The Blue Jackets have “little interest” in selling off their pending unrestricted free agents for mid-round picks at the trade deadline, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes Thursday. A big splash from the surging but still rebuilding club is unlikely, but Columbus won’t be in selling mode amid a tight Eastern Conference wild-card race.
Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell has recently completed work to retain UFA-to-be Zach Aston-Reese and potential RFA Jake Christiansen on low-cost extensions. Other names, like Justin Danforth, Sean Kuraly, Mathieu Olivier up front, and Dante Fabbro and Jack Johnson on the back end, seem likely to stay in Columbus for the rest of the season regardless of how productive extension talks are.
Of course, the Jackets’ highest-value pending UFA is defenseman Ivan Provorov. The 28-year-old lefty has 20 points through 48 games this season while logging over 23 minutes per night but is believed to be interested in signing an extension to keep him off the open market, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic said last month.
Nonetheless, Provorov ranked third on The Athletic’s latest trade board and 21st on TSN’s. His trade candidacy is likely exempt from Friedman’s report as he’d cost quite a bit more than a mid-round pick to acquire, even as a rental option.
After the Blue Jackets defeated the Maple Leafs 5-1 on Wednesday, they moved into what’s effectively a three-way tie based on points percentage for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots with the Senators and Canadiens. Columbus has 53 points through 48 games for a .552 points percentage, while the Sens and Habs have 52 points through 47 games for a .553 mark.
As Friedman points out, the Jackets will be buyers in effect with the expected addition of captain Boone Jenner to the active roster in the coming weeks. He’s yet to play in the regular season after sustaining a shoulder injury during training camp that required surgery, but has resumed skating and is looking at a potential return in February/
Jenner, 31, would likely rank among the top 10 targets available at this year’s deadline in terms of roster impact. He’s coming off a 22-goal, 35-point campaign in 58 appearances last season
They will if it improves the team w/o losing team chemistry.
Columbus is a really good young team, If they sneak in to the playoffs, It could get interesting.
As a team unexpectedly in the thick of the wild card picture, the Jackets’ UFAs serve the same function as “own rentals”; if they had traded them over the summer they’d just have spent those assets to reacquire the players now. I do expect them to leverage their mountain of cap space in some way, whether by adding a role player from a cap strapped rival or brokering a retention deal, as long as the term isn’t too long.
I think there biggest need is more stability in net.
I am a little confused about what Columbus sees in Mikael Pyyhtia, He has played in 36 games at a little over 12 minutes a night.
For the most part the rebuild already happened and now this is just a young team building confidence without having any ‘expectations’. I hope they get in but if they don’t they are in an enviable spot from a cap standpoint to fill in some gaps. I get selling off UFAs as a practice but I also agree that a strong finish may add much needed curb appeal to the organization to land a bigger fish in the off-season