3 NHL Draft Takeaways From Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell’s Press Conference – The Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell was grilled as expected on Thursday about the status of Norris Trophy winning defenseman Zach Werenski. That will sort itself out in time as the sides are meeting in the near future to discuss the matter.

Waddell also spent plenty of time on Thursday discussing his team around the 2026 NHL Draft. There were some very interesting things he said when it comes to how they will approach both the draft and the rest of the offseason.

Here are our three big takeaways from what Waddell had to say.

Do Not Expect Offer Sheets

With the notion that the Blue Jackets were looking for ways to vastly improve their NHL roster, many wondered if they would consider an offer sheet. Not only did Waddell essentially dismiss the idea completely, he explained how there would be significant challenges in presenting one.

“First, we don’t have the draft capital for it because because if you’re going to, it depends which player you’re talking because you start getting over (a certain dollar range), it’s a first, second and third round pick,” Waddell said. “It’s got to be your own pick. We don’t even have our second-round pick for the next three years so that kind of eliminates that. If you’re going to offer sheet a player that makes $4 million ($4.775 million to $7.163 million), just give up a first-round pick (and a third), but I don’t see that happening.”

“To me, when you make an offer sheet, I’ve been involved in both sides of it, you’re making an offer sheet that you think you can get the player, not to force the other team to pay the players. But you believe you can get the player.”

Waddell was then asked about the more “desperate” option of four first-round picks for $11.939 million or more. He didn’t hesitate when coming up with his answer.

“No chance,” Waddell said. “No chance.”

Waddell then immediately pointed to the cap situation. Although the cap has gone up, the Blue Jackets are going to be near the upper-limit by the time all their business is done.

“I’ve mapped it out where if we add one forward, say approximately $5 million and one defenseman someplace in that $2.5 million (range), we’re at $100 million,” Waddell said. “It’s crazy. Everybody thinks it’s an endless cap because you’ve got so much cap space. But when you look at it overall and you have to sign your own players, it’s going to go fairly quickly. The one thing you want to do is not take yourself right to the cap on the first day of the season and leave yourself some flexibility.”

The Blue Jackets have moves coming. Just don’t expect an offer sheet from them at this time.

Blue Jackets Are Buyers

This week in Buffalo has shown that the current trade market favors sellers. It has been a while since multiple top-10 picks have changed hands. And there’s a chance more will be moved before Friday night is over.

The prices are high. Waddell talked about his thoughts on that including the impact of a watered down July 1 free-agency period.

“There’s been some very high draft picks thrown around,” Waddell said. “A lot of draft picks for certain players. So I would say I’m not surprised by it because moving forward to July 1st, everybody knows if they don’t do something in the short term, that July 1st is not a date that you’re going to be able…add some players of course but not that top-end guy. I think that’s why you’re seeing some of the action right now. If you’re a team that’s selling and has something to sell, you’re going to get paid a good price for it.”

“Unfortunately, we’re not selling. We’re trying to buy.”

That last statement is the one. It reinforces how much the Blue Jackets are trying to win and make the playoffs.

With Valeri Nichushkin now with the Blue Jackets, that’s the approximately $5 million player Waddell was referencing. It points to if another bigger move comes, it may involve roster players. Given the need for a third goalie and potentially another defenseman as Waddell stated, it’s reasonable to expect moves. But perhaps tempering expectations would be wise. We’ll see.

Master Draft List Insight

The Blue Jackets as of this writing still own the 14th pick on Friday night. It will be an important decision for them especially if they do not trade it for now help.

Waddell was asked about draft philosophy as in take best available player or lean towards a certain position. The general manager called that a great question and then elaborated on some of what goes into that thought process.

“I always tell our scouts, meeting as we speak, do the order by the best players,” Waddell said. “And then when we get in the draft, you might get to our pick at 14 and it might not be the position that I’m thinking that we really need and we really like the same player at a different position at 15. Certainly, the list is built for a reason, but I can tell you in all my years, I don’t know if we’ve stuck as an organization to just next guy up gets selected.”

This is interesting because the one area that the Blue Jackets have in the organization is left-handed defensemen. Jackson Smith is coming soon.

If a player like Malte Gustafsson is there at 14 but so are forward targets like Oscar Hemming, Ethan Belchetz, Nikita Klepov, JP Hurlbert or others, the team may elect to take the forward even if pegged one slot down.

The moral of the story? Best available is how the list is made. But if two prospects are equals in different positions, the Blue Jackets could lean on the position of need.