Pluses

The Clean Surroundings

Columbus’s “Arena District” was a perfect spot for the NHL Draft. With two high- end hotels a block away from the arena (the Hyatt and the Crown Plaza), people were able to go to and from the hotel and arena in five minutes. The setup of the “Arena District” has plenty of restaurants and even though the Blue Jackets have been around for a good amount of time, the Arena and surrounding bars and restaurants still look clean and new.

The Crowd

Located just hours away from many Midwest/Eastern teams (Nashville, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia), fans were able to make the trek to support their hometown teams. Also big kudos to the host city of Columbus; the excitement as the team prepared to announce their first overall pick was as loud as if you were at a regular season game. The people of Columbus showed their support in droves and made Columbus a nice choice.

The Players Accessibility

If people came down to Columbus in hopes of landing some autographs of the NHL’s next future stars they would not be disappointed. In a time when getting a autograph of a player is getting harder and harder (or more and more expensive) it was nice to see all of the prospects signing autographs, even some of the current or past NHL players were signing for the seemingly endless amount of autograph goers.

The Unpredictable Nature of This Year’s Picks

After the first couple picks, the draft took an unpredictable turn, when it comes to the projected mock drafts and the actual results. The ISS eighth ranked player, Maxim Mayorov, was not selected in the first round and the number four (Alexei Cherepanov) and number eleven (Angelo Esposito) ranked players both fell a lot farther than predicted. Even the fact that Esposito went to Pittsburgh is a surprise given the Penguins’ lack of depth on defense. Columbus’ seventh overall pick of Jakub Voracek is somewhat of a surprise, due to the Blue Jackets’ struggles defensively and with Keaton Ellerby still available, the pick was somewhat questionable.

The Two-Day Setup

To go along with TSN and Versus, the NHL did a good job of having the first round on Friday night on national television. Although the NHL does not draw well on Versus, it was a smart move. It also separated the length of the draft significantly. With it taking around three hours for the first round, it would have been to long for some fans to stick around for all seven rounds if it were to be in one day. The second day had a nice pace and went at a speed where people could follow along in their draft guides but not have to sit around for five to ten minutes waiting for the next pick.

Minuses

The Information on the Prospects

Besides a one page sheet on the draft’s highest prospects, people were left with no options when it came to getting draft guides/programs in the arena. If a person did not order an ISS draft guide or a THN draft magazine, they were left with nothing in front of them while their team’s prepared to pick. It would have been better if the Blue Jackets or the NHL (whoever was in charge of giving out magazines or programs) made a deal with ISS or THN so they could sell those two publications draft guides in the arena. They should have also thought about coming out with a simple commemorative draft program. A glossy sheet of paper doesn’t cut it.

The Russia/North American Transfer Conflict

When the two highest draft prospects from Russia, Cherepanov and Mayorov, fall well below their predicted mock draft predictions, with Mayorov not even going in the first round after being ranked as the eighth highest prospect by ISS, it is time to realize that a new, smoother deal with the Russians must be enacted. It is not right for teams to have to pass over a more talented prospect (in terms of rankings) because they are unsure if the prospects even have a chance to be signed because of a problem with transfer issues.