on the topic of drafting, yes we did have good history in drafting defensemen. anyone know anything about our new head of scouting, paul castron, and his reputation? was wondering if anyone gave it a thought what his tendencies might be
Here's the Blue Jackets draft history, I believe he joined them in 2006. A lot better results in the draft than we've been getting. Seems like a failure by their GM to fill out the rest of the roster because they have developed some nice talent but a lot of it has been traded.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005316.html
From the Blue Jackets' site
Paul Castron was named the Columbus Blue Jackets' director of amateur scouting on July 21, 2006 and his responsibilities include overseeing all amateur scouting efforts by the club in North America and Europe. He served as the club's director of player development from 2002-06, managing the development of Blue Jackets players and draft picks competing at the junior hockey and collegiate levels as well as progress of any personnel performing in Europe. He was also actively involved in the development process within the club's minor professional affiliate system.
Castron joined the Blue Jackets as an amateur scout in 1999 after spending eight years as a member of the Ottawa Senators scouting staff. He brought invaluable experience in the building and development of an expansion franchise as his tenure with Ottawa included the acquisition of several players who have become NHL standouts, including Alexei Yashin, Marian Hossa and Daniel Alfredsson.
Gare Joyce wrote an interesting book where he got to be a pseudo-scout for the Blue Jackets in 2006 and 2007. So there was a decent amount of behind the scenes stuff there.
Just off the top of my head:
2006 - Blue Jackets had the #6 pick. They figured they were getting one of Kessel/Backstrom/Brassard with Johnson/Toews/J.Staal likely being off the board. They were high on Brassard; Another team scout Sam McMaster boasted that he had Brassard #2 on his list (in a related note, McMaster almost singlehandedly destroyed the Kings in the early-mid 90s which more or less led me to become a Devils fan).
Backstrom interviewed with them, but didn't seem particularly interested (as he probably had a good idea Washington was taking him at #4). Kessel had a difficult interview. They were holding their breath with Boston's pick at #5. If Boston had taken Brassard, Columbus would have reluctantly taken Kessel.
As the draft went on, Joyce also mentions where a handful of guys were on Columbus' list. I believe they had Claude Giroux at #11 which was much higher than the public rankings. He also mentions that Columbus had a 'do not draft' on David Fischer who ended up going #20 to Montreal. Joyce didn't elaborate on the reason, but mentions that he heard a couple other teams also red flagged Fischer.
Second round pick (#36) comes around and there's not anybody they really like. So the scouts give the thumbs up to a trade down with San Jose which nets them #85, #113, and a 2007 2nd rounder.
At #69, GM Doug MacLean pulls an audible and drafts Steve Mason on the advice of their goalie coach. Joyce mentions that at the meetings he was able to attend, that they did not talk about goalies at all. Mason played sparingly that year.
At #85, they took Tom Sestito whose biggest fan at the draft table was Sam McMaster. Did I mention how McMaster earned the nickname McDisaster back in the day?
Don't remember much about the other guys. They used a 7th rounder on Derek Dorsett who was a junior teammate with Kris Russell. CBJ drafted Russell in the third round the previous year. Portion of the book devotes a chapter on them keeping tabs on Russell after having drafted him.
2007: If I recall correctly, this was really Castron's first year in charge. Doug MacLean got fired and Scott Howson was brought in just before the Draft which was in Columbus.
Columbus was picking 7th and felt like they were in a tough spot. As they described it, there was a top tier of six (Kane/Turris/van Riemsdyk/Voracek/Alzner/Gagner). On talent, they thought Cherepanov (RIP) was part of that group but they didn't feel like gambling on him.
If the top 6 went as expected, Columbus was entertaining the idea of trading down. The two names they were targeting in that case were McDonagh and Shattenkirk.
They lucked out as the Kings went off the board with Thomas Hickey at #4. They further lucked out when Edmonton took Gagner at #6 which left Voracek for them at #7.
Joyce described it as something of a prayer answered that LA went off the board. It's funny in hindsight since Joyce said it was similar to Montreal going off the board for Carey Price in 2005 which left Gilbert Brule to Columbus (the book was published circa 2008).
As for Castron, he lives in Michigan so he's a relatively close drive to the USNTDP. I want to say that in the book that he covered the Michigan/Ontario area for the team.
The book is interesting though in that it gives a glimpse to how an amateur scouting meeting goes. There's a lot of differing opinions. As much as we like to heap praise/blame on one scout for a pick, it really is a group effort.
