3 Blue Jackets’ Takeaways From Day 1 of the 2025 NHL Draft

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The Columbus Blue Jackets entered Day 1 of the 2025 NHL Draft as one of the most interesting teams in the NHL. They had a lot of assets and cap space available to improve their team.

In the end, thanks in part to the decentralized draft format, some potential trades they were hoping would develop during the night never materialized. However, the Blue Jackets still made the best of their situation by adding two talented prospects to their organization.

Earlier in the day on Friday, the Blue Jackets were heavily involved in multiple trade talks. They eventually dropped out of one but closed on the other. That’s where we begin our three Blue Jackets’ takeaways from Friday night.

Adding Coyle/Wood & Missing Out on Dobson

Before the Blue Jackets settled in for the start of the draft, they were busy on multiple fronts. First, they were reported to be in on New York Islanders’ defenseman Noah Dobson.

The Blue Jackets along with the Montreal Canadiens were neck and neck in the running. The prevailing feeling as time went on was that the Canadiens were the team to beat. That proved to be true.

The Canadiens sent both of their first-round picks long with Emil Heineman to the Islanders in exchange for Dobson. The Canadiens then signed him to an eight-year extension carrying a cap hit of $9.5 million per season.

Blue Jackets’ GM Don Waddell confirmed they were in on Dobson. But there was a certain point in which it wasn’t wise to go any further.

“We got to a point for us it was a combination of not only the assets we had to give up, but also the price tag for the player,” Waddell said. “And we just made a decision that you look at our team and some of the guys that are gonna be coming off contracts the next few years, the Fantilli’s and Johnson’s, (Kirill Marchenko), Voronkov and Mateychuk. The young players, they’re gonna get paid. And we did like the player but it comes to a point where you say okay. You gotta make sure you leave yourself open to be able to keep your team together.”

2025 NHL Draft Stage
The Blue Jackets were in multiple trade discussions before the start of the 2025 NHL Draft. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

While the Blue Jackets missed out on Dobson, they immediately turned their attention to addressing their bottom-six. They made a trade with the Colorado Avalanche to acquire both Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood. The Blue Jackets sent a third-round pick this year, a conditional second-round pick in 2027 and prospect Gavin Brindley to the Avalanche while taking on all of Coyle’s and Wood’s salaries. Here’s Waddell on that trade.

“Both big bodies. Wood skates like the wind as a forechecker. (He) creates a lot of opportunities with the speed and finishing checks. Has scored 17 goals the one year not that we’re expecting him to score a lot of goals. He brings a lot of energy to our fourth line and can play up into the third line.”

“Then with Coyle, we wanted to get a righty. Big body who plays a 200-foot game. Both ends of the ice very responsible. We’ve been looking for that right-shot guy all summer. When that opportunity came up, we had to jump on it.”

The Blue Jackets have several pending UFA’s who could have filled bottom-six roles. In Wood and Coyle, the team added size and speed to that group which was one of the things they needed to address.

Waddell is expected to continue exploring different possibilities. After missing out on Dobson, they will see what blueline options they have. Also watch to see if they bring in another goaltender after trading Daniil Tarasov earlier this week.

Blue Jackets Make Their Two Picks

Although there were calls for potential trades around the 14th and 20th picks, the Blue Jackets elected to use them to draft two players both very high on their master lists. Waddell said they could have moved up or moved around in different scenarios. But it was apparent the team valued who was available.

“We had a lot of calls,” Waddell said. “We actually tried to move up and to a spot and that didn’t work. And we had a lot of calls to move around especially on the 14th pick. I really believe if there’s a player there that you really want, don’t pass it up. Take them. To go pick up a second and late third round or late second or third-round pick and lose your opportunity for the player you want, I don’t think it’s worth it.”

The way the draft played out after the top-seven, things fell favorably for the Blue Jackets. With the 14th pick, they drafted Tri-City defenseman Jackson Smith. His name was announced by Meredith Gaudreau in a very emotional moment in Los Angeles when she received a standing ovation. Chants of John-ny then broke out in Peacock Theater.

Waddell didn’t anticipate Smith being available at 14.

“We had him really high on our list,” Waddell said. “(We) like the way he transports the puck. Some of our scouts that watched him all the time rated (his skating) as a 10 and that happens very rarely. He’s a good sized kid.”

Smith got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear his name called by Meredith. Being from Calgary, Johnny Gaudreau was someone Smith got to watch growing up.

“Just to see the support in the stands and the crowd for the Gaudreau family, it was an incredible moment,” Smith said. “So to be picked right after that felt even extra special for me. And getting to meet her and talking to her was really cool.”

Smith called him “a full package kind of guy.” He brings the size and speed the Blue Jackets want on their blue line. He is off to play at Penn State after playing his junior hockey at Tri-City. Why Penn State?

“My biggest thing with going to school was I want to go to a place where I’m going to play,” Smith said. “There, I felt that I’m going to get a good opportunity and become an NHL’er as fast as I can. I think that’s the place where I can do it with their facilities and their staff and how they work with me. I think it’s going to be incredible there.”

The Blue Jackets did take a goalie with the 20th pick but perhaps one many didn’t expect. They took Pyotr Andreyanov who was rated as the top international goalie available according to NHL Central Scouting.

Waddell and others went to the Gold Star Camp in Florida in which Andreyanov took part in. They team talked with him in an effort yo get to know him. They also figured out he has 4-5 years of commitments in Russia before he will come over.

The Blue Jackets felt Andreyanov was one of the best goaltending prospects they’ve seen in the last couple of years. They were so high on him he was the next name on their master list after Smith.

“Both our goalie guys (Niklas Backstrom and Brad Thiessen) and Jimmy Viers all said they thought this was the best guy,” Waddell said. “We came into the draft saying that we’d like to draft a goalie. So when we put our list together, it worked out in two ways. It’s kind of interesting because he’s our number-one goalie but he was actually the next guy on our list.”

Waddell then admitted he asked prospects at the Gold Star Camp a question. If you could take one player from here that you could take with you to our next team, who would that be?

“90% of the players said Pyotr,” Waddell said.

Goaltending coach Backstrom said Andreyanov reminded him of a young Sergei Bobrovsky. Despite the 4-5 year wait, Backstrom is confident of what Andreyanov could become.

“The hope is that the development path he’s on leads right to the NHL,” Backstrom said.

Impact of Decentralized Draft on Trades

Another first round, another in which no player trades were announced. It was curious to see how the decentralized draft would affect things.

Waddell admitted thinking the decentralized draft put a hold to a lot of trades.

“This decentralized draft I think plays a big part of it,” Waddell said. “When you can’t walk around the rink & just tap people on their shoulder and talk to them. When you’re face to face, things always seem to happen better than on the phone.”

Perhaps trades will pick up on Saturday and then in the lead up to the start of free agency. But it was very clear that a lot of people think the decentralized draft will be one and done.

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The first round lasted four and a half hours. There were technical difficulties. James Hagens wasn’t able to communicate with the Bruins’ staff in the “Draft Room.” While some may like the extra quiet of being in their own war room, there is momentum to return to a centralized draft.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said they will poll the teams to see about changing back to the old way. Given how Friday night went, it’s a safe bet to think there will be overwhelming support to be in one place again.

If we learned anything about the NHL Draft, there is still a lot of value in face-to-face interactions. Let’s hope it stays that way for good.

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