All-Blogs.net directory Light the Lamp - a Columbus Blue Jackets blog: Can you believe...

Countdown to Rick Nash's contract expiration:

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Can you believe...

....we've already drafted 9 first round picks?

2000 - Rusty Klelsa - 4th
2001 - Pascal Leclaire - 8th
2002 - Rick Nash - 1st
2003 - Nikolai Zherdev - 4th
2004 - Alexandre Picard - 8th
2005 - Gilbert Brule - 6th
2006 - Derick Brassard - 6th
2007 - Jakub Voracek - 7th
2008 - Nikita Filatov - 6th

All selected top 8 or higher. Man that's a lot of years to be drafting that high when you think about 9 straight drafts.

Think about it - that could ice 3 full lines if all were forwards.

Anyway you slice it, drafting that high for so long translates into a long damn time that Jacket fans have failed to see success or the playoffs....and people wonder why attendance is down?

What's more impressive is that we haven't traded any of these guys. 9 first round picks and they are all with the organization still. Unfortunately I think that has as much to do with our lack of first round success more than anything as a lot of these guys just aren't worth much on the market. I do expect that to change this offseason however.

-LTL

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Out of those 9 years, 2 for sure, and possible 3 picks were a waste: Brule and Picard have amounted to very little and Zherdev is a pain in the ass. Brassard and Voracek are yet to be determined.

We can really look at the first 7 years because the last 2 are still too early to assess.

2 out of 7 top 10 picks have trouble staying in the league is pathetic.