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Blue Jackets Re-Sign Trey Fix-Wolansky

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A day after getting their top restricted free agent re-signed, the Blue Jackets went back to locking up some of their depth pieces, announcing the signing of winger Trey Fix-Wolansky to a one-year, two-way contract.  Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the deal will pay $750K in the NHL and $80K in the minors.

The 23-year-old made his NHL debut last season, getting into six games with Columbus where he picked up a goal and an assist despite averaging just 6:17 per contest.  His goal came in his NHL debut against Washington, becoming the sixth player in Blue Jackets history to score in his NHL debut.  Fix-Wolansky spent the bulk of last season in the minors and picked up career highs in goals (15) and assists (18) in 53 games with AHL Cleveland.

Fix-Wolansky will be waiver-eligible for the first time next season and will need to pass through unclaimed in order to make it back to the Monsters.  With a limited track record so far him being a smaller player at 5’8, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t be picked up off the wire.  However, after holding his own in his first taste of NHL action last season, Fix-Wolansky should get another opportunity at some point with the Blue Jackets in 2022-23 when injuries arise.

Columbus now has one remaining restricted free agent to re-sign this summer in winger Emil Bemstrom who wasn’t eligible to file for salary arbitration earlier this month.

Seattle Kraken Acquire Oliver Bjorkstrand

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After today’s signing of Patrik Laine, the Blue Jackets badly needed to create cap space. They’ve now done so, sending winger Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick.

This trade is another example of just how difficult it is for teams trading established players to get large compensation packages in return. Bjorkstrand is a 27-year-old forward who just set career highs in production in 2021-22. Bjorkstrand scored 28 goals and 57 points in 80 games last year, which ranked second on the Blue Jackets behind Jakub Voracek. Bjorkstrand’s contract is $5.4MM for the next four seasons, taking him to his age-31 campaign.

That’s a reasonable, affordable cost for a player like Bjorkstrand, which is perhaps why he’s the player Columbus had to trade. The trade of Bjorkstrand indicates that the team may have found there was not much appetite for their other highly-priced forwards like Voracek and Gustav Nyquist, despite Nyquist and Voracek each being productive and having less term on their contracts than Bjorkstrand.

For Columbus, this is a deal fans won’t be celebrating, but it’s also one they’ll understand as the cost of doing business at the top of the free agent market. The Blue Jackets landed perhaps the most talented player in their franchise’s history, Johnny Gaudreau, on a major contract earlier this month. It’s likely that seeing Gaudreau light the lamp repeatedly in Columbus will ease the pain of losing a reasonably-priced top-six winger for just two mid-round picks.

For the Kraken, adding Bjorkstrand at such an affordable asset cost is another solid addition for a team desperate to improve on last season’s lackluster scoring attack. With Bjorkstrand in the fold and free agent signing Andre Burakovsky arriving from Colorado, Dave Hakstol will have no shortage of options for who he wants to flank his two highly-drafted young centers in Matty Beniers and Shane Wright.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Patrik Laine

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Patrik Laine to a four-year contract worth a total of $34.8MM. The $8.7MM average annual value will make him the team’s second highest-paid forward, coming in a little behind Johnny Gaudreau and just ahead of Jakub Voracek. Though he qualified for it, Laine had decided not to file for salary arbitration this year. His $7.5MM qualifying offer was set to expire today but the two sides have come to an agreement on a longer deal. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports the full contract details:

  • 2022-23: $7.5MM
  • 2023-24: $9.1MM + 10-team NTC
  • 2024-25: $9.1MM + 10-team NTC
  • 2025-26: $9.1MM + 10-team NTC

Laine, 24, has already completed six seasons in the NHL, meaning a deal of this length buys out three years of unrestricted free agency. Had he instead decided to accept the qualifying offer or go to arbitration, he could have reached the open market as a 25-year-old. With that in mind, a deal like this actually may seem like something of a bargain for the Blue Jackets, given the outstanding goal-scoring ability of the Finnish forward.

Since entering the league in 2016-17, Laine sits 14th in the league with 176 goals just behind Nikita Kucherov and former Winnipeg Jets teammate Kyle Connor. His career-high of 44 was set in just his sophomore year, before a little bit of inconsistency slipped into his game. Now firmly established in Columbus after a trade last year, he was outstanding this season for the Blue Jackets, scoring 26 goals and 56 points in 56 games including seven game-winners.

The upside for the 6’5″ winger was always tremendous but the circumstances of this free agent period have Blue Jackets fans even more excited for what might be on the horizon. After general manager Jarmo Kekalainen secured one of the league’s best playmakers in Gaudreau, the idea of the pair hitting the ice together should be a frightening thought for opponents and goaltenders alike. With young talents like Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson already making an impact before they even turn 20, the Blue Jackets forward group should be as dangerous as anyone over the next several years.

Still, this is a cap league and one that is still dealing with the fallout from the previous shutdowns. The cap ceiling increased only barely this season and the Blue Jackets will now be forced to make a move to get back under it. At the moment, the team projects to be about $2.35MM over the cap, with Emil Bemstrom still to sign. There are some ways they could drop that amount but recent reports already have the team trying to cut a much bigger chunk of salary before the start of the year.

