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Slow-Developing Trade Market For Patrik Laine

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Late last month, Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine exited the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program which allows for there to be contact between Laine and Columbus.  With a known desire for a change of scenery, the team has granted permission for the winger to talk to other teams as well.

However, there hasn’t been much interest in Laine’s services just yet.  GM Don Waddell told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch earlier this week that at this point, only one team has contacted him to express interest in acquiring his services.  Given where we are in the offseason, Waddell isn’t particularly surprised nor does he expect the situation to change in the near future:

At this time of the year, people are less responsive. So, I don’t really know. I think it’s going to play out for a while.

Laine’s situation is well-known at this point.  He played in just 18 games last season before being shut down due to shoulder surgery in December; he entered the assistance program a little more than a month after that.

The 26-year-old has been a high-end scoring threat in the past and is only two years removed from recording 56 points in as many games; he came close to the point-per-game mark in an injury-marred 2022-23 campaign as well.  However, Laine struggled in his limited action last season, notching just six goals and three assists.  Suffice it to say, this isn’t a situation where Columbus could be trading him at peak value.

Further complicating things is his contract, one which carries an AAV of $8.7MM for the next two years while his actual cash payout each year is $9.1MM (though $2MM of that has likely already been paid in the form of a signing bonus for this year).  Very few teams have that much cap space to absorb the contract outright.  Waddell has indicated his preference would be to make more of a pure ‘hockey trade’ but that might be hard to come by at this point.  To that end, the GM acknowledged that some retention might be required to ultimately push a move over the finish line:

We might end up eating some money. If I wanted to eat half, I could’ve traded him by now, but that’s not my first choice.

With rookie camps about six weeks away, executives will likely try to take some time away before getting ready for training camps.  Based on the tepid interest thus far, there’s a good chance that’s already the case.  As a result, while Laine is now free to speak to potentially interested teams, it looks as if it will take some time for a potential market to materialize.

Blue Jackets Sign Kirill Marchenko To Three Year Deal

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have re-signed forward Kirill Marchenko to a three-year deal worth a reported $11.55MM (as per team website). The new deal will give the 24-year-old a $3.85MM AAV over the contract’s lifetime and set him up for a nice payday if he blossoms into the player he believes he can become. The former second-round pick in 2018 was set to go to Arbitration later this week on July 31st but will no longer have to travel to Toronto after coming to an agreement.

In his first two NHL seasons, Marchenko has posted 44 goals and 23 assists in 137 games and cemented himself as part of the Blue Jackets young core going forward. His back-to-back 20+ goal seasons put him in rare company in Blue Jackets franchise history as Marchenko became just the second Columbus player ever to record two 20-goal seasons to begin their NHL career.

Marchenko’s rise to regular NHLer happened rather quickly after he started the 2022-23 season in the American Hockey League with the Blue Jackets affiliate the Cleveland Monsters. He tallied 19 points in 16 games and followed it up making his NHL debut in early December 2022. After his call-up, Marchenko went on a tear, setting a Blue Jackets record for most goals by a rookie with 21 in just 59 games.

This past year was a difficult season for the Blue Jackets, but Marchenko established himself by setting career highs in goals with 23 and assists with 19 while dressing in 78 games.

With a three-year deal in his back pocket, Marchenko and the Blue Jackets can turn their focus to next season and take the next steps in their progression. Marchenko has the skill and size to become an NHL power forward, but he will need to show he can produce better results against tougher competition if he wants to become a perennial 30-goal scorer in the NHL.

2024 Salary Arbitration Tracker

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It has been a quieter year on the salary arbitration front across the NHL.  After 23 players filed last summer, just 14 did this time around.  As expected, most have settled so far with a few hearings still pending.  Here’s a rundown of who has settled and who still needs to sign.

Updated 7/30/24, 1:07 p.m.

