The History Of 12: What Recent Drafts Tell Us About The 12th Overall Pick In The NHL Draft

Earlier in the week, we looked at what the sixth overall pick has delivered over the last two decades. The Blue Jackets have owned the pick three times, whiffing totally with Gilbert Brule in 2005 and Nikita Filatov in 2008, and making marginal contact with Derick Brassard in 2006.

In the second half of a two-part series, we look at the history of the 12th pick of the NHL Draft. It's less of a sure thing than the sixth overall, but more often than not has proven to provide quality NHL players. 

The Blue Jackets have had the 12th pick only once — and that was less than a year ago, when the club selected Cole Sillinger with the selection. Sillinger, 18, had an impressive rookie season. He scored 16 goals and added 15 assists for 31 points in 79 games, all while demonstrating the ability to a two-way player. There's no doubt that he's a big part of the future plans for the organization. 

While Sillinger is Columbus' only pick at #12, he wasn't the only one on the roster this year who was taken at that exact spot in the draft. Max Domi, who was traded by the Blue Jackets to the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline this past season, was the 12th pick in the 2013 draft by the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes. One year before that, the Buffalo Sabres used #12 to select Mikhail Grigorenko, who played with the Blue Jackets in the 2021 season.

Prior to the selections of Grigorenko and Domi, the 12th overall pick saw a run on defensemen. For five straight drafts between 2007 and 2011, teams added a blue liner and in four of them, the player turned out to be a mainstay in the NHL. 

Ryan Murphy didn't pan out the way that the Carolina Hurricanes would have hoped, but if the other four players taken in that span were the top two lines on an NHL team, that team would be in fine shape. The other Ryan on that list — McDonagh — has helped lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to consecutive Stanley Cup champions. 

In the decade since then, no one has scored more goals (101), or had more assists (213) than Domi, and every number on his goal-assist-point stat line is at least twice that of any player. That includes Grigorenko, who went just 4-8-12 with the Blue Jackets in 32 games. 

However, given Domi's time in the league when compared to the other players, looking at raw numbers only tells a part of the story. Where the former Blue Jacket does not lead the pack is in points per game, a good measure of the production of players taken in that span because all but one of the ten picks have been a forward (though defenseman Noah Dobson's 0.45ppg is in the top half of the list). That belongs to Matt Boldy, who had 39 points in 47 games as a rookie with the Minnesota Wild this season — an average of 0.82 points per game. Boldy seems to be the real deal, earning rave reviews from players and coaches alike. Anton Lundell, who had a stat line of 18-26-44 in his rookie season with the Florida Panthers this year, seems on a similar trajectory. Lundell ranks second on this list of players in points per game at 0.67, just ahead of Domi's 0.62.

Whether general manager Jarmo Kekalainen can strike gold for the second straight time at #12 is a question that likely won't have an answer for several years, but if the Blue Jackets can walk away with a player like Boldy, Lundell, or Sillinger, they may be well on their way to another successful draft.