With the No. 2 pick in the NHL Draft, the Columbus Blue Jackets knew they would be in the spotlight Friday night.

They got a jump start on the proceedings, however, by making the first big trade on a day that may be full of them. The Blue Jackets traded for Philadelphia backup goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in an attempt to shore up the franchise's goaltending depth. In return, Philadelphia received a package of three draft picks, including No. 45 in this year's Draft.

This past season, the Blue Jackets used four different goalies and the unheralded Curtis Sanford emerged as the unlikely No. 1. Steve Mason, who was a franchise savior during his rookie season four years ago, has continued to struggle. This season, he played in a career-low 46 games and went 16-26-3 with career worsts in save percentage (.894) and goals-against average (3.39).

Bobrovsky, 23, came to prominence in his first season with the Flyers, going 28-13-8 with a 2.59 GAA and .915 save percentage. But the Flyers landed No. 1 goalie Ilya Bryzgalov the following summer, marginalizing Bobrovsky's role.

Bryzgalov struggled in his first season in orange-and-black, however, and Bobrovsky ended up playing in 29 games, going 14-10-2 with a 3.02 GAA and .899 save percentage.



In addition to the second-round pick which originally belonged to Ottawa, the Flyers also received a pair of fourth-rounders. Columbus had acquired those picks from Vancouver and Phoenix, respectively.