Contracts Settled

D Jake Christiansen (Blue Jackets) – one year, $775K (two-way agreement)
F Connor Dewar (Maple Leafs) – one year, $1.18MM
F Jack Drury (Hurricanes) – two years, $3.45MM
D Ty Emberson (Sharks) – one year, $950K
G Jet Greaves (Blue Jackets) – two years, $1.625MM (two-way in 2024-25, one-way in 2025-26)
F Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Sabres) – five years, $23.75MM
F Beck Malenstyn (Sabres) – two years, $2.7MM
D J.J. Moser (Lightning) – two years, $6.75MM
F Joe Veleno (Red Wings) – two years, $4.55MM
F Oliver Wahlstrom (Islanders) – one year, $1MM
F Kirill Marchenko (Blue Jackets) – three years, $11.55MM
F Martin Necas (Hurricanes) – two years, $13MM
D Ryan Lindgren (Rangers) – one year, $4.5MM

Contracts Awarded

D Spencer Stastney (Predators) – two years, $1.675MM (two-way in 2024-25, one-way in 2025-26)

Scheduled Hearings

none

A reminder of some of the arbitration rules for the upcoming potential hearings:

  • A player and team can settle on a deal at any point before the hearing starts.
  • Once the hearing has taken place, the arbitration decision must be issued by email within 48 hours.
  • Arbitration awards can only be one or two years in length. (Players who are in their final year of restricted free agency are only entitled to a one-year agreement from an arbitrator.)
  • The team decides on the awarded term as these were all player-elected filings.
  • The team can walk away from the arbitration decision if a contract with an average annual value of more than $4.74MM is awarded.

Worth noting is that teams who have someone file for arbitration will receive a second buyout window three days after their final contract is settled or awarded.  The window lasts for 48 hours and the only eligible players to be bought out in this timeframe are those who have an AAV of $4MM or more and were on that team’s reserve list at the trade deadline back in March.

Blue Jackets Re-Sign Kent Johnson

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The Blue Jackets have re-signed one of their remaining free agents, announcing today that they’ve inked forward Kent Johnson to a three-year contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $1.8MM per season.  GM Don Waddell released the following statement:

Kent Johnson is an exciting young player with tremendous upside, and we are happy that he will continue to grow and develop as a Blue Jacket. He is just beginning to scratch the surface of what he can be as a player, and we believe he will be a very important part of our hockey club moving forward.

Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the deal will pay Johnson $1.6MM next season, $1.8MM in 2025-26, and $2MM in 2026-27.  That $2MM figure will be his required qualifying offer at that time when he will have two years of club control remaining along with salary arbitration eligibility.

The 21-year-old was a first-round pick by Columbus back in 2021, going fifth overall following a very strong freshman year at Michigan that saw him record just over a point per game.  Johnson was even better the following season, notching 37 points in 32 contests, convincing Blue Jackets management that he was ready to turn pro.

Johnson signed late in the 2021-22 campaign, burning the first year of his contract in the process.  He got into nine games with them, recording three assists, a respectable total for someone just making the jump.  He then followed that up with a 16-goal, 40-point effort in 2022-23, making him a popular breakout candidate heading into last season.

Unfortunately for both Johnson and the Blue Jackets, last year was a rough one.  After a slow start, he was demoted to AHL Cleveland where he spent the better part of a month.  Johnson was quite productive in that stretch, notching five goals and ten assists in ten games, earning a recall in late November.  However, production was still hard to come by and he wound up finishing the year with just six goals and ten assists in 42 NHL appearances before a shoulder injury at the end of February ended his year prematurely.

As a result, a bridge agreement made the most sense for both sides as Johnson now has time to prove that last year was an aberration and not a sign of things to come.  He has a new head coach in Dean Evason, giving him a fresh start after struggling under Pascal Vincent last year.

Columbus still has some work to do on the contract front this summer.  Winger Kirill Marchenko’s arbitration hearing is scheduled for Wednesday with pre-hearing filings due on Monday if a deal isn’t in place by then.  Meanwhile, Cole Sillinger, picked seven spots after Johnson in 2021, is also a restricted free agent in need of a new contract.  Cap space won’t be an issue in these negotiations as they still have more than $15MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Patrik Laine Exits NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program

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Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine has been released from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program after being cleared by its doctors today, reports Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.

The news comes amid a trade request from Laine that’s stood since at least June, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported at the time. As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman points out, Laine is still recovering from clavicle/shoulder surgery that ended his 2023-24 season back in December. The Finnish winger entered the Player Assistance Program about five weeks after sustaining the injury.

Trade talks couldn’t progress with Laine in the program. It was widely reported that interested parties wanted to speak with Laine before acquiring him, which was prohibited before he was cleared. Now that he’s been released from the program, those talks with other teams can now commence. Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell declined to comment on Laine’s clearance and future trade talks today, per The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.

