For all the Blue Jackets’ draft misfires over the years, one selection still stands alone: Alexandre Picard at No. 8 in 2004.
The Jackets entered that draft with the fourth overall pick and, with Rick Nash already in the fold from the year before, then-GM Doug MacLean chose to move down. Carolina sent back picks No. 8 and No. 59, and Columbus used the first of those on Picard, a QMJHL power forward MacLean said he wanted all along. The problem was that the board offered far better options, and the Jackets passed right by them.
Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler were both there in that range, and either one would have changed the picture dramatically. Instead, Columbus landed on a player whose breakout year in junior looked impressive on the surface - 39 goals and 80 points in 69 games, plus 88 penalty minutes - but whose profile was already shaky underneath it all. Picard was a late birthday player who turned 19 just months after the draft, and his 17-year-old season was far more modest: 14 goals and 29 points in 66 games.
Even without deep analytics, the fit was hard to love. Picard wasn’t a strong skater.
His feet were slow, his straight-line speed was limited, and he didn’t bring much agility. At best, the hope was a rugged third-liner who might chip in around 20 goals and pile up penalty minutes.
He never got close.
Picard played 67 NHL games and never scored a goal. He finished with just two assists in his career. In the AHL, he reached 20 goals only twice across eight seasons.
The contrast with the players Columbus passed on is brutal. Ladd went on to play 1,001 NHL games, put up 550 points, and win two Stanley Cups.
Wheeler played 1,172 NHL games and finished with 943 points. The Jackets, meanwhile, also used the No. 59 pick they got in the trade on defenseman Kyle Wharton, who was in the ECHL three years later.
There are plenty of candidates for the worst draft decision in Blue Jackets history - Gilbert Brule, Ryan Murray, Nikolai Zherdev, Nikita Filatov, David Jiricek, Cayden Lindstrom, even the first-round pick that became Sean Couturier after a trade. But for the way this one looked before it even had a chance to go wrong, Picard remains the pick that makes the least sense.
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Pheonix Copley is part of the conversation as Columbus evaluates whether he can fill the backup role during Merzlikins absence, and that is where the uncertainty starts to matter. The Blue Jackets need a plan that can hold up from the start of camp, because goaltending is one position where a short-term absence can quickly become a bigger organizational test if the answers are not there early. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Still Have Reason To Revisit No. 34
Jersey number 34 has had a little bit of everything for the Blue Jackets over the years, which is part of what makes the number worth revisiting. Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Wade Dubielewicz, Dane Byers, Nick Drazenovic and Dana Tyrell all had turns wearing it in Columbus, with careers that ranged from brief call-ups to longer organizational roles, and the thread running through those stops is the way the number became attached to players trying to carve out a place in the NHL.
The most recognizable name in that group is Josh Anderson, whose time in Columbus gave 34 its strongest modern identity. Drafted by the Blue Jackets and eventually moved on in a deal with Montreal, he left behind the kind of imprint that makes fans look back at the jersey history with a little more curiosity, especially when a number has moved through so many different hands before landing on a player who briefly made it feel like it belonged. [Read more 🡒]