Jackets Pick Six More In NHL Draft
By Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

When the dust settled of the 2007 NHL Draft at Nationwide Arena, the Columbus Blue Jackets added seven players to the future of the franchise.

The team picked five forwards, a defenseman and a goaltender in the draft including two who will play at college hockey at Miami of Ohio.

“I think we had a good draft, but the real work begins now making sure that we move in the right direction,” Jackets General Manager Scott Howson said. “It’s hard to evaluate this draft. I think you can in five years from now.”

Howson said the process with working with the Jackets amateur scouting staff, led by Don Boyd, was smooth, with good dialog and a little bit of debate.

“Don Boyd and Paul Castron were pillars of strength for me to lean on in terms of getting the right advice,” he said.

Boyd said that the team selected the players it wanted to fill the needs of the franchise.

With the 37th pick in the draft, the Jackets picked Stefan Legein of Mississauga of the Ontario Hockey League. Legein is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound right-winger, who was rated as the 13th best North American skater.

Legein, an OHL Eastern Conference All-Star, had 43 goals and 32 assists (75 points) for Mississauga. He is a skilled forward with a good work ethic. He has high energy and is a two-way player with excellent speed. He also likes to get physical. He had 115 penalty minutes last season.

At the All-Star competition, he won the fastest skater competition with a lap time of 14.109 and tallied three points (2-1-3) in the game.

With the 53rd pick, Columbus picked Michigan high school player Will Webber. The 6-4, 205-pounder is a defenseman. He grew four inches between his junior and senior years in high school.

Webber will play junior hockey for the Chicago Steel and will play college hockey at Miami. He was the first pick of the Steel in the United State Hockey League draft.

“Legein and Webber are still very young,” Howson said. “Legein is a little ahead of Webber in terms of maturity because he has only more year of junior eligibility before turning pro.”

With the 68th pick, the Jackets selected Jake Hansen of Sioux Falls of the USHL. Hansen (6-1, 168-pounds) is a winger, who uses his speed well to drive wide and to get to the net. He is ranked 65th by Central Scouting.

Last season with Sioux Falls and White Bear Lake, he scored 30 goals and 44 assists (74 points).

According to Central Scouting, he needs to add strength to his size and be more constant with his discipline.

The Jackets biggest splash in the draft on Saturday was trading its three fifth round picks to Los Angles for the 94th pick in the fourth round. With it, the Jackets selected Russian Maxim Mayorov, who the team felt could have been a first-round pick.

“We thought it was a no-brainer to try to move up to get him,” Howson said. “We didn’t expect him to keep falling. We had tried (to trade) with four of five teams before that. Finally, it was almost our last shot because I had a pretty good Idea Edmonton would take him.”

Mayorov, who plays for Leninogorsk of Russia 2 League, was the fourth-rated European skater by NHL’s Central Scouting. Last season, the winger had six goals and four assists (10 points) in 28 games.

Central Scouting says that Mayorov protects the puck well, is strong on his skates and had good first step quickness. The criticism on the player is that he needs to improve the consistency of his effort.

Mayorov (6-2, 187 lbs.) played in the 2007 Under-18 Five Nation Tournament. Columbus has had conversations with his agent and they say that he wants to play in the NHL. He was at the NHL combine in May.

At pick 158, Columbus selected Allen York (6-4, 170-pounds) of Camrose of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. York, a goalie, says his favorite team is Columbus and growing up, his favorite player was former Jacket goaltender Ron Tugnutt.

In 32 games last season, York was 24-5 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a 90.6 save percentage.

With the final pick in the draft, the Jackets selected Dublin native Trent Vogelhuber, who plays for Des Moines of the USHL. The 6-2, 185-pounder will play collegiate for the Miami in 2008-09.

“(Vogelhuber) was in here last week and we tested him,” Boyd said. “He showed a commitment last year going out of town to play. Now he’s going to the USHL and play another year and then go on to Miami. He hope that he’s playing in a Blue Jacket uniform at some point in time.”

He had 26 points in 31 games for St. Louis of the North American Hockey League last season, missing half of the season due to knee injury.