NHL Blue Jackets select Russian forward in first round of draft

Columbus added Ohio center Dan Fritche in the second round.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Columbus Blue Jackets, looking to improve their offensive firepower, chose Russian forward Nikolai Zherdev with the fourth pick in the first round of Saturday's NHL draft.
Zherdev was selected from a deep pool of young players. His speed figures to complement the size and power of last year's No. 1 pick, forward Rick Nash, coach and general manager Doug MacLean said.
"You look around the league, that one-two combination is always exciting," he said.
In the second round, Columbus took center Dan Fritche, an Ohioan, with the 46th overall pick. Defenseman Dmitri Kosmachev, Zherdev's teammate on CSKA Moscow, was taken with the 71st overall pick in the third round.
Zherdev was the top pick of the team's scouts, MacLean said. "We thought we had a legitimate chance to get him."
Zherdev, 18, from Kiev, Ukraine, played right wing and scored 12 goals and had 12 assists in 44 games last season for CSKA Moscow of the Russian Hockey League. He was the top-ranked European skater, according to NHL Central Scouting.
The 6-foot-1, 176-pounder's puck-handling skills should help Columbus, which struggled to score goals last season.
"He is going to bring people out of their seats in Columbus with his electrifying moves," MacLean said.
Zherdev said he is looking forward to playing with Nash, whom he played against in international competition.
"We have been opponents in the past so it will be nice to be on the same team," he said through an interpreter.
MacLean said he will evaluate Zherdev before deciding whether he should play for the Blue Jackets next season or continue playing in Russia.
"He has a chance to go and play for [coach Viktor] Tikhonov, one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game," MacLean said. "He's a young kid, so we're going to look at that very seriously. That will definitely not hurt him."
The second-round pick was obtained from Chicago in the trade that sent Lyle Odelein to the Blackhawks for Jaroslav Spacek.
Fritche, 18, from the Cleveland suburb of Parma, had 32 goals and 71 points in the 2002-03 season with the Sarnia Sting in the Ontario Hockey League. The 6-foot-1, 198-pound Fritche missed all but 17 games of the previous season because of surgery on both shoulders.
"He's a big centerman. We wanted to add some depth to that position," MacLean said.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Kosmachev had no points in 27 games last season.
Rounds 4-9 will be conducted today.
The fourth-year Blue Jackets took goaltender Pascal Leclaire with their first pick two years ago and defenseman Rostislav Klesla in their inaugural year.