Columbus left with some of the top prospects on their list after making six selections in the 2025 event
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Blue Jackets got who they wanted at the NHL draft
Columbus left with some of the top prospects on their list after making six selections in the 2025 event
The Blue Jackets concluded the 2025 NHL Draft on Saturday afternoon with six new players, including a trio of choices in the first 76 picks in the opening three rounds.
But to the team’s decision makers, they left with three of the top 14 players in the draft.
Speaking after the conclusion of the event Saturday afternoon, general manager Don Waddell said that the team’s first three choices in the draft – first-rounders Jackson Smith and Pyotr Andreyanov as well as the defenseman the team traded up to draft at No. 76 overall, Malte Vass – were all ranked in the upper echelons of the team’s predraft list.
“Honestly, we drafted right identically to how our list was laid out,” Waddell said. “The first three guys that we took were all in our top 14 in our list.”
In other words, the Blue Jackets general manager and his amateur scouting leaders – director Ville Siren and assistant director Trevor Timmins – were smiling from ear to ear by the time the seven rounds concluded Saturday afternoon.
“We feel great now,” Siren said before a booming chuckle. “Like every other team.”
ll things considered, though, the Blue Jackets were quite pleased with the six prospects they acquired the annual selection spectacle, a haul that included the pair of first-round choices and single picks in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. Three are defensemen who measure at least 6-foot-2, two are undersized but talented and gritty forwards, and Andreyanov is the best goaltending prospect the team has seen in the draft in years, goalie coach Niklas Backstrom contended.
While the Blue Jackets were quite happy to leave the draft’s opening night with Smith and Andreyanov, Vass may go down as the icing on the cake. As noted, Columbus had the blueliner high on their list but likely thought their time to grab him had gone by considering they entered the draft without a second-round pick and included their third-round selection in Friday’s trade with Colorado that netted veteran forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood.
But as the second round turned into the third, Vass was still on the board, and the Blue Jackets pulled the trigger to send a pair of fourth-round picks to Detroit to select the big Swedish defenseman.
Had the team ever seen such a highly rated prospect on their list fall so far?
“I can say it’s probably never happened in my history,” Waddell said.
Added Siren: “Not that I can remember.”
Bound for Boston University this upcoming season, the 6-2, 184-pound Vass spent this past season with the U-20 team at Färjestad BK, compiling a 2-9-11 line in 40 games, and has also skated with the Swedish national team at the U-18 World Championship and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Noted for his defensive instincts and physical play, Vass profiles as the type of contact-seeking, space-eating defenseman who can excel in postseason play.
“We have seen him throughout the year in different tournaments, and I have liked the way he has defended,” Siren said. “He knows his identity and he plays with it every game. He doesn’t try to be something else that he’s not.”
From there, the Blue Jackets didn’t pick again until round five but added a trio of intriguing prospects in center Owen Griffin (fifth round, Oshawa, OHL), defenseman Victor Hedin Raftheim (sixth round, Byrnas, Sweden) and center Jeremy Loranger (seventh round, Sherwood Park, BCHL).
Here’s what Timmins had to say about each of those prospects:
- On Griffin, who shot up draft boards thanks to a 16-goal, 29-point postseason with the Generals: “He’s a little bit of a late developer. Last year, he was inserted into the lineup in Oshawa and he probably wasn’t ready for it physically. He struggled a little bit, but this year he grew into the OHL. They put him into a top-six role and he thrived with better players like (first-round picks) Beckett Sennecke and Calum Ritchie. He did a great job. He got right in there and he was a driver of their offense. He’s a bit undersized, but he plays hard, he’s not afraid to go into the hard areas and retrieve pucks, to take hits to make plays or get netfront.”
- On Hedin Raftheim, a big, athletic, 17-year-old defensemen who had a 1-3-4 line in 34 games at the U-20 level: “He’s another late developer. He really came along this season. I know his dad personally. He’s a strength coach in Sweden, so he’s under the proper guidance there. (Swedish scout) Oscar Akerlund really pushed for him.”
- On Loranger, who led the BCHL in scoring and was the league MVP this past year with 40 goals and 105 points in 54 games: “He’s a skilled forward that has the grit package. He goes into the hard areas. He’s a little bit like Griffin. There’s upside there. He has time to develop. He’s got what undersized players need to survive at the pro level.”
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