The Columbus Blue Jackets lost Liam Foudy to a waiver claim on Saturday, and now the 23-year-old forward is a member of the Nashville Predators.
With the Foudy in the rearview window, I thought it would be useful to look at what happened, what went wrong, and what the Blue Jackets organization can learn from the entire experience.
Foudy was the Blue Jackets first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, selected 18th overall. Despite the swing and miss on Foudy, this particular draft was actually a pretty successful endeavor for the Blue Jackets. It wasn't one of those painful drafts where they passed on a player who was immediately a star, and they managed to snag Kirill Marchenko in the second round. Later-round picks Tim Berni and Trey Fix-Wolansky also punched above their draft stock. But the reality is that there were questions about Foudy immediately coming into the draft. Credit, where it's due - drafting players at age 18 is a difficult endeavor because it's so hard to project where a player will end up.
Foudy's elite trait at that time was his speed, which was never in question. He had NHL boots at 18, and those are still on display today. But after that, there was a lot of hope. Hoping that his hockey sense would improve and that his skill would allow him to be more than a straight-line player. From the Blue Jackets standpoint, it was a safe projection. Worst-case scenario, you're getting a bottom-six player who can definitely skate in the NHL and could probably penalty-kill and play limited minutes.
And that's exactly what Foudy became. Last year was his most productive season, and he played all over the lineup due to the rash of injuries on the club. In 62 games, he posted 7-7-14 while averaging 12:08. In other words, even with an injury-plagued season, the coaching staff still only found 12 minutes of night for Foudy, and Foudy only found minimal production. He was, and is, a fourth-line player.
The Blue Jackets were reluctant to put him on waivers last season, hoping that, with reps and opportunity, Foudy would become something more. That well run dry this season, and finally Foudy was exposed on waivers.
In Foudy, Nashville is getting an NHL-capable, inexpensive fourth-line player that can penalty kill and skate really fast in a straight line but brings little else to the game. It's notable that the Blue Jackets have placed two players on waivers in the past week - Foudy and Eric Robinson. Both of those players have similar traits. They are straight-line fast, lack high-end sense, and don't bring enough to a lineup to be missed. The Blue Jackets were able to get Robinson through to Cleveland - he's 28, not 23 - but not Foudy, who is a pending RFA after his contract ends this season.
With a crowded and young roster, Foudy became expendable.
