The draft order is now set in stone after the Tampa Bay Lightning triumphed for the second-straight year.
The Blue Jackets will select fifth, 24th, and 31st in the 2021 NHL Draft, which will take place on July 23rd and 24th. The first round will be on the 23rd, and rounds 2-7 will take place on the 24th.
Interestingly, the Blue Jackets have never selected fifth or 24th in an NHL draft. They have selected 31st once in 2012. Back then, the 31st pick was a second-rounder. The club used it to select goaltender Oscar Dansk.
All of their picks have value, so Jarmo Kekalainen may choose to package one or more in a trade. If he doesn't make a deal and uses all three to select players, it would be a welcome addition to a somewhat meager prospect pipeline.
Let's take a look back at the last 20 years to see the highlights of each pick that the Blue Jackets possess.
#5 Pick
- Ryan Whitney (PIT, 2002)
- Thomas Vanek (BUF, 2003)
- Blake Wheeler (PHO, 2004)
- Carey Price (MTL, 2005)
- Phil Kessel (BOS, 2006)
- Karl Alzner (WAS, 2007)
- Luke Schenn (TOR, 2008)
- Brayden Schenn (LAK, 2009)
- Nino Niederreiter (NYI, 2010)
- Ryan Strome (NYI, 2011)
- Morgan Reilly (TOR, 2012)
- Elias Lindholm (CAR, 2013)
- Noah Hanifin (CAR, 2015)
- Elias Pettersson (VAN, 2017)
Teams have missed with the fifth pick, but overwhelmingly, they've drafted a very good NHL player and even players that have been superstars like Wheeler or Price.
#24 Pick
- Alex Steen (TOR, 2002)
- Mike Richards (PHI, 2003)
- T.J. Oshie (STL, 2005)
- Mikael Backlund (CGY, 2007)
- Marcus Johansson (WAS, 2009)
- Kevin Hayes (CHI, 2010)
- Malcolm Subban (BOS, 2012)
- Jared McCann (VAN, 2014)
- Travis Konecny (PHI, 2015)
As you can see, there's not as much star power, and there's less of a chance of getting a solid NHL player. However, there is still an opportunity to get top-six forwards like Oshie, Steen, and Konecny.
#31 Pick
- Jacob Markstrom (FLA, 2008)
- Mikko Koskinen (NYI, 2009)
- Tyler Pitlick (EDM, 2010)
- Brendan Lemieux (BUF, 2014)
Aside from Markstrom, there's not been a whole lot of talent selected at #31 overall in the last 20 years. Once you get this high in the draft order, it's really hit or miss, and the majority of teams over the last 20 years have missed by a lot.
