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Blue Jackets Will Not Assign Zac Rinaldo To An Affiliated Team

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After clearing waivers earlier today, it was expected that Blue Jackets winger Zac Rinaldo would be assigned to Columbus’ AHL team in Cleveland.  The veteran wasn’t invited to training camp after declining to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.  However, GM Jarmo Kekalainen released the following statement, announcing that Rinaldo will not be going there after all:

Our position has been very clear that our organization is committed to doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our players, coaches, staff and fans. Given the impact COVID-19 continues to have in our communities, we believe the best course of action given Zac’s vaccination status is to not have him report to Cleveland at this time. While we respect an individual’s right to make a personal choice with regards to being vaccinated or not, we have a responsibility to do what we believe is best for our organization. We will honor Zac’s contract, but if he wants to pursue any other opportunities to play this season we will allow him to do so.

Rinaldo’s contract calls for an AHL salary of $275K and contains a guaranteed payment of $300K which the Blue Jackets will be on the hook for regardless of whether or not he plays anywhere this season.  In the meantime, Rinaldo’s camp may be on the lookout to try to find the 31-year-old a place to play outside the Columbus organization.  Now that he has cleared waivers, Columbus could loan him to an unaffiliated team overseas, for example.  Rinaldo had spent the last two seasons in Calgary’s system, suiting up in 23 games for the Flames in that time.

Korpisalo Hopes To Re-Sign Despite Merzlikins Extension, Bayreuther Saw Better Chance For Roster Spot With Columbus Over Seattle

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Although Columbus recently inked goaltender Elvis Merzlikins to a five-year extension, fellow netminder Joonas Korpisalo told reporters, including Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch, that he hopes to still be able to remain with the Blue Jackets beyond the expiration of his current contract next summer.  The 27-year-old has spent his entire career with the organization after being drafted in the third round back in 2012 but has largely been in a backup role during that stretch.  With the commitment they’ve made to Merzlikins, Korpisalo, who is hoping to be cleared to return from his lower-body injury soon, will have a hard time landing a lot more than his $2.8MM AAV as the high-end backup market is typically in the mid-to-high $3MM range.

  • Still with Columbus, while defenseman Gavin Bayreuther’s time with Seattle was limited, it wasn’t due to a lack of interest from the Kraken. The blueliner told Jeff Svoboda of the Blue Jackets’ team site that he did receive a two-way offer from Seattle but knew that he’d be viewed as a player that was likely ticketed for the minors.  Instead, he went to free agency and returned to Columbus where he feels he’ll have a better chance of sticking with the big club.  Bayreuther averaged just over 15 minutes in nine games with Columbus last season.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Jean-Francois Berube

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have added some more goaltending depth to the organization, signing Jean-Francois Berube to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will carry an NHL salary of $750K, an AHL salary of $200K, and a minor league guarantee of $225K according to Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. Berube had been in training camp with the Blue Jackets on a professional tryout.

Berube, 30, hasn’t seen the NHL since the 2017-18 season, but is a veteran minor league option that will serve as little more than injury insurance in Columbus. In fact, he could very well be nothing more than a practice option if the league goes to taxi squads for goaltenders this season at any point. With only two netminders other than Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo signed to NHL contracts though, the Blue Jackets needed to add at least one more to cover any call-up issues.

There was a time when Berube was one of the best goaltenders in the minor leagues, but even those days are passed now. He posted a .885 save percentage in 19 appearances with the Ontario Reign last season, the third consecutive year he was sub-.900. While he can give the team another option, don’t expect him to receive the majority of the starts so long as prospect Daniil Tarasov stays healthy.

Snapshots: Vrana, Voracek, Augustana

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Hockey is back as the preseason enters its second day. While teams continue to announce roster moves and training camp cuts, there’s a variety of news and notes from around the league and sport that have come through the wire. The most notable takes us to the Detroit Red Wings, where head coach Jeff Blashill reports that forward Jakub Vrana will see a specialist on Monday for a shoulder injury suffered this week. After yesterday’s report from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen that Vrana would be reevaluated later, this is a quick turnaround from such an uncertain timeline. Any absence would be a huge blow to Detroit, for whom Vrana scored at a point-per-game pace last season.

