It was an eventful pre-draft day for Buffalo and Boston, and rumors ran wild in the lead-up to Arizona’s 3rd overall pick. Columbus was mentioned among teams considering a move up the board. Yet, after the first seven picks passed, nothing had changed and the Blue Jackets were left to pick eighth overall. Their man: Zach Werenski, a defenseman from the University of Michigan.
A quick glance at Werenski is very impressive. The d-man finished with 25 points (on 9 goals and 16 assists) in 35 games. That total was tied for 14th among all NCAA blueliners, and 9th among all d-men in points per game (via College Hockey Inc). Werenski even finished ahead of Noah Hanifin (0.71 pts/game vs 0.62), the vaunted Boston College defender who was selected 5th by Carolina.
These are impressive performances to be sure. Werenski looks even better considering age: he did everything as the youngest player in the NCAA. Indeed, Zach Werenksi won’t even turn 18 until mid-July!
Here’s a post-selection video from the Blue Jackets. It’s our first look at Werenski in the Union Blue sweater.
There are plenty of pre-draft Werenski praises to chew on in the weeks to come. SB Nation’s College Hockey blog listed Werenski as the 7th-best NHL prospect in the league (3rd among the draft-eligible, and ahead of former CBJ pick Mike Reilly). Chris Dilks also has a full profile on the Michigan d-man, noting that defensive ability and positioning are areas for improvement.
Garret Hohl has maybe the brightest review of the new Blue Jacket. He notes that Werenski’s performance is unprecedented for the player cohort model (more on that in the post linked here). Hohl says, “In other words, an 18-year-old who does what Werenski did at 17 will make the NHL 33 percent of the time and when they do will score on average 33 points a season.” The whole profile is well worth a read, if only to consider the d-man’s ceiling.
Werenski seems likely to return to the University of Michigan next year. The Wolverines’ schedule came out last week, and Blue Jacket fans can see Werenski in Columbus on Friday January 15, and Sunday March 6th.
The NHL also has a draft profile video for Werenski, and you can check that out below. Werenski’s a highly-skilled player so it’s an exciting top ten pick!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-G_xGc2UMQ
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