Draft Day by Doug MacLean & Scott Morrison

Author:Doug MacLean & Scott Morrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT RICK NASH, FIRST OVERALL

SOME MEDIA PEOPLE HAVE SAID it was the best work I ever did as the president and GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets. They are right, but talk about peaking early.

Back in fall 2000, in our first season, there was a lot of conversation between myself and our director of amateur scouting, Don Boyd, about the need to find a face of the franchise, a player who would take our team from hapless expansion team to potentially a contender, much sooner rather than later. Every GM has that thought and conversation at some point—the need to find the next great one through the draft.

As ours was an expansion team, the need was even more acute, especially with the expansion draft rules back then so much different from today. Vegas and Seattle, the most recent additions, were afforded a much deeper list of available talent off NHL rosters and, as a result, the chance to be good right out of the gate. For us, we did our best in the expansion draft, then we were left trying to make trades to upgrade, but our lifeblood was going to be the entry draft.

I vividly remember that I learned very quickly in Columbus just how important it was to find that face of the franchise. I remember one day that first year, my son, Clark, who was in grade five, came home from school and he said, “Dad, hockey’s not going to work here. They hate hockey. All they want to talk about is Ohio State football.”

People had no idea the pressure on us to be good, to be noticed, because of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The people in Columbus and Ohio love them and it’s still an issue for hockey in Columbus. They are so big. We needed to find that player, to find the success, to get into that mix.

The next great one Boyd and I talked about early wasn’t eligible for the draft until 2002, another season away. I’m not saying we had the foresight of a Sam Pollock when it came to getting aligned for the draft, but Rick Nash was on our radar big-time long before he was draft eligible. And I mean big-time. Don was totally intrigued by this big, underage left winger playing with the London Knights of the OHL.

I remember one night that season, Don and I went to scout Nash in a game in Plymouth, Michigan, and we kept thinking, Is there any chance we could get this kid in the 2002 draft? We loved him. And we needed him. Boydy said to me, “This is the guy who could be number one next year.”

Rick grew up in Brampton, Ontario, and had a terrific minor hockey career in the Greater Toronto Hockey League with the Toronto Marlboros. He was a tall, lanky kid, a late bloomer. With the Marlies Under-15 bantam team he had sixty-one goals and 115 points in thirty-four games and was drafted fourth overall by the Knights—behind centers Patrick Jarrett from Sault Ste.

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