- Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson talked about the importance of experience in filling their now-vacant GM position with Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. They’re not necessarily focusing on someone who has experience as an NHL GM but rather that they’ve had some level of success in a front office, be it as an assistant GM or the major junior ranks. Columbus won’t be filling the position before the end of the season with the team taking somewhat of a by-committee approach when it comes to the upcoming trade deadline.
Blue Jackets Rumors
Chinakhov To Return Saturday
- Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov will return to the lineup on Saturday versus San Jose, notes Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). The 23-year-old started the season on IR and then spent a bit of time in the minors. However, since being recalled, Chinakhov has started to live up to his potential as a former first-round pick, collecting 14 goals and 10 assists in 40 games so far. He winds up missing just one game due to the upper-body injury he sustained last weekend.
Ivan Provorov, Yegor Chinakhov Return To Practice
- Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch reports that defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Yegor Chinakhov have both returned to practice for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Reportedly suffering from an undisclosed injury in the team’s most recent game against the Ottawa Senators, Provorov will likely not miss any time with the injury. Chinakhov, on the other hand, did miss the game against the Senators completely but should be available tomorrow night against the San Jose Sharks.
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Blue Jackets Not Looking To Trade Boone Jenner
With many teams in full preparation mode for the NHL Trade Deadline on March 8th, the Columbus Blue Jackets were expected to be one of the league’s busier sellers, as they currently sit 29th overall in the standings. However, only yesterday, the organization made a major change at the top of their front office hierarchy, firing General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen after 12 seasons with the club.
Over the last several weeks, players such as Ivan Provorov and Patrik Laine have seen their names mentioned in various trade boards across the media landscape, although each presents a separate array of challenges when it comes to building a trade around either player. Outside of Provorov and Laine, even team captain Boone Jenner has seen his name softly brought up in rumors, largely based on the poor play of the team and his perceived value across the league.
Today, the acting General Manager of the Blue Jackets John Davidson made sure to squash any rumors regarding Jenner, indicating that the team had no intention of moving out their captain (X Link).
At the end of the day, with two years and $7.5MM remaining on Jenner’s contract after this season, Columbus does not need to be in any rush to move on from Jenner. Even with forwards such as Laine and Johnny Gaudreau on the roster, there is a strong case to be made that Jenner is the most valuable forward on the roster, being that he still leads the team in goal-scoring with 16 with 10-15 fewer games played than his peers.
On the other side of the coin, with this deadline season quickly turning into a seller’s market, an offer may come across the desk of Davidson that he may not be able to refuse. Only two weeks ago, the Calgary Flames were able to acquire an established NHL player, two prospects, and a first-round pick from the Vancouver Canucks for what could only be a few months of Elias Lindholm.
Outside of some very legitimate health concerns surrounding Jenner, he is on a similar goal and faceoff win pace as Lindholm over the last three seasons, also displaying some serious defensive prowess as well. With Lindholm set to make more than twice what Jenner is earning over the next two years, a contending team may offer a serious package if they were previously unable to pry Lindholm out of Alberta.
Columbus Blue Jackets Fire Jarmo Kekäläinen
The Columbus Blue Jackets have parted ways with general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen. The team’s President of Hockey Operations, John Davidson, will share the general manager duties with the rest of the hockey operations staff while Columbus searches for a replacement, per team reporter Aaron Portzline.
Kekäläinen has been with the Blue Jackets for 11 seasons, taking over for Scott Howson in 2013. He was just the fourth general manager in the team’s history and became the first to lead them to multiple playoff appearances. Unfortunately, those playoff appearances never turned into much – with a second-round exit in 2014 marking the farthest the team has ever made it. And it seems those days may be behind them, as Columbus hasn’t made the playoffs – or even ranked above sixth in their division – since 2020. They are currently ranked last in the Metropolitan Division with a 16-26-10 record this season.
Columbus’ recent seasons have instead been marked by top 10 draft picks, including taking Kent Johnson fifth overall in 2021, David Jiricek sixth overall in 2022, and Adam Fantilli third overall in 2023. While Johnson did manage 16 goals and 40 points last season, he’s on an 82-game pace of just 36 points this season, even playing in his first 10 AHL games of his three-year pro career. Jiricek has yo-yoed between the major and minor leagues, playing in nine AHL games and 36 NHL games this season – but failing to yet earn a role on the team’s special teams and managing just nine points. The best impact from a recent draft pick has undeniably come through Adam Fantilli, who currently ranks third on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 27 points through 49 games. But even Fantilli hasn’t been safe from headache, playing with 10 different linemates this season, more than his counterparts Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson combined.
The usage of the team’s top prospects ultimately falls on rookie head coach Pascal Vincent, who was thrust into a head coaching role after the Blue Jackets unsuccessfully tried to bring back Mike Babcock. The long-time Toronto Maple Leafs head coach ran into controversy even before he was able to command the Columbus bench for the first time, leading to his resignation in mid September.
Kekäläinen’s biggest strength – and the talent that will certainly earn him attention from other NHL teams – is his drafting ability. The Blue Jackets boast plenty of top prospects, including Denton Mateychuk, Stanislav Svozil, and Gavin Brindley. These talents, along with their trio of top 10 picks, sets up Columbus well for the future. But there will need to be a lot of polishing around the edges if the team wants to find consistent playoff success. They’ll look to find that success under John Davidson, now the fifth general manager in team history, or whoever may succeed him.
