The free agent period is now less than a week away from opening up. Several prominent players are set to hit the open market and many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ free agent situation.
Key Restricted Free Agents: Alexander Wennberg. The team’s former first-round pick from 2014 looks like he’s paying dividends in his third full season in the league. The 22-year-old center stepped onto the team’s first line and had a breakout year, putting up 13 goals and 46 assists. While the Blue Jackets are not sure whether pass-first center is a first-line center, he is undoubtedly high in their plans for the future. At $1.4MM this past year, expect the young center to demand quite a pay raise.
F Josh Anderson. The 23-year-old winger is at the top of the list of restricted free agents that Columbus needs to lock up. The team went out of their way to make sure they didn’t lose the former fourth-round pick in 2012 to the Vegas Golden Knights and now must pay up to a player who had a breakout season with 17 goals and 12 assists last year, yet averaged just 12 minutes of ice time per game. Anderson made just $894,167 a year ago and should be in line for a modest raise.
Other RFA’s: G Oscar Dansk, F Jordan Schroeder, D Oleg Yevenko.
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Sam Gagner. The 27-year-old forward signed with the Blue Jackets last year on a one-year “show me” contract and did just that, putting up one of his best seasons ever with 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points. Now, if the Blue Jackets want to keep him, they will have to pay for him. The problem is that with such a mediocre group of free agents on the market this year, Gagner will find himself heavily in demand by other NHL teams and is in line for a big pay day.
Other UFA’s: D Marc-Andre Bergeron, F Brett Gallant, F Lauri Korpikoski, D Kyle Quincey, D Jaime Sifers, D Ryan Stanton, F T.J. Tynan.
Projected Cap Space: The team is in decent shape with just a $64.7MM cap hit that goes towards 21 players, giving them approximately $10.3MM to work with (per Cap Friendly) during the offseason, but that does not include locking up either Wennberg or Anderson, which will likely whittle away any significant space to sign a quality free agent.