Columbus has some experience with picking 14th overall in the NHL Draft, but this year? They potentially might change that.
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the Jackets are open to moving this year’s 14th overall pick to improve their team now. General Manager Don Waddell told Portzline that he told everyone that he wants to make the Blue Jackets better, but isn’t looking to deal the pick for a player at age 32, unless it’s the right fit. In Waddell’s assessment, unless you’re selecting in the top-five of the entry draft, a prospect likely won’t sign for a few years and instead will develop through major junior, NCAA, and then the AHL.
Even before that was the case last year at the 2025 NHL Draft, when they selected defenseman Jackson Smith, the Jackets had used the No. 14 pick on Alexander Wennberg in 2013. Both Smith and Wennberg have a commonality that Waddell understands; it takes a little bit for a draft pick in the teens before they officially turn pro in the NHL. This is likely to be the case for Smith, who is currently entering his sophomore season at Penn State, and for Wennberg before that, who spent a year in Sweden before inking his entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets for 2014-15.
So could that 2026 pick be included in a trade for a former 15th overall pick in Dylan Larkin? Not exactly. Although the value would be on the right track for Columbus, in the sense that Larkin, who requested a trade as reported by Elliotte Friedman, could join fellow Michigan native and gold medalist Zach Werenski, don’t expect that to fall through. The 29-year-old forward has a tight list of teams he’d ideally want to waive his no-trade clause for that are in Stanley Cup contention.
Columbus finished the 2025-26 season with 92 points, good for fifth in the Metropolitan Division. They have not made the playoffs since the 2019-20 season and have finished with 80+ points in three of their last five campaigns. Given that the Blue Jackets are in a similar boat with the Red Wings, missing the postseason by a short margin on several occasions, it’s not an attractive situation for Larkin to eye. For that reason, Columbus will need to figure out another avenue to improve their current roster.
Next year’s NHL cap hit for the Blue Jackets will benefit them severely, as they intend to evaluate multiple restricted free agents and their futures in Ohio. In Buffalo, Waddell had hoped to begin negotiations with a few of his RFA’s, but none of the agents of players like Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger, and Jet Greaves were ready to start talks. This could be because no one wants to set the tone on the market, especially considering the large increase to $104MM in league cap hit, where players could truly cash in on big deals for not just this year, but in the following seasons as well.
Columbus enters the offseason with arond $32.4MM in cap space, thanks to that jump. The player who will be most focused on is Fantilli, who is in a contingent of his fellow 2023 drafted colleagues in No. 1 pick Connor Bedard with Chicago and No. 2 pick Leo Carlsson, both of whom are due for extensions with their entry-level contracts expiring.
Along with Sillinger, Fantilli, who scored a career-high 59 points at age 21, and Greaves, who finished ninth in the NHL with 16.5 goals saved above expected, Egor Zamula rounds out the list of restricted free agents. Notable unrestricted free agents for Columbus include forwards Mason Marchment, Danton Heinen, and captain Boone Jenner, as well as defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Brendan Smith. Waddell hasn’t discussed with any of them that they’re allowed to hit the market on July 1st.
They’ll have some added money from the expirations of buried and bought-out contracts from Adam Boqvist, Alexander Wennberg, and Ivan Fedotov. All three will come off the books and contribute $3.55MM to the space they can use to bring back key players.
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