Among potential landing spots for the 26-year-old, Friedman named the Kraken as a team to watch last month. The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith later reported the Wild had engaged in preliminary discussions for the sniper as well.

Laine’s numerous injuries last season, including an upper-body ailment, limited him to just six goals and three assists in 18 games. But in the two preceding years, the 2016 second-overall pick had been a force for Columbus, averaging nearly a point per game (108 in 111 GP) while logging an ATOI of 18:58. When healthy, he remains a top-line winger, but the first part of this sentence is a large caveat. He hasn’t played more than 60 games in a season since before the pandemic.

Even with Laine out of the program, those injury concerns will remain. That’ll likely force Waddell to retain a solid chunk of his $8.7MM cap hit in a prospective trade to make it an appealing swap for both sides financially. Laine remains under contract through 2025-26, and he’ll be a UFA upon expiry. He can block a trade to 10 teams with his modified no-trade clause, per PuckPedia.

Outside of the trade discussions, it’s always good news to see a player cleared to return to action from the program. All of us at PHR wish Laine the best as he continues his NHL career.

Latest On Kirill Marchenko’s Contract Situation

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Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell believes that a one or two-year contract will make the most sense for restricted free agent forward Kirill Marchenko (as per Jason Newland of The Hockey News). Waddell had some comments today regarding the contract status of the 24-year-old saying that they’d do a longer-term deal if they could, but the concern is that one of the two sides could be burned by a long-term deal if Marchenko fails to produce, or if he has a breakout next season.

Waddell added that if Marchenko develops into the player that he feels he will become, then he will get paid down the road and the Blue Jackets would have no issues with handing out a lucrative contract in that case. Waddell is new to the Blue Jackets and given his comments, it appears that he would like to see Marchenko prove his worth before handing out a long-term deal.

One look at Marchenko’s numbers and it is easy to see why it would be a difficult contract to negotiate from either side. On one hand, the former second-round pick has topped 20 goals in both of his first two seasons in the NHL and boasts a large frame, solid puck skills and good skating. On the other hand, he struggles against tougher competition and has shot the lights out thus far in his career. Add to that the fact that he was a healthy scratch in March, and you have a very complicated contract negotiation.

Marchenko has spoken publicly about his frustration with the process, stating that he has yet to receive an offer that he deems worthy. He has also stated that he isn’t keen on going to arbitration with the Blue Jackets, something that is slated to happen one week from today in Toronto.

Blue Jackets Notes: Coaching Staff, Sillinger, Johnson

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Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweeted that Columbus Blue Jackets’ new head coach Dean Evason is expected to meet with current assistant coaches Mark Recchi, Jared Boll and Steve McCarthy in the coming days. The news comes from Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell who added that it is possible there could be changes to the current Columbus coaching staff, but the changes will not be a complete overhaul. All three assistant coaches are under contract through the 2024-25 season.

The three men haven’t been behind the Blue Jackets bench for any great length of time. Recchi has been with Columbus for less than a year after he was hired by the Blue Jackets last September. Boll joined the team as an assistant development coach back in September of 2018 and worked through the ranks to become an assistant coach. McCarthy joined the Blue Jackets as an assistant coach in September 2021 after spending five seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.

In other Blue Jackets notes:

  • Aaron Portzline spoke on the Front and Nationwide podcast about Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger. The 21-year-old is a restricted free agent and Portzline said that Sillinger could be looking at a multi-year contract extension this summer. The former 12th overall pick set a career-high with 32 points (13 goals and 19 assists) last season and improved his overall play rebounding nicely from a very difficult 2022-23 season. Sillinger could be on the verge of a breakout next season and Waddell might want to lock him down for a few seasons before those years become more expensive.
  • Portzline also spoke about restricted free agent forward Kent Johnson saying that he believes the 21-year-old will sign a one-year deal this summer. Portzline added that Johnson is hoping for the short-term deal so he can re-enter contract negotiations next summer under better circumstances. The former fifth-overall pick is coming off a very frustrating season in which he posted just six goals and 10 assists in 42 games. Johnson dealt with inconsistency and injuries, including a season-ending shoulder injury in late February that cut his season short.

Blue Jackets’ Martin Rysavy Signs In Czech Extraliga

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Blue Jackets left wing prospect Martin Rysavy has signed a two-year deal with Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga, per a team release. It’s a significant return home for the 2021 seventh-round pick, who will see his exclusive signing rights with Columbus expire next summer should he honor the second year of his deal.

