The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today they’ve secured the services of right wing Mathieu Olivier for the next two seasons. The team revealed that the deal is worth $2.2MM in total and will keep the 26-year-old in Columbus until the end of the 2024-25 season at a $1.1MM cap hit.
Olivier was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights after completing a two-year, $1.5MM contract signed with the Nashville Predators in 2021. Columbus acquired him for a 2022 fourth-round pick nearly one year ago, and the gritty winger responded by recording career highs across the board with five goals and 15 points in 65 games. He’s got a bit more skill to his game than a typical enforcer, although he doesn’t have much upward mobility in the lineup.
It’s a fine deal for a player of his role, although with the team now carrying less than $5MM in projected cap space (CapFriendly) before July’s even started, seven figures per season may have been a bit of a reach. The team’s fourth line of Olivier, Eric Robinson, and Sean Kuraly was their most consistently used in 2022-23, amassing nearly 400 minutes of play together.
The 6-foot-2 product of Mississippi will be an unrestricted free agent in two years.
Gbear
The Biloxi Bull!
Donovan Voigt
miss that dude beating down the boards with Jeannot
Gbear
Now that Jeannot is gone, I wish they’d have kept Olivier around.