Some other news from around the hockey world:

  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline notes the discrepancy in the role that Jakub Voracek will carry during his second tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Voracek’s last season in Columbus came in 2010-11 at the age of 21, playing 10 seasons and 727 games in Philadelphia after a trade. Dealt back to Columbus this offseason in exchange for Cam Atkinson, Voracek now returns as the oldest player on the Columbus roster. He’ll be tasked with being a strong voice in terms of leadership to help gel a rebuilding squad. It’s something that Voracek says he’s “ready to fill” due to his experience in Philadelphia.
  • After announcing a move to create a Division I hockey program back in June, South Dakota’s Augustana University will announce the program officially on October 5. Including the groundbreaking of the team’s new arena, the event will mark history for hockey in South Dakota. It continues a recent tradition of lesser-known schools breaking into the Division I scene.

Training Camp Notes: Bruins, Blue Jackets, Penguins

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As development camps begin to wrap up around the NHL, training camp rosters have been released throughout the day and into the evening. There’s been a variety of rather interesting surprises and irregularities as the rosters have been released to the public. One of the more unusual aspects of the day has to do with the Boston Bruins training camp roster. It appears as though veteran AHL defenseman Aaron Ness will be attending camp with the team. While no contract terms have been announced, he had previously signed a professional tryout contract with the Seattle Kraken. A contract announcement can likely be expected in the near future.

Elsewhere from training camps around the league:

  • Another surprise inclusion comes in the form of a veteran goaltender. The Columbus Blue Jackets released their roster today, including 30-year-old veteran netminder Jean-Francois Berube. The Quebec native, originally a selection of the Los Angeles Kings in 2009, is returning to the organization after a one-year stint there in 2018-19. It was played entirely with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. While Berube’s numbers have dipped in recent seasons, he was once a capable third-string option and still could provide valuable goalie depth to the organization. Similar to Ness, no contract terms have been released yet for Berube, but it’s something to look out for.
  • The Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh reports that forwards Sam Houde and Josh Williams are attending Pittsburgh Penguins camp on amateur tryout contracts. Both signings could help plug some organization depth weaknesses caused by a cascading injury effect. Houde comes to the team after serving as the captain for the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Sagueneens, scoring 28 points in 29 games during his final QMJHL season. Williams, a winger out of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, showed off his goal-scoring skills this year with 17 goals and 30 points in 22 games. Both could slot into depth roles in the AHL and could eventually become bigger parts of the organization if signed.

Elvis Merzlikins Signs Five-Year Extension

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have locked up their starting goaltender, signing Elvis Merzlikins to a five-year, $27MM contract extension. The deal kicks in for the 2022-23 season and runs through 2026-27, carrying a $5.4MM cap hit. Previously, both Merzlikins and tandem mate Joonas Korpisalo were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents after the upcoming season. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports the full contract details:

  • 2022-23: $5.25MM
  • 2023-24: $6.0MM
  • 2024-25: $6.0MM
  • 2025-26: $5.525MM
  • 2026-27: $4.225MM

Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen released a statement on the deal:

Goaltending is a position of strength for our team and Elvis Merzlikins has been an important part of that over the past two seasons so we are very excited to have agreed to terms on a contract extension that will keep him in Columbus for at least the next six years. He is big, athletic and has a tremendous passion for the game and we believe he will be an integral part of our success in the coming years.

Merzlikins, 27, certainly hasn’t taken the usual path to stardom in the NHL, but he nevertheless is well on his way to establishing himself as one. Selected in the third round of the 2014 draft, the Latvian netminder was playing as a teenager in Switzerland. He would remain there for another five seasons, putting up outstanding numbers while routinely suiting up for his country internationally. Time and again he would stand out as the best player on the Latvian side, keeping them in games where they were vastly outmatched and posting numbers like his .940 save percentage at the 2018 tournament.

In 2019, at the end of the 2018-19 season, he finally decided to sign with the Blue Jackets and start his North American career. He would end up playing just two games in the minor leagues, quickly showing that he was more than ready for the NHL. In that rookie season, he posted a .923 save percentage in 33 appearances, good enough to finish fifth in both Calder and Vezina Trophy voting.

