On This Date: June 24th, 2000 - Blue Jackets complete first NHL Entry Draft

The Jackets had 11 picks in that first draft

The Columbus Blue Jackets took part in their first Entry Draft on June 24th, 2000 in Calgary, Alberta. They left Calgary after drafting 11 players, how did it go?

They took, with the 4th overall pick, Rostislav Klesla from the Brampton Battalion of the OHL. The big defenseman played in 8 games in the 2000-01 season before being sent back to his junior team in Brampton. 

Klesla made the team full-time the next season, playing in 75 games. He scored 8 goals and had 16 points. Klesla played with the Jackets until 2011 when he was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes. He would go on to play 3 more seasons in Phoenix, until on November 26, 2013 he was placed on waivers by the Coyotes. On March 4, 2014 he was traded to the Washington Capitals. One day later he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres. On March 8th, he refused to report to the Sabres, and was later suspended. He went back to Europe to his home country of the Czech Republic to play, and then retire in 2016.

Klesla finished his NHL career with a stat line of 48 goals and 159 points in 659 games. Rusty, as his teammates and fans called him, was beloved during his time in Columbus.

The rest of the 2000 Entry Draft for the CBJ did not do so well. Only two other players they picked that year ever played in the NHL. Petteri Nummelin, a defenseman from Finland played in 139 career NHL games. Slovakian center Andrej Nedorost played in 28 career NHL games. 

The 2000 draft class is stacked with stars. From Rick DiPietro, Dany Heatley and Niklas Kronwall to Ilya Bryzgalov, Justin Williams and newly elected Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist. 

But the crazy thing about this draft, is how many players found their way to Columbus and played for the Blue Jackets. Besides Rusty Klesla (4), Marion Gaborik (3), Raffi Torres (5), Scott Hartnell (6) and Ron Hainsey (13) all played for the CBJ, and all were first round picks. Antoine Vermette (55) and Michael Rupp (76) also played for the CBJ. Some of these guys had really good years playing for the Jackets too.

Oh what could have been.