Rysavy, 21, spent most of his development in the Czech system and was drafted out of HC Vítkovice, although he spent most of the 2020-21 season on loan to second-tier club HC Přerov. After his selection, Rysavy took his talents to North America, but not under contract with Columbus. He’s spent the last three seasons in junior hockey, suiting up for the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors.

In Moose Jaw, the 6’3″, 210-lb winger was a solid secondary scorer with good size but not a game-breaking talent. His best year offensively came in 2023-24, finishing seventh on the club in scoring with 44 points (25 goals, 19 assists) in 63 games. He added a more respectable 16 points in 20 playoff games as the Warriors took home their first WHL championship in franchise history, also sending them to the Memorial Cup for the first time.

Unless Rysavy has a major breakout in Liberec, his draft rights will likely expire on June 1 next year, and he will become unaffiliated with the Blue Jackets. He does have an intriguing blend of physicality and goal-scoring ability that could have him resurface on the international free-agent market eventually, though. It’s a small damper on an otherwise strong 2021 class for the Jackets, who’ve already had four players (Kent Johnson, James Malatesta, Cole Sillinger, Stanislav Svozil) log NHL minutes.

Blue Jackets Name Dean Evason Head Coach

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At long last, the Blue Jackets have found their next head coach. Dean Evason is heading to Columbus on a multi-year deal to fill the league’s last remaining vacancy at the position this summer, the team announced.

Technically, there were no head coaching vacancies in the league for a few days earlier this summer after the Sharks promoted Ryan Warsofsky. But Columbus, which had been without a full-time general manager for months until hiring Don Waddell in late May, fired Pascal Vincent after one season behind the bench on June 17. Vincent has since landed a new job as the head coach of the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Evason, 59, lands his second NHL head coaching gig after being fired by the Wild less than two months into last season. He was one of two reported finalists for the Columbus vacancy alongside ex-Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft, both of whom interviewed last week, per The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. The Blue Jackets also had documented interest in former Kings, Oilers, and Sharks bench boss Todd McLellan, but McLellan’s still being under contract with L.A. next season caused complications that led Columbus to back away.

Evason’s ousting in Minnesota around Thanksgiving wasn’t much of a surprise. The Wild had limped out of the gate while hampered by injuries and poor goaltending, posting a 5-10-4 record through 19 games before firing Evason and replacing him with John Hynes. It was a damper on an otherwise successful tenure in the State of Hockey for Evason, who guided the Wild to a 147-77-27 regular-season record (.639 points percentage) in parts of five seasons behind the bench.

Playoff success was a different story, though, much like throughout the Wild’s existence. Following a franchise record of 53 wins and 113 points in 2021-22, Minnesota was dispatched by the Blues in six games in the first round. Evason’s Wild made the postseason in all four attempts, but they never won a series and went a combined 8-15.

He’ll now get his second chance behind an NHL bench, joining Minnesota’s expansion brother as their third head coach in the past three seasons (and fourth if you count Mike Babcock, who was slated to replace Brad Larsen before last season but resigned during training camp). The Blue Jackets haven’t made the playoffs since John Tortorella was at the helm, a streak that’s expected to continue next spring.

So Evason’s poor playoff track record won’t be a major factor in Columbus, at least not early on. Instead, he’ll be tasked with guiding Columbus’ young core of Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson and David Jiříček, among others, to new heights next season and demonstrate evidence that they’re close to exiting their rebuild.

Evason’s other professional coaching roles include serving as an assistant with the Wild from 2018 to 2020, head coach of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals from 2012 to 2018, and an assistant with the Capitals from 2005 to 2012. A fifth-round pick of the Caps in 1982, Evason’s NHL career as a player spanned 803 games from 1983 to 1996, posting 139 goals and 372 points for Washington, Hartford, San Jose, Dallas and Calgary.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The Athletic: Blue Jackets Have League's Worst Goaltending Situation

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The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, Sean McIndoe and Scott Wheeler are taking a deep dive into each team’s goaltending situation league-wide, ranking clubs’ “current and future goaltending outlooks” via a combination of current aptitude, prospect strength, and the effectiveness of their NHL tandem’s contracts. In their first installment, detailing the bottom 10 teams in their ranking, the Blue Jackets took home the honor of having the worst overall situation between the pipes.

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