The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired veteran winger Mason Marchment from the Seattle Kraken on Friday of last week, and he made an instant impact for the club, scoring a goal in his first game after the trade.
Given the fact that the 30-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, as well as the fact that Columbus surrendered a second-round pick in order to acquire him, many have wondered whether the Blue Jackets will try to sign Marchment to a contract extension before the end of the season.
The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline directly addressed the topic today, including in a recent piece comments from both the player and Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell. Regarding the possibility of signing Marchment to an extension, Waddell told Portzline that he talked to Marchment’s agent, Paul Capizzano of Quartexx, right after the trade was completed, and the two parties agreed to table extension talks until they got to see whether Marchment is a good fit in Columbus and likes playing there.
Marchment himself appeared to agree with that approach, telling Portzline “I’m just kind of going day-by-day right now” and “I really don’t have a plan or anything like that,” while adding that his most pressing priority has been thinking about and taking care of his newborn child. It’s understandable, given those circumstances, that Marchment may not want to rush into signing a new contract.
At 30 years old, it’s likely that Marchment’s upcoming free agency is one of the most important of his career. It’s far easier for a non-star-level player who is still in his early thirties to get a big contract in free agency than it is for someone in his mid to late thirties, so Marchment has a chance this upcoming summer to make the kind of money he likely won’t be able to make the next time he’s a free agent.
Therefore, if this upcoming summer is the one where Marchment is likely to target a large contract that could take him until the twilight years of his NHL career, it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to sign that kind of contract in Columbus before knowing whether he’s a great fit with that organization. It’s also an understandable approach for the Blue Jackets to take.
Although they might prefer to have traded a second-round pick for a player under contract beyond this season, the fact of the matter is retaining Marchment will likely take a solid amount of investment. It would mean committing a sum of at least $4MM AAV (he’s unlikely to accept a significant pay cut after back-to-back seasons scoring around 20 goals and 50 points in 2023-24 and 2024-25) for a player in his thirties, with some term likely attached to the deal.
Columbus could very well be interested in retaining Marchment, but it simply wouldn’t be a prudent decision to extend him so quickly after acquiring him. While the Blue Jackets likely thought through these considerations before trading for him, they don’t know for sure whether he’ll be a fit in head coach Dean Evason’s plans, nor do they know if he’ll be a fit in their overall roster-building calculus.
Keeping their options open moving forward, while trying their best to effectively integrate Marchment into their team, is the most sustainable path forward and allows both sides to gain as much useful information as possible before making a significant commitment to each other.
It’s likely to be a busy summer in Columbus, as Marchment isn’t the only significant pending free agent. Captain Boone Jenner and veteran pivot Charlie Coyle are also set to be unrestricted free agents, while starting netminder Jet Greaves is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.