The Blue Jackets signed defenseman Jake Christiansen to a two-year, $1.95MM contract extension Friday, per a team announcement. The deal, which will count $975K against the cap beginning next season, keeps him in Columbus through the 2026-27 season and off this summer’s restricted free agent market.
Christiansen, 25, is logging full-time usage on the Blue Jackets blue line this season for the first time. The two-time AHL All-Star has leapfrogged players like Jordan Harris and Jack Johnson on the Columbus depth chart, appearing in all 45 games this year in a bottom-pairing role.
An undrafted free agent signing by the Jackets out of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips in 2020, Christiansen has routinely lined up to the left of Damon Severson this year. The duo has outscored opponents 17-11 at even strength and boasts a team-high 56.1 expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck.
While those are substantial underlying numbers, Christiansen’s lack of outright point production and minimal usage limited his earning potential on his next deal. He has a goal and six assists for seven points, but he isn’t a significant part of the Jackets’ special teams units.
Christiansen was a restricted free agent last summer and lasted 10 days on the market before agreeing to a two-way deal with a $400K guarantee to return to Columbus. The minor-league structure hasn’t been relevant, though, as he’s remained on the NHL roster all year and collected his league-minimum $775K salary. Christiansen would have had to clear waivers to head to the AHL at the beginning of the season, but after he posted a career-best 46 points in 62 games for Cleveland last year, the team wasn’t sure he’d go unclaimed after he passed through to begin the 2023-24 campaign.
Christiansen could have chosen to take the Blue Jackets to arbitration this summer but will instead lock in an average of a $200K raise for the next two years, even if things turn sour and he ends up on waivers and back in the minors. His salary breaks down as $950K in 2025-26 and $1MM in 2026-27, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. He joins his partner Severson, Zach Werenski, and Erik Gudbranson as Columbus defenders under contract next season on a one-way deal.
The extension walks Christiansen to UFA eligibility in the summer of 2027. A one-year pact would have given Columbus one more opportunity to negotiate with him as an RFA.
He’s the second depth player who’s established or re-established himself as an NHL regular with the Jackets this season to ink an extension in the past few days. Veteran winger Zach Aston-Reese put pen to paper on a one-year, $775K extension on Monday after resurfacing in Columbus as a bottom-six fixture.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
He still has alot to prove.