BUFFALO -- Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen wasn’t bluffing. The Blue Jackets have selected Pierre-Luc Dubois with the third overall draft pick.
That means the Blue Jackets did not select Finnish phenom Jesse Puljujarvi, who came into today’s draft as part of the so-called Big Three, along with the first and second overall picks, Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, respectively.
Dubois, who turned 18 today, had 99 points in 62 games for QMJHL Cape Breton. He told PHT during the Stanley Cup Final that he thinks he can be a “first-line center in the NHL,” and that may have helped convince Kekalainen -- who traded Ryan Johansen to Nashville for Seth Jones during the regular season -- to take Dubois over Puljujarvi, a winger.
With the fourth overall pick, the Edmonton Oilers took Puljujarvi.