Devils Notes: Markström, Merzļikins, Smith, Hatakka
Reporting in recent days from both Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has illustrated just how close the Devils were to acquiring goaltender Jacob Markström from the Flames in a pre-deadline blockbuster. Speaking on Monday’s episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast, Friedman said the teams were close in principle on a trade but could not reconcile with each other on the financial aspect of the deal. The Devils remained firm on Calgary retaining some of Markström’s $6MM cap hit – something first-year GM Craig Conroy isn’t willing to do over the remaining three seasons of Markström’s deal.
Seravalli added Tuesday that discussions were serious enough to “get to [Markström]’s level to approve it,” a necessary step since he boasts a no-movement clause in his contract. With the two parties at an impasse that Seravalli thinks “probably” can’t be revisited, New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald will likely look elsewhere to upgrade his goaltending with 23 days until the trade deadline.
As the Devils look for a cheaper option, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes said Tuesday that they’ve had interest in Blue Jackets starter Elvis Merzļikins. It’s not a gigantic discount, though, as Merzļikins’ $5.4MM cap hit is only $600K less than Markström’s and runs through 2027. The 29-year-old Latvian has had an underrated bounce-back season, posting a .904 SV% and 1.3 goals saved above expected in 29 games, per MoneyPuck. While he and Markström both have inconsistent track records over a five-year sample, the latter’s peaks have been much higher – Markström’s 18.4 goals saved above expected this season have him on track for a third top-five Vezina Trophy voting finish in the last five years.
Still, either would be a massive upgrade on what Vítek Vaněček has done for them this season. His -11.1 goals saved above expected are second-worst in the league and the worst among starters for prospective playoff teams. Only Ottawa’s Joonas Korpisalo has performed worse overall relative to shot quality, saving -11.9 goals above expected. The Devils, who are 5-4-1 in their past ten games, are now at full health for the first time in weeks and sit two points back of the Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, a gap that can easily be closed with improved play between the pipes.
In much lower-stakes news, the Devils assigned defenseman Santeri Hatakka to AHL Utica on Tuesday to make room for veteran Brendan Smith, who was activated off injured reserve and returned to the lineup in yesterday’s 4-2 win over the Predators. Hatakka, 23, had shown promising results with two assists and a +7 rating in seven showings but was a casualty of roster management as he did not require waivers to head to the minors. A pending RFA upon completion of his entry-level contract, the 2019 sixth-round pick of the Sharks will remain near the top of New Jersey’s list for blue-line call-ups for the rest of the season.
Smith, 35, made his return after missing 10 games with a knee sprain. The pending UFA had three shots on goal in 17:27 of ice time against Nashville, his 35th game of the season. The 6-foot-2 enforcer has averaged 14:30 per game this year while flipping between defense and wing, recording a goal and five points with a +2 rating.
Chinakhov Out Tuesday, Concussion For Blankenburg
- The upper-body injury that Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov sustained last night will cause him to miss at least Tuesday’s game versus Ottawa, relays Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link). If Columbus wants to call up a replacement forward, they’ll need to open up a roster spot first which could be done by shifting Adam Fantilli to injured reserve. Meanwhile, Portzline adds that defenseman Nick Blankenburg is dealing with a concussion, the second one he has sustained this season. The 25-year-old has been shuffled back and forth between Columbus and AHL Cleveland this year but it appears he’ll be staying in the minors for a little while until he’s cleared to return.
Upper-Body Injury For Yegor Chinakhov
- The Blue Jackets announced (Twitter link) that forward Yegor Chinakhov left tonight’s game versus Tampa Bay with an upper-body injury. After a slow start to his campaign following his early-November recall, the 23-year-old has become a capable contributor for Columbus, notching 14 goals and 10 assists in 39 games heading into tonight’s action.
Could Peeke Be A Buyout Candidate This Summer?
- Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli wonders if the Blue Jackets might look at buying out defenseman Andrew Peeke this summer. Columbus has been shopping a blueliner for most of the season (Peeke and Adam Boqvist have been the players believed to be available) but has yet to find a suitable trade, likely because both blueliners have cap hits at or above $2.6MM. Peeke struggled last season and has been a frequent healthy scratch this year (playing just 20 times), providing a weak return on a $2.75MM price so far. He has two years left on his deal and if Columbus was to buy him out, they’d eat a $917K dead cap charge for the next four seasons.
Blue Jackets Activate Adam Boqvist Off IR
The Columbus Blue Jackets are set to welcome back defenseman Adam Boqvist as they’ve activated him off of the injured reserve. The 23-year-old will re-join the team tonight when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning and should line up on the top defensive pairing alongside Zach Werenski. He will also likely see time on the team’s second power-play unit.
Boqvist suffered an upper-body injury on January 25th in a game against the Calgary Flames. While the injury was classified as upper-body, Boqvist suffered a head or facial injury after taking a puck to the face while sitting on the bench. The timing of the injury meant that the former eighth-overall pick only missed three games due to the All-Star break. It was the second time Boqvist has been sidelined this season as he missed four weeks of play in December due to a shoulder injury.
A native of Falun, Sweden, Boqvist has provided some offense from the backend as he has seven assists in 20 games this season. While his offensive numbers throughout his career have been decent, he has never been able to remain in the lineup for an entire season for a variety of reasons. Now in his fifth NHL season, Boqvist has yet to play more than 52 games in any one year.
Boqvist was one of the pieces acquired in the trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that sent Seth Jones to the Windy City and looked like he was turning the corner last season. But this season, injuries and healthy scratches have limited his playing time and he has had a hard time settling into a groove.