Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen spoke to the team’s radio play-by-play announcer BobMcElligott today about the Blue Jackets’ offseason, touching on roster moves, trade rumors, and the upcoming season.
On the Panarin-for-Saad deal, where Columbus traded Brandon Saad back to the Chicago Blackhawks for Artem Panarin, Kekalainen said that he was looking for a “game-breaking type of player,” and one “who can win you the tight games.” Most importantly, the GM said, was Panarin’s one-on-one skill that creates offense by itself.
On coach John Tortorella, Kekalainen emphasizes that the coach has a “great feel for what each player is all about,” but will get frustrated if a player lacks work ethic, stating that “Tortorella does not like players who don’t work hard.” The GM then intimates that Tortorella may not be the only organizational member who thinks that way.
On the expansion draft deals, where Columbus made moves to protect their young prospects, Kekalainen explains that his prospects were too valuable to lose. Because Columbus could lose one of three important young players, the team had to either trade all three, or find a way to protect them. The team ended up losing William Karlsson, but kept the likes of Josh Anderson, Ryan Murray, David Savard, and Joonas Korpisalo.
Finally, on free agency, Kekalainen states that the team would rather build from the draft than to sign key players as free agents. Columbus is not known as a hot free agent market, and they have not historically been a big player for elite free agents. The GM also expects last year’s 3rd overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois to challenge for a roster spot at camp.
