Blue Jackets consider results from draft, trade a success

COLUMBUS (AP) — When all the trades and draft selections were done, Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson called it a most successful weekend.

“You never get everything you want, but we’re pleased with some of the things we were able to do,” Howson said Saturday after the club made its final pick at the NHL draft in Ottawa.

The Blue Jackets came into the draft weekend needing to add experience to their roster and also to fill holes at some positions in their farm system.

“We wanted to re-stockpile the organization and so we drafted some defensemen today because we saw that as a weakness on our depth chart,” Howson said.

Columbus drafted four young defensemen in rounds two through seven on Saturday, led by Cody Goloubef, a highly regarded blue-liner who played last year at the University of Wisconsin.

The weekend began with the Blue Jackets adding a budding young star coming off a strong showing in the playoffs. The club traded for former Ohio State player R.J. Umberger on Friday night, shuffling two picks to Philadelphia for Umberger and a fourth-round pick.

“We were able to add a proven player,” Howson said.

Judging from the roar when the trade was announced at the team’s draft party at a suburban Columbus restaurant, acquiring the former Buckeye was a popular choice.

Before the fuss from that deal had died down, with their No. 6 pick in the opening round the Blue Jackets took the top European skater available in Russian left wing Nikita Filatov.

Filatov has already vowed that he intends to play in North America during the 2008-09 season and some experts have said he might be ready to make a quick jump to the NHL, despite just turning 18.

The Blue Jackets addressed an immediate need when they grabbed Goloubef (GOAL’-uh-behf) with their second-round pick on Saturday morning.

“I came in with an open mind,” Goloubef said moments after his selection with the 37th pick. “You never know what’s going to happen at the draft. I just wanted to end up with a good organization. I guess my dream came true.”

Goloubef, who is from Oakville, Ontario, had four goals and six assists in 40 games last year as a freshman for the Badgers. The 6-foot-1, 188-pounder classifies himself as a two-way defenseman whose offensive skills are ahead of the rest of his game right now.

Asked whether he’ll stay at Wisconsin or move on to the professional ranks in the Blue Jackets system, Goloubef said that decision may not be up to him.

“I don’t know. I’m just going to keep working hard, getting better,” he said. “When I get the call, I’m ready to go.”

The Blue Jackets traded their original fourth-round pick, No. 97, to Boston for the Bruins’ fourth-round (No. 107) and fifth-round (No. 137) selections.

That meant Howson and his staff were busy making five selections in little more than 30 minutes.

Columbus used the 107th pick to take big defenseman Steven Delisle, a 17-year-old who is 6-6 and 209 pounds.

Then, with the pick they gained from Philadelphia in the Umberger deal, they took another blue-liner in Minnesota prep player Drew Olson, a 5-11, 215-pounder.