Sober Second Thoughts on the Yegor Chinakhov Pick

The Columbus Blue Jackets had a choice. They could draft Yegor Chinakhov with their first pick, 21st overall, and steel themselves for the questions that would follow. Alternatively, they could trade out of their spot, and stare the league down in a game of chicken.

One problem. The Blue Jackets war room had it on good authority that if they didn’t take Chinakhov, another team would just a few picks later. They determined the risk wasn’t worth it, and they took their guy.

It’s the sort of move Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen is becoming famous for.

Jesse Puljujärvi was the obvious pick, supposedly, for the Blue Jackets at third-overall in the 2016 draft, and they went with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Puljujarvi is playing first line minutes in the Finnish Liiga; Dubois is the first-lin