The Blue Jackets have taken care of one of their pending restricted free agents before draft action picks back up. The team announced that they’ve signed goaltender Zach Sawchenko to a one-year, two-way contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 27-year-old spent this past season with AHL Cleveland, getting into 27 games with the Monsters where he posted a 10-11-5 record with a 3.00 GAA and a .900 SV%. Sawchenko has played in 106 contests at the AHL level over the past four seasons but NHL playing time has been hard to come by along the way as he has just seven appearances at the top level, all coming back in 2021-22 with San Jose where he had a 3.35 GAA and a .901 SV%.
Sawchenko was the backup to Jet Greaves in Cleveland in 2024-25. However, with Greaves now in line to move up to Columbus full-time following this week’s trade of Daniil Tarasov to Florida, Sawchenko could become the starter for the Monsters next season with prospect Nolan Lalonde serving as the backup in his first professional year. Alternatively, Columbus could look to add another netminder in free agency to push Sawchenko for the starting job with the Monsters and allow Lalonde to get more regular minutes in the ECHL.