could be around when the Jackets select. DeAngelo appears to be an American version of Honka but he also sees himself as a tough guy. Going off the videos I found the kid should keep the gloves on – although he has faced off against Jackets prospect Josh Anderson. DeAngelo led all OHL defensemen in scoring with 71 points in 51 games. According to last year’s blackbook that included some 2014 eligibles, DeAngelo needs to work on the defensive part of his game and is known to have temper tantrums and take dumb penalties. DeAngelo has his own version of the Rick Nash back-in move but his is a spinorama that even works…sometimes.

Markus Pettersson-Skelleftea J20 (Sweden)
7^th Ranked European Skater
When I do these rankings, I mainly focus on North American Skaters because there are more of them and you can find more information on them. Plus you can judge where they get picked easier-but on this one I’m going outside the lines a little bit. Pettersson is the top rated European defenseman but he used to playing center which I’m guessing explains his high hockey IQ in one scouting report I found. It sounds like Pettersson may be a bit of a project as the site points out he is:

“still in the developmental process in terms of body building, functional hockey strength, and learning the nuances of playing defense.” 

Here’s FutureConsideration’s take on Petersson:

 “Pettersson is a tall and lanky two-way defender who plays with good mobility, strong positioning and impressive passing ability as well as the ability to make quick decisions. He needs to use his size better as there is not much physicality in his game.”

Robby Fabbri-Guelph Storm (OHL)
21^st Ranked North American Skater
Ok this is another prospect’s teammate but I also thought the organization could use another 40 goal scorer. Fabbri has been Kerby’s center since he got to Guelph in December. Fabbri picked up 46 of his 87 points after Rychel arrived full time in January (only played one game with Guelph before heading off to the WJC). The duo were lethal together with Fabbri assisting on 11 of Kerby’s 18 goals in the regular season and five of his eight in the playoffs through game two. As for the other way around 15 of Kerby’s 33 assists in the regular season were on Fabbri goals also assisting on six of his 11 in the playoffs through three games.(numbers put together by Storm Stats guy Brian Taylor) Fabbri also has a higher point per game as an U18 than Taylor Hall, Bobby Ryan, Logan Couture, Matt Duchene, Jeff Skinner, Max Domi, Stephen Weiss and…(gasp) Rick Nash. The black book claims that Fabbri is exceptional in the faceoff dot and is very aggressive in going for the puck and wants the puck on his stick. Fabbri is shifty and elusive but isn’t afraid to play physical, Fabbri had to sit out 10 games earlier this season due to a suspension for a checking to the head penalty.

There you have it folks my thoughts on the CBJ draft I’ll be back with more draft stuff along with my annual CBJ Mock Draft. Remember last year I even correctly guessed the Dillon Heatherington selection so you will want to check that out to see if I get any more right this year.