The Columbus Blue Jackets are expected to place young defender Adam Boqvist on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout later today, shares Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Blue Jackets would only be on the hook for one-third of his contract value should he clear unconditional waivers, as he’s being bought out before the age of 26. That would burden Columbus with a $533K cap hit through the next two seasons, a full $2.7MM in savings from the $3.2MM salary that Boqvist was due next year, though also strapping them with empty cap in 2025-26.
Boqvist is a surprising name to a list of pre-July 1st buyouts that also features Jack Campbell and Nate Schmidt. Unlike those two, Boqvist is closer to the beginning of his career than the end of it, though he’s been no stranger to struggles. Boqvist has been in and out of Columbus’ lineups for much of the last three seasons since they acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks alongside the picks used for David Jiricek, Cole Sillinger, and Aleksi Heimosalmi. In return, Columbus gave up defender Seth Jones and the picks used on Nolan Allan and Dominic Jones.
Boqvist joined the Blue Jackets with 76 NHL games, and 29 points, under his belt. But despite moving to a Columbus team that was, at the time, less competitive than Chicago – Boqvist wasn’t able to work his way up the depth chart. He instead spent much of his first year on the team’s third pairing, posting 22 points, split evenly, in 55 games. That was enough offense to earn him a slight boost in power-play time last season, with Boqvist vindicating the boost with a career-high 24 points in 46 games.
But Boqvist hasn’t been able to avoid the injury bug in any of his five NHL seasons. That came to a point this season, when an upper-body injury ended Boqvist’s season in mid-March, after routinely holding him out of the lineup since December. He was held to just 35 games on the year, tied for the fewest games he’s played in one season, and Boqvist posted a career-low 10 points as a result. Despite clear skill in carrying and managing the puck, a lack of assuredness in making plays and air-headed defense has kept Boqvist from taking off. He was previously due a $2.6MM cap hit this season – a number that could be palatable for teams looking for a spark on waivers. Should he make it to the open market, the young Boqvist will surely have no shortage of suitors.
Happy buyout day, everyone!
This seemed like an odd choice for a buyout, but Boqvist hasn’t even been able to maintain an NHL roster spot on a multi-million cap hit. Yikes.
Could be an interesting reclamation project, but I kinda suspect this is gonna be one of those players that winds up in Europe.
3.2 seems too high for a waiver claim. Wonder if he’d sign a two-way/low AAV for another look. Columbus has a weird rep/rapport with their young players
Boqvist’s cap hit, according to PuckPedia, is only 2.6M. That actually comes to a credit of -$66,666 for the Jackets.
This is correct! Weird to find the perfect verbiage for it – but Columbus would receive $66K back in cap space next season, then be due just north of $500K in 2025-26.
Boqvist is probably going to be a steal for whoever signs him. He is almost 24, but if he can get his injuries under control he’s a pretty high risk/reward player to take a chance on. He’s far from washed out, and I think with a better organization he could turn it around.
Is there something about his two way play that I’m just missing? Offensively his stats don’t seem bad enough to warrant not giving him a chance to fully stick in the lineup. I know injuries have been a theme with Boqvist and he certainly hasn’t lived up to the contract but he’s young enough to still have value in the NHL
I wonder if he would agree to a high salaried AHL 1 yr contract. Within a couple months he could have an NHL agreement when he does well at the AHL level.
Another Stan Bowman high draft pick bust. Ah I miss Stan. Like I miss Hemorrhoids.
CALLING Calgary Flames this would be a fit for d core help.