The Columbus Blue Jackets’ first night of the 2026 NHL Draft should have been mostly about Oscar Hemming.
Instead, it became about Hemming, Kirill Marchenko, Zach Werenski and Don Waddell’s increasingly complicated offseason.
The Jackets took Hemming, a forward out of Boston College, with the No. 14 overall pick Friday night. But just minutes before the selection, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes dropped a bomb on Blue Jackets fans reporting that Marchenko is unlikely to extend with Columbus when his current contract expires.
That news came only days after reports that Werenski, who has two years remaining on his contract, may not be inclined to extend with the Blue Jackets unless the team shows significant progress.
After the first round, Waddell met with reporters and addressed all of it: the Hemming pick, the Marchenko report, the Werenski situation, whether the two are connected, Columbus’ recent trade for Valeri Nichushkin and what might still come next.
Here’s everything Waddell said after night one of the draft.
On the report about Kirill Marchenko
“That was news to me today. I don’t have much comment about that. As we talked the other day about Werenski, we’re going to sit down here after the draft and speak with him and his representation and just see where it’s going to go.”
On the timeline of the Marchenko news
“I heard earlier from the agent. He said he would call me after the weekend and talk about [Marchenko’s] future. He did not tell me today whatever was reported by Weekes.”
On whether he had any indication Marchenko might not want to extend
“I guess I took it two ways because I know he’s buddies with Val that we picked up yesterday. Val is buddies with him and Provorov so I thought maybe it was a different kind of phone call, but obviously we all found out later that it wasn’t.”
On whether he would tell Marchenko to stick with it and play out his contract
“They signed a contract, so, if we feel like that’s in the best interest of the Columbus Blue Jackets, play out your contract.”
On whether the Werenski and Marchenko situations are related
“Nah, I don’t think so at all. I don’t think so. I don’t know. I guess we can speculate, but I wouldn’t have any reason to think they’re both related.”
On listening to offers for Zach Werenski
“Once that report came out in the media, I was getting calls about it. As my job as a GM, like I said, I’ll listen to anything or anybody. It doesn’t mean I have to act on it. I didn’t counter any offers or anything like that.”
On whether this was the strangest draft night he has experienced
“It’s my 22nd year as a GM and I’ve had lots of players that have asked for movement, but they keep it private and don’t make it public. I’m not sure it’s in everyone’s best interest to make all of this stuff public, but it’s why you guys have your jobs – to ask me these questions and I try to give you the best answers I can.”
On drafting Oscar Hemming at No. 14
“We had him higher on our list than anyone else and we went through it extensively this week and then today when we went through, we didn’t think Hemming would be there. He’s a big forward. Not even 18 yet. He turns 18 in August and is a big body who we think is going to continue to develop and we’re very excited to have been able to draft him.”
On whether the Blue Jackets considered trading the pick
“We had some teams that called – nothing that was appealing. We had said a couple of picks ahead of us that if Hemming was there, there was no way we’d trade it. We would have listened if he was gone.”
On Hemming likely playing a full season at Boston College next year
“That was a big move for him to come over at 17-years-old. To leave Finland, it shows his maturity. When we met with him, you could tell, for a youngster his age, how mature he was. I think being here, going to school full-time at the start of the year is going to be a big thing. As you see, for his age, he has a big body, but he’s very built. He’s worked at this. Sometimes at this age, you get tall kids who are a little bit more lean, but he has a pretty good body makeup for his age, for sure.”
On previously saying he hoped to make a substantial trade this weekend
“Yeah, we added Val [Nichushkin] yesterday. This is a player who scores 20 goals plus, per year. Skates very well. We’ve talked about adding speed to the team. He’s a big body. The first guy over the boards for penalty kill in Colorado and he’s on their 2nd power play, so that’s a big addition for us.”
On whether more trades could be coming
“We’re getting full up front right now. You’re always listening if a guy’s going to make you better, but some of the guys who got traded were traded for a couple of first round picks and we didn’t have those assets.”
On whether anything else is in the works
“There’s some small talk about a few things, but nothing on a major deal. We have 13 NHL forwards on our team and we have some guys in Cleveland we feel like are ready to take that next step so if we do anything here in the near future it will probably be looking at defense.”
On his comfort level with Valeri Nichushkin off the ice
“We did a lot of work on that and we talked to everybody we could possibly talk to. He’s been living a good life for two-and-a-half years now. He just had a new baby and is married with two children. When I talked to him, he’s good friends with Provorov and Marchenko, so he was excited about the opportunity. It sure sounds like he has his life in a good position now and that he continues to move forward and plays well for us.”
The Blue Jackets still made their pick Friday night, and by Waddell’s telling, they got a player they did not expect to be available at No. 14. But Hemming’s arrival was overshadowed by painful storylines that are all too common for this franchise.