At any rate, getting Laine signed is a huge win for the Blue Jackets, and a deal like this actually doesn’t present much risk. While there is a chance he doesn’t quite live up to a cap hit that high, a four-year deal means that he will be just 28 at its expiry, likely still in his prime as an NHL talent. Laine will be able to sign another massive deal at that point but the Blue Jackets are not yet at risk of having an anchor contract on the books as he enters his thirties.

Nearly everyone on the roster will see their contracts expire by the time Laine is ready for another deal, including recent free agent signing Erik Gudbranson, who is also signed through 2025-26. If the team needs to make a mega-offer for their Finnish star at that point, they will likely have the flexibility to do so.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Josef Boumedienne Named Swedish AGM

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  • Columbus Blue Jackets director of pro scouting Josef Boumedienne has been named assistant general manager of the Swedish national team, through 2025-26. He joined the Blue Jackets front office as a European scout nearly a decade ago and was promoted to his current role last summer after a short stint as head coach of Brynas IF in the SHL.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Owen Sillinger, Olivier LeBlanc To PTOs

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July 22: Another day, another tryout in Columbus. This time, it’s Cleveland Monsters defenseman Cole Clayton that will get an invitation to the NHL camp, according to CapFriendly. Clayton had 16 points in 55 games as an AHL rookie this season.

July 21: Per CapFriendly, the Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Owen Sillinger (yes, Cole’s brother) and defenseman Olivier LeBlanc to professional tryout contracts. Both players spent parts of last season with their AHL affiliate in Cleveland.

Owen, 24, had a strong 2021-22 campaign with 47 points in 39 games at Bemidji State University during his senior year. He had a strong first professional stint, too, notching nine points in 17 games with Cleveland. He’s on an AHL contract for next season, so he’ll be within the organization no matter what, but a strong training camp performance could earn the older Sillinger brother an NHL contract.

LeBlanc, 26, is entering his third professional season but hasn’t played a whole lot since finishing his career at the University of New Brunswick. He’s still looking for his first AHL goal, tallying three assists in 28 games over the last two seasons split between Cleveland and the Belleville Senators. He spent more time last season in the ECHL, scoring a goal in five assists for six points in 19 games with the Kalamazoo Wings. He’s also on an AHL deal with Cleveland for next season, and now the former captain of the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles will attend an NHL camp.

Columbus Blue Jackets “Actively Trying To Unload Salary”

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One of the biggest names that decided not to file for salary arbitration a few days ago was Columbus Blue Jackets restricted free agent Patrik Laine. While this was taken as a strong indicator that the two sides had at least some positivity in contract negotiations, Laine remains unsigned with just a day left to officially accept his qualifying offer. That offer will expire at 4pm CT tomorrow, though there is nothing stopping the two sides from agreeing on something similar further into the offseason.

Laine’s offer of $7.5MM would put the Blue Jackets in a bit of a conundrum if he decided to accept it. The 24-year-old forward is just a year away from unrestricted free agency and if he took the one-year qualifying offer, the two sides would not be able to officially file an extension until January 1, 2023. The team would also immediately go quite a bit over the cap, which is why it should come as no surprise that Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that the team is “actively trying to unload salary” with the hope of signing Laine to a long-term extension before the weekend.

This cap squeeze that the Blue Jackets find themselves in was created by landing the top free agent on the market in Johnny Gaudreau, who ate up $9.75MM on his free agent payday. The team also added Erik Gudbranson at a $4MM cap hit and reached a multi-year deal with Adam Boqvist that raised his hit to $2.6MM. Now, Portzline tweets that a “perfect world” scenario for general manager Jarmo Kekalainen would be to clear $5-6MM in order to fit in the Laine extension.

There do seem to be some reasonably easy ways to clear that money from their current roster–Gustav Nyquist does not have trade protection and carries a cap hit of $5.5MM, for instance–but as Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest tweeted today, NHL front offices are finding it extremely difficult to move expensive contracts this summer.

Teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, and even perhaps the Calgary Flames, should Matthew Tkachuk be on the move, have enough cap space to accommodate these salary swaps if they choose. Waiting to do so will likely only increase the prices though, providing them with more assets for allowing a team to park their contracts.

The next 24 hours are important for the Blue Jackets, as the next step for Laine will guide the rest of their summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

More On Johnny Gaudreau’s Free Agent Decision

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The hockey world was shocked last week when top free agent Johnny Gaudreau decided to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, though he maintains it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise. In a lengthy interview on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Gaudreau confirms that he was talking with the New Jersey Devils before eventually deciding to sign with Columbus:

I was only talking to like two or three teams. I was super thankful that Columbus called during that late hour in the afternoon, because I was pretty much going to–I think I was trying to get a deal done with the Devils, and then Columbus called. I was like ’I want to go here” and my agent got it done. 

Gaudreau directly answered a question about the Philadelphia Flyers, explaining that though he still maintains it would be nice to play for his hometown team, he knew for quite a while that they wouldn’t be involved because of their cap situation.

