4:56 PM: The Blue Jackets made the deal official according to a team announcement. Waddell said, “James van Riemsdyk has been a very consistent, productive player throughout his career and bringing him to Columbus will not only provide depth to our group up front, but also valuable leadership and another veteran presence in our dressing room“.
3:34 PM: TSN’s Chris Johnston is reporting the Columbus Blue Jackets have signed UFA forward James van Riemsdyk. A few moments later, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that it would be a one-year, $900K contract for van Riemsdyk in Columbus.
The veteran sniper will join the fourth team of his career as the Blue Jackets inch closer to the salary cap floor. It was reported only yesterday that Columbus would be looking to add up front after moving on from Patrik Laine this summer and the tragic loss of winger Johnny Gaudreau at the end of last month. Forward Justin Danforth is not expected to be ready for the start of the regular season due to a wrist injury that knocks the Blue Jackets down to 10 healthy forwards. Putting together a complete lineup is more forward in the mind of general manager Don Waddell, as there isn’t an expectation the team will be penalized for starting the year under the salary cap floor.
JVR is no longer the offensive threat he used to be with the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs but should reasonably add some punch to the middle-six of Columbus’ forward core. He’s coming off a one-year deal with the Boston Bruins in which he scored 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games while also skating in his 1000th NHL contest. Most of his points in Boston came in the first half of the season, with seven goals and 29 points through the first 41 games. He only managed four goals and nine points in the last 30 games without having a major decline in ATOI.
Columbus can reasonably expect 30 to 35 points from JVR this year but his real value may come through his leadership skills. He made it to the Stanley Cup Final in his rookie campaign with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2009-10 with seven more appearances in the postseason since. He’s scored over 300 goals at the NHL level and could be a tremendous teacher to the number of young guns on the Blue Jackets’ roster.
He may become a buy-low trade candidate this season for contending teams looking to add scoring in their bottom six. The Blue Jackets are not expected to compete, and van Riemsdyk’s $900K salary will be more than affordable for interested parties. The now second-oldest player in Columbus will have to take advantage of the first half of the year if he hopes to compete for a Stanley Cup by the end of next season.
Let’s go. A nice veteran to get in some young guns ear and teach him some stuff.
JVR missed time with an illness after the All-Star break & he struggled after he returned. I think the illness took a lot out of him.
I’m surprised it took this long to land a contract.
Me too. I was pretty impressed by how much JVR contributed to the Bruins *without* landing on the score sheet; he was a disruptive net-front presence on a lot of goals.
With that, the big problem with this is that a desperate Columbus team is going to overuse him, playing him more minutes and higher in the lineup than he can manage any more.
JVR is a great asset for CBJ this preseason. Glad to have him.