The biggest ovation of Friday night’s NHL draft was when Meredith Gaudreau took the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Meredith, Johnny Gaudreau’s widow, was chosen by the Columbus Blue Jackets to make their first pick of the draft. The crowd stood to applaud and chants of “Johnny” echoed throughout the venue.

The Blue Jackets selected left-handed defenseman Jackson Smith as the 14th player taken in the first round. Smith is headed to Penn State this upcoming season. He is a big body, 6’3 and 190 pounds, and can skate well. It’s the type of player that seems to be preferred by CBJ general manager, Don Waddell, and his staff.

When asked if he thought Smith would be available at pick 14, Waddell said, “We did not. We had him really high on our list. … Some of our scouts that watched him all the time rated him to skate as a 10 and that happens very rarely.” 

Smith has played the last three seasons with the Western League’s Tri-City Americans, which are based in Kennewick, Wash. Last season, he posted 11 goals and 43 assists in the 68 games he played.

The CBJ then took Russian goalie Pyotr Andreyanov as their 2nd pick, 20th overall, to the surprise of many in the hall. Andreyanov, 18, played last year for Krasnaya Armiya Moskva in Russia’s top minor league. He is slated to play for CSKA Moskva in the KHL this upcoming season.

Waddell said that he had a chance to watch and interview Andreyanov at the recent pre-draft camp in Miami, Fla. hosted by agent Dan Milstein. “He’s very athletic,” said Waddell, “our goalie guys … all said, by far, they thought this was the best guy.” Waddell noted that Andreyanov may be required contractually to spend the next four or five years in Russia before coming over to the U.S.

Niklas Bakstrom, former NHL goalie and current European goaltending coach for the CBJ, who was at the Milstein camp, said that Andreyanov reminded him of a young Sergei Bobrovski. “A technical goalie. Reads the game well. Moves well. Explosive. I think he’s closer to play at this level than a lot of the other goalies we looked at.”

The second through seventh rounds of the NHL Draft will take place Saturday at the Peacock Theater beginning at 11:00 a.m. EDT. The Blue Jackets will have the following draft picks on Saturday:

• Fourth round, pick 109
• Fifth round, pick 160
• Sixth round, pick 173
• Seventh round, pick 205
• Seventh round, pick 218