Blue Jackets defenseman Adam McQuaid is still dealing with concussion symptoms from a hit back in late March, agent Rick Curran told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. There is no timetable for when those symptoms may subside and accordingly, his plans for free agency are more or less on hold with Curran stating that the priority at this point is McQuaid simply returning to full health:
He’d like to keep playing, but to be frank, the priority from my standpoint on his behalf is just to get him healthy. He’s such a wonderful person. I just want to see him get healthy and we’ll address what the outlook is then, as far as playing hockey and when.
The Blue Jackets had added McQuaid at the trade deadline in an effort to shore up their defensive depth and improve their penalty killing but instead, they weren’t able to use him in the postseason and they fell in the second round to Boston. Overall, he wound up playing in just 14 games in Columbus after they dealt a pair of draft picks and minor league blueliner Julius Bergman for him.
As a pending UFA, McQuaid was likely going to draw a reasonable amount of interest as he has been a serviceable third pairing player for quite a few years now. This free agency class isn’t particularly deep on right-shot defenders and there are always teams that are looking to shore up their penalty kill. However, with this uncertainty surrounding him, some of those teams may be forced to turn to another option when the market officially opens up on July 1st.