Is It October Yet?

As the year crawls by, we get closer and closer to hockey season. The draft airs tonight, Columbus' announced their opening night opponent, and the season's schedule has been released.

Fans can catch the 2018 NHL Draft at the R Bar tonight starting at 7:00. There will be live coverage from American Airlines Center in Dallas, as well as your favorite broadcasters offering commentary and analysis of the first-round selections. Bob McElligott, Jeff Rimer, Jody Shelley, and Bill Davidge will all be covering the draft and any breaking NHL news as it happens.

After Columbus' stellar 2017-2018 season, they have the 18th pick in the first round of the draft. This is also the time that teams begin trading players and future picks as we saw last season when they acquired Artemi Panarin in a ground-breaking trade with the Blackhawks.

Columbus received Panarin and forward Tyler Motte in exchange for Brandon Saad, Anton Forsberg, and Columbus' 5th round pick in the 2018 draft.

This year, we've already seen big trades, specifically between the Canadiens and the Coyotes. Montreal gave up centerman Alex Galchenyuk for Arizona's Max Domi.

Domi had a total of 82 points in the 17-18 season with nine goals and 36 assists. Galchenyuk also had 82 points, but netted 19 goals and 32 assists.

Overall in the draft, Columbus has five picks: 18th in Round One, 49th in Round Two, 80th in Round Three, 173rd in Round Six, and 204 in Round Seven. The Jackets miss out on picks in all seven rounds due to some of their trades. When they acquired Mark Letestu, they gave up their fourth round pick, as well as when they acquired Panarin, they lost their fifth round pick.

Across the board, the No. 1 pick is Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. In 41 games for the SHL, he had seven goals and 13 assists, and it's believed that he can help turn around any team he goes to. Some critics have even gone so far to say that he is the defense version of Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid. Buffalo has the first pick, so the young Swede is most likely to go to them.

Even after Dahlin has been selected, the leftover talent is still unbelievable. Some of the top players:

• Andrei Svechnikov -- Forward

• Brady Tkachuk -- Forward

• Filip Zadina -- Forward

• Evan Bouchard -- Defenseman

• Noah Dobson -- Defenseman

• Adam Boqvist -- Defenseman

No matter who is left by time Columbus is eligible to pick, they have full confidence in the talent of this year's draft.

​According to Ville Siren, the Jackets' head of amateur scouting, "I think it's a fairly good draft, but time will tell. As we feel right now, we feel this draft is deeper than some of the other ones. We know there could be some special players."

The players listed above will most likely be gone by time Columbus gets to pick, but that still leaves plenty of talent:

• Grigori Denisenko -- Forward

• Isac Lundestrom -- Centerman

• Rasmus Kupari -- Centerman

• Dominik Bokk -- Forward

• Joseph Veleno -- Forward

• Barrett Hayton -- Forward

• Serron Noel -- Forward

• Rasmus Sandin -- Defenseman

In other news, the NHL has released all of the teams' schedules. Preseason starts September 17 against Buffalo on home ice and will end on the 29 against Chicago in Illinois. Columbus will officially kick off their season on October 4 in Detroit, and their home opener will be on the 5th against the Carolina Hurricanes.