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Whelp, the 2008 NHL draft is now over and as expected the Jackets held onto the 6th pick and selected Russian Nikita Filatov. The Jackets were active in moving the 19th + 3rd round pick to Philly for center R.J. Umberger and a 4th round pick.

Lets dig a little deeper on both of these moves.

First up the 6th overall pick.

All the speculation and mocks drafts leading up to the actual draft had the Jackets ending up with one of the 4 stud defensemen. Few if any had Nikita Filatov available by the 6th and going to the CBJ. Defensemen Luke Schenn appeared to be the player the Jackets selected.

Of course one can never predict exactly how a draft will go down and what a team like the Islanders did yesterday was no exception to that rule. Once Stamkos, Dougthy, Bogosian and Pietrangelo were off the board the Islanders inexplicably traded back not once, but twice passing on chances to take blue chip taelnt like Schenn, Filatov and Boedker to instead stockpile later round picks and take Josh Bailey at #9.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending who you wanted) that meant that Toronto leap frogged the Jackets and scooped up Luke Schenn.

So with the their turn to pick the consensus highest rated player available was Russian Nikita Filatov but would the Jackets be interested?

Some say if Filatov's name was "Joe Smith" he'd challenge Stamkos for #1 overall but with the lack of a transfer agreement with Russia his stock lowered. For the Jackets any idea of taking a Russian so highly conjures up thoughts of Nik Zherdev and all the problems that have come with him....more than that even is would he or was he free of contractual obligations to even come over to North America?

With all of those factors to consider would the Jackets risk it?

That question was answered with a resounding yes when the Jackets made Nikita Filatov their selection at 6 and 9th ever first round draft pick.

Was it the right move?

Hell yes it was.

Filatov was hands down the best player on the board. He's not Zherdev. He seems 110% committed to coming over to North America now to do whatever it takes to reach his goal of playing in the NHL. He already speaks fluent English. He plays a well rounded game and this kid has got major league talent.

If the Jackets were standing pat at 6 they had to take him. Especially when it was reported in the Dispatch that the Jackets "list" read 1. Stamkos 2. Bogosian 3. Filatov --- if that is true, which no reason to believe its not, then the Jackets just got their 3rd rated player at #6 in this very deep draft.

Every pick comes with an amount of risk -- obviously the guys in the first round and at the top of the draft are supposed to have the least amount. Filatov is one of those players I don't foresee the lack of an agreement being an issue in this particular case.

The kid is of slight build now. He's listed at 6 ft and 172lbs on Central Scouting. Sure he needs to put on some weight but that will come. Don't rule him out in terms of an outside shot at making this club though.

There was an even smaller kid by the name of Patrick Kane who at 5'9" 160lbs had no problem adjusting to the NHL game and making an impact at the rate of 70+ points.

Filatov can play in the NHL, AHL or Major Juniors next year so a lot of nice options for the Jackets in terms of what is best for his development.

Then of course we have RJ.

I've gone into depth as to why I think he'd be a good fit for us so I won't beat that horse to death to much more.

What I do want to talk about is what we gave up to him which was the 19th + 3rd for RJ and Philly's 4th?

Too much? Yeah lets not kid ourselves - we overpaid - but you know what, we also got better in filling a hole in our lineup and any of us (including me) that questioned Howson's ability to close a deal well he just answered that question in a major way.



I'm thrilled to have RJ in the fold. I see him slotting into one of those open center holes in the top 6 and becoming a key player on this team playing in all situations -- even strength, PP and PK.

Howson needs to get Umberger under contract though since he's a RFA. He's also arbitration eligible. I look for something to get done there rather quickly in a 3 to 4 year deal between 3 to 4 million.

Umberger a nice piece. Still lots of work to do and holes to fill in this lineup but I'm very happy to see Howson come out of this draft with at least 1 NHL body who can contribute today and tomorrow.

The Jackets made 8 more selection today in round 2 through 7. The most high profile pick coming at #37 when they selected defensemen Cody Goloubef who plays in the WCHA for Wisconsin. Goloubef is a 6 ft 195lb Ontario Canadian native. He shoots right and is more of an offensive guy.

He was ranked #34 on central scouting and this is what they had to say:

"When I first saw Cody I really liked his game. He is compact and he's strong with a wide stance. He's a good, powerful skater. He thinks the game well, has a really good shot and makes that first pass consistently. He is a solid two-way player that is going to play on your power-play. He played for a defensive style team at Wisconsin. His conservative play meant that I don't think a lot of scouts have seen the offensive side of him enough, but he's a potential top-four defensemen in the National Hockey League, maybe top-three. He's playing against guys who are at least three years older than him - if he was playing in the USHL he might have the puck all the time and be dominating, but he handled it well -- he's a solid kid.

Four of their 8 picks on day two were on defensemen. They made a minor trade with Boston to move 10 spots down in the 4th round and picked up a 5th in the process.

No doubt Howson has recognized a huge weakness with Columbus in terms of defensive depth and has worked very hard to address it. Since he's been here he's added defensive prospects Weber, Ruth, Holden, Sigalet and now this group of d-men led by Goloubef, Delisle, Olson and Regner.

For a complete profile on all day two selections click on this link.

All in all it was a good, but not great day, for Jacket fans. We added a stud prospect in Filatov, made a smart acquisition in 26 year old RJ Umberger and we added some nice depth to our system.

I'll have more on RJ and Filatov as the weekend goes on.

Discuss - were you pleased with the the moves made at the draft?

-LTL