Now excited about starting the next chapter of his career in Columbus, Gaudreau related how many players he already knew on the roster and how welcome the organization made him feel right away–including rookie Kent Johnson texting general manager Jarmo Kekalainen to offer up No. 13 before a deal was even signed.

With Patrik Laine next to sign, Johnson and other young players in the mix, and Gaudreau penciled in as a potential MVP-level player for the next few years, the Blue Jackets’ offensive group suddenly looks quite imposing. There is some work for Kekalainen yet to do, with just a bit of cap space available and Laine owed at a minimum a $7.5MM qualifying offer, but fans will be happy to hear just how excited Gaudreau is about the idea of playing in Columbus.

The Devils, who missed out on the star winger, ended up signing Ondrej Palat a few hours later, handing out a smaller contract but still landing one of the top free agent options. They then acquired John Marino from the Pittsburgh Penguins to shore up the defensive end, eating up more of the cap space that could have gone to Gaudreau.

John Davidson Inducted Into Albert Hockey Hall Of Fame

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  • Two familiar names are set to be inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame this evening. Former NHL Head Coach Ken Hitchcock and former NHL goaltender and current Columbus Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations John Davidson will join alongside Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Bill Bucyk, Bob Clark, Dr. Randy Gregg, Jamie Macoun and the 1974-75 Lethbridge Native Sons.

Latest On Patrik Laine

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The Blue Jackets have had a huge offseason so far, with the signings of Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson drawing particular attention. Now that free agency has settled, the focus in Columbus has shifted to the situation with restricted free agent winger Patrik Laine. The 24-year-old forward is two years away from unrestricted free agency and has the option to file for arbitration, take two (likely expensive) arbitration awards, and then hit free agency in 2024.

Columbus has a history of talented forwards leaving in free agency (Artemi Panarin sticks out as a recent example) so it makes sense that the Columbus market would be watching the Laine situation intensely with the hope that history doesn’t repeat itself. In this case, Blue Jackets fans have reason to exhale. Laine and his representatives, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, will not be filing for arbitration before the 5 pm deadline today.

That’s major news, as it’s a confirmation that both the Blue Jackets and Laine are earnestly committed to finding a contract solution that keeps Laine in Columbus long-term. Laine has played 101 games as a Blue Jacket and has an impressive 36 goals and 77 points, including 26 goals and 56 points in just 56 games in 2021-22. Laine has one of the best shots in hockey and has terrorized goaltenders ever since he made his debut as a rookie in Winnipeg.

Before the arrival of Gaudreau, Laine was one of the few stars on the Blue Jackets’ roster, perhaps the only other elite talent on the team besides defenseman Zach Werenski. With Gaudreau in the fold now, though, Laine has the opportunity to join an exciting team in Columbus that has the potential to be the most offensively gifted lineup in team history. Portzline states that negotiations between Laine’s agent, Andy Scott, and the team remain “amicable,” and it seems that Laine does have an interest in being part of that high-potential future in Columbus.

Nothing is a guarantee in the NHL, and negotiations can always go sideways. But avoiding arbitration is an important first step towards getting Laine locked-up long-term in Columbus. The deal he gets isn’t likely to rise higher than the $9.75MM AAV Gaudreau is earning, but a modest raise from Laine’s current $7.5MM cap hit would not be unreasonable.

The Blue Jackets don’t actually have a ton of cap room to get a Laine extension done, oddly enough, as CapFriendly projects the team to have $2.3MM in current cap space, which definitely would make any Laine extension a very tight squeeze. Columbus may need to move a contract in order to have enough room to get Laine’s deal done, and the contracts of Gustav Nyquist and Jakub Voracek could be their best options to move in order to get that space. With that being said, though, in today’s cap-strapped world, clearing space is as difficult and pricey as it’s ever been.

Nick Blankenburg Signs Two-Year Contract

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed young defenseman Nick Blankenburg to a two-year contract worth a total of $1.65MM, after impressing in his short stint at the end of the season. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that the deal is one-way in both years and will pay $800K in 2022-23 and $850K in 2023-24 ($825K AAV).

Blankenburg, 24, was signed out of the University of Michigan as an undrafted free agent and immediately made an impact, scoring three points in seven games with the Blue Jackets at the end of the season. He was a restricted free agent this summer without arbitration rights, meaning this deal suggests he is truly in the team’s NHL plans moving forward.

And why not, given the level of play he showed at the end of the year. You may think a defenseman who stands just 5’9″ and weighs in under 180 lbs would be one that plays on the perimeter but not Blankenburg, who racked up 19 hits in that seven-game tryout at the end of the year. Blue Jackets Jarmo Kekalainen even noted that in his statement today:

Nick is a hard-nosed, competitive, smart defenseman who really impressed us after his arrival late last season. He has great potential, and we are very excited to watch his continued growth and development with our club.

The fact that he has built-in chemistry with Blue Jackets top prospect Kent Johnson from their time at Michigan doesn’t hurt, as the two joined the organization at basically the same time. They will likely both feature on the NHL roster this season, though Blankenburg will have to compete for any playing time he wants. He’s the eighth defenseman signed to a one-way contract, and has some pretty established talents in front of him on the depth chart.

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