The Blue Jackets have reassigned forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Luca Del Bel Belluz to AHL Cleveland, per a team announcement. While Columbus isn’t a part of the postseason picture, their minor-league feeder is, so the duo will be able to get some playoff action in after all.
The move could mark the final note on Aston-Reese’s transactions log in his Blue Jackets tenure. A pending unrestricted free agent, the 31-year-old had a trying campaign that’s unlikely to result in him being brought back unless there’s mutual interest in him playing more of a minor-league role.
Once a depth defensive standout for the Penguins, it’s actually been a rocky few years for the 31-year-old. He was once a lineup fixture but lost his grip on that almost overnight, failing to land a deal in the 2023 offseason and getting released from a tryout with the Hurricanes before eventually landing a two-way deal with the Red Wings at the beginning of the year. He ended up clearing waivers before spending most of the season in the AHL. He joined the Golden Knights the following summer but was claimed off waivers by Columbus during training camp.
That move in October 2024 precipitated Aston-Reese’s return to NHL relevancy. The checking winger re-emerged with a relative bang and earned a one-year extension in the process, making a career-high 79 appearances for the Jackets while also setting new best marks in assists (11), shots on goal (101), and blocks (58). While his -15 rating was cause for concern, he spent most of the season on a bottom-six checking unit with Justin Danforth and Mathieu Olivier that actually posted strong underlying metrics, controlling 54.6% of expected goals at 5-on-5 while outscoring opponents 13-9, per MoneyPuck.
This year, with Danforth gone and the offseason acquisitions of Charlie Coyle, Isac Lundeström, and Miles Wood pushing him down the depth chart, Aston-Reese’s impact was considerably more measured. He started the year in a regular role but was a healthy scratch for the first time by the end of October. He continued to fall in and out of the lineup until eventually landing on waivers in January. He cleared and was on assignment to Cleveland until getting called up at the beginning of this month in response to a Lundeström injury concern, although he played just once on his seven-game recall.
Aston-Reese’s NHL showing this year concludes with a 1-4–5 scoring line in 27 outings. He posted a -1 rating, saw decreased penalty-kill responsibilities, and averaged just 9:44 of ice time per game while racking up 78 hits. He’s also scored seven goals and 14 points in 25 AHL contests with Cleveland, where he’ll play a significant factor in the postseason.
Del Bel Belluz, on the other hand, has a clearer future in Columbus. The Jackets selected the 22-year-old middleman 44th overall in 2022, and they have to be pleased with his development, particularly offensively, thus far. He’s already worked his way up to being a consistent recall option, now making 30 NHL appearances over the last three seasons, where he has three goals and seven assists while averaging 11:27 per game. His ice time was down to about nine minutes per game across 14 showings this year, resulting in him generating only an assist and 11 shots on goal, with a -2 rating.
In Cleveland, the 6’1″ center is a star. After erupting for 27 goals and 53 points in 61 outings last season, he’s now over a point per game with a 22-35–57 scoring line in 53 games in 2025-26. He’s already received AHL All-Star honors. But, as The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler points out, he’s the type of prospect who does a lot of things well but doesn’t truly excel in any given area. As such, he sits down at #7 in the organizational prospect rankings, in part due to the difficulty of projecting where exactly he could slot in down the line amid a wealth of other young centers in the system.