Jarmo Kekalainen is and will always be a scout at heart.
The Columbus Blue Jackets' general manager has been involved in scouting in some capacity for more than 20 years, serving as director of player personnel and overseeing the amateur draft and the scouting efforts in Europe for the Ottawa Senators.
More recently, he was the assistant GM and director of amateur scouting for the St. Louis Blues. Alongside (current Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations) John Davidson, the duo was responsible for turning the franchise around. Together, they drafted Alex Pietrangelo, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund, David Perron, and David Backes, to name a few.
Since 2013, Davidson and Kekalainen have been trying to rekindle that St. Louis Blues magic with the Blue Jackets. For the first time since their arrival, the Blue Jackets will be slotted to use their first pick outside the top 20 of the first-round order.
Does it make sense for Kekalainen and company to hold tight at No. 24, or should they move in one direction or another?
This is no ordinary NHL Draft. For starters, the Vegas Golden Knights' expansion draft will cause a ripple effect throughout the league that could result in an unusual amount of trade traffic.
Additionally, the Blue Jackets announced that they will be parting ways with their second round pick, 55th overall, as compensation for hiring John Tortorella from the Vancouver Canucks. That means that, as it currently stands, Columbus won't have a draft pick between 24 and 86.
The obvious reason the Blue Jackets may look to move down in the draft is to protect assets while moving David Clarkson's cap hit off the books. Vegas picks 34th overall in the second round, and a potential deal involving Clarkson, a prospect, and the 24th overall pick to slide down 10 spots makes reasonable sense, especially if there's a handshake agreement for the Golden Knights to steer clear of Josh Anderson.
Another plausible scenario is that the Blue Jackets sit on the 24th pick and trade down to a lower pick if a team has its eye on a player at that slot, allowing Columbus to gain assets without losing 'their guy'. As referenced before, Kekalainen and his team of scouts have a keen eye and may feel as though they can get superior value by moving down several spots.
This same theory could apply to the same conclusion but in the other direction. That is to say, maybe the Blue Jackets pounce at an opportunity to grab a target that they are surprised has fallen to a certain point in the first round. In such a wide-open draft, it wouldn't be surprising to see a host of teams behave in this manner.
In fact, the Blue Jackets most recently did this in 2015 by trading a second and third round pick to Toronto for the 29th overall pick, a pick they used to select defenseman Gabriel Carlsson. With the organizational depth that the Blue Jackets have at their disposal, perhaps moving up to select a player they feel strongly about would make the most sense.
Perhaps this is a moot point entirely, and the Blue Jackets don't move up or down at all, but they could trade the pick as part of a larger package to acquire a genuine sniper. Colorado's Matt Duchene has been on the trade block for what feels like an eternity, and Ilya Kovalchuk is heavily rumored to be returning to the NHL and his playing days in New Jersey are almost certainly finished. In either of these cases, parting with the 24th overall pick would likely be the only way to pry away a player of that caliber.
With so many variables in this ever-changing landscape, the Blue Jackets have seemingly infinite options heading into the NHL Draft and beyond. Columbus comes from a position of relative strength, and it should be fascinating to follow management's decisions in the coming days.
