Headlines

  • Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner
  • Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Uncertain For Game 3
  • Maple Leafs Hire Derek Lalonde As Assistant Coach
  • Avalanche’s Logan O’Connor Out 5-6 Months Following Hip Surgery
  • Lightning Hire Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach
  • Stars Fire Pete DeBoer
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Zach Werenski Signs With Columbus Blue Jackets

September 9, 2019 at 10:09 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 4 Comments

There will be no training camp holdout for Zach Werenski. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman has agreed to a three-year, $15MM contract. Werenski will still be a restricted free agent at the deal’s expiry, though will be arbitration eligible. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports the breakdown:

  • 2019-20: $4MM
  • 2020-21: $4MM
  • 2021-22: $7MM

The structure of the deal is an important thing to note, as the increased salary in year three guarantees Werenski will be given a qualifying offer of $7MM. Given that he’ll be just one year away from unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2022, it essentially makes the deal a four-year, $22MM deal ($5.5MM) if Werenski wanted. He’ll also be eligible for arbitration, where his previous salary will be taken into account.

To be sure, this deal represents a bargain for the Blue Jackets in the short term. Werenski has proven to be one of the most offensively-gifted young defensemen in the league over his three-year career, recording 38 goals and 128 points in 237 games. He has double-digit goals in each season and forms one of the best pairings in the NHL alongside Seth Jones. The fact that he is just 22 means there is room for improvement and likely even more excess value for the Blue Jackets over the next three years.

Unfortunately, that bargain will change dramatically at the end of the deal. Negotiating an extension with Werenski when he has the option of taking a $7MM payday and walking straight into unrestricted free agency will mean the Blue Jackets would have to offer a substantial increase, likely making him one of the highest-paid defensemen in the league. It also means that Werenski and Jones will both be negotiating extensions at the same time, though the latter is scheduled for unrestricted free agency in 2022 and should be getting a huge raise as soon as possible (which is July 1, 2021) if the Blue Jackets want to retain him.

Having both of their young defenders hitting free agency (of one kind or another) at the same time is obviously not ideal, but it also means that the team does have a sort of rebuild deadline if things aren’t going well over the next few seasons. The Blue Jackets actually have just three players signed through the 2022-23 season and just one—Cam Atkinson—for longer than that. While other teams are handing out long-term extensions to lock in their core for nearly a decade, Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen seems prepared to re-evaluate every few seasons to make sure his club doesn’t get too far ahead of themselves.

Obviously for Werenski this is a strong contract, even if he did accept a little less money up front. He controls where he wants to spend his prime years and how he wants to approach negotiations down the line. The fact that it is done a few days before training camp will allow him to enjoy the full preparation for this season.

For the other restricted free agent defensemen, it also may provide a model contract. Charlie McAvoy and Ivan Provorov remain unsigned as camp approaches and are in similar situations. McAvoy is a year further from unrestricted free agency, but for both the idea may be the same; take a shorter-term deal that gets you close to UFA status and go from there.

Kevin Weekes of the NHL Network and Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported the deal earlier this morning.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Columbus Blue Jackets| Newsstand| Transactions Zach Werenski

Washington Capitals Hire Brooks Orpik
Main
Morning Notes: Flyers, Canadiens, Colts
View Comments (4)

Comments

  1. bigdaddyt

    6 years ago

    Torts put the fear of god in him

    Reply
  2. manos

    6 years ago

    That’s a really good deal for Columbus.

    Reply
  3. DarkSide830

    6 years ago

    very good deal for Columbus

    Reply
  4. pawtucket

    6 years ago

    Good deal for 4 years…and if they don’t get back to the playoffs it’s bye bye

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner

    Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Uncertain For Game 3

    Maple Leafs Hire Derek Lalonde As Assistant Coach

    Avalanche’s Logan O’Connor Out 5-6 Months Following Hip Surgery

    Lightning Hire Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach

    Stars Fire Pete DeBoer

    Rangers Hire David Quinn, Joe Sacco As Assistant Coaches

    Bruins Name Marco Sturm Head Coach

    Re-Signing Luke Hughes Top Priority For Devils Off-Season

    Penguins Name Dan Muse Head Coach

    Recent

    Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner

    How The Canucks Need To Approach This Summer

    Five Key Stories: 6/2/25 – 6/8/25

    PHR Mailbag: Tkachuk, Blackhawks, Dobson, Red Wings, Jets, Kings

    Blue Jackets Notes: Provorov, Danforth, Keskinen

    Lightning Sign Jack Finley To Three-Year Contract

    Sabres Mulling Options As Draft Approaches

    Brad Marchand Discussed Future With Panthers

    2025 NHL Draft Combine Results

    Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Uncertain For Game 3

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Order 2025
    • Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version