Last season, those numbers dropped a bit, but Merzlikins was still able to register a .916 on a struggling Columbus team. His partner, Korpisalo, finished with an .894 and likely lost the race to be the Blue Jackets’ long-term goaltending option. This new contract all but confirms that, though obviously the 27-year-old Korpisalo could also be retained at a lower price to secure the position.

While he has played the smaller half of the games the last two seasons, Merzlikins should be expected to take the lion’s share this year if he can stay healthy. In fact, just a few weeks ago he told reporters that he wants to play as much as he can, even hoping to win the Vezina as a tribute to his close friend Matiss Kivlenieks, another Blue Jackets goaltender who tragically passed away earlier this summer at age 24. Merzlikins credits Kivlenieks for saving his and his pregnant wife’s life, who were standing 20 feet away when a fireworks mortar struck the young netminder.

Merzlikins, the new father–his son, Knox Matiss Merzlikins was born on August 20–is now locked up long-term in Columbus and carries the 12th highest cap hit among NHL goaltenders. That rank is likely to go down as more contracts are signed, but the Blue Jackets have put their faith in him as their starter for the next several years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Zac Rinaldo Not Invited To Blue Jackets Camp

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Despite signing a contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets just over a month ago, Zac Rinaldo is not invited to their training camp. When speaking with the media today, Blue Jackets president John Davidson explained that Rinaldo has chosen not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and because of that, will appear at the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters training camp instead. Greg Wyshynski of ESPN tweeted the full quote:

Forward Zac Rinaldo, who we signed to a two-way contract this summer, is not vaccinated and because of that – and that’s his decision – the plan is to start him in the American Hockey League and he will not be coming to our training camp.

Rinaldo, 31, has played 374 games in the NHL but is known much more for his skill with his fists than the puck. The veteran forward has just 42 career points but has racked up 758 penalty minutes. The likelihood of him securing a full-time role on the Blue Jackets was already very slim, but appears to be non-existent now as the league’s strict policies make it difficult to carry a player who has refused the vaccine. Recently, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly projected that only 10-15 players on NHL rosters will be unvaccinated by the start of the season. The Blue Jackets announced that the other 67 players invited to NHL training camp are vaccinated.

Still, it is likely that Rinaldo and his agents already knew that he would be playing in the AHL for a good portion of the year since they negotiated a hefty $300K minor league guarantee. Despite his $275K AHL salary, he’ll receive the full $300K even if he fails to play a single game for Columbus.

Additionally, The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger reports that the NHLPA will review the situation, considering Rinaldo has not officially been sent to AHL Cleveland as of yet.

Rinaldo played four games last season for the Calgary Flames, scoring zero points.

Columbus Blue Jackets Promote Steve McCarthy

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have been forced to make another coaching change, this time promoting Steve McCarthy from the Cleveland Monsters to replace Sylvain Lefebvre. Lefebvre, who was set to join Brad Larsen’s staff this season, has decided not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and will not be able to coach under the current NHL protocols. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen released a statement on the move:

While we are disappointed, we respect that this decision is a personal one for Sylvain and wish him well. We feel fortunate to have an outstanding coach join our club in Steve McCarthy, who has played in this league, won championships as a player and been an important member of our hockey operations department as an assistant coach in Cleveland.

McCarthy, 40, has been with the Monsters for five seasons and has plenty of professional experience as a player. During a 302-game NHL career that included stops with the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and Atlanta Thrashers, he totaled 17 goals and 55 points. He would go on to win two league titles with the NLA’s ZSC Lions, and even joined the Lake Erie Monsters for their 2016 Calder Cup championship before retiring.

Lefebvre meanwhile was coming over from the San Diego Gulls, where he served as an assistant the last three seasons. The veteran of more than 1,000 NHL games has been a coach since 2007 when he was, coincidentally, hired by Lake Erie. He also had experience behind an NHL bench with the Colorado Avalanche, and had bounced around through a few other minor league stops.

He was only hired by the Blue Jackets in June, and Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweets that the team has known this would be an issue since the league’s protocol was revealed in mid-August. In fact, Portzline has Kekalainen on record explaining that Lefevbre didn’t resign, but was fired after his decision because he couldn’t fulfil his duties. Mostly, this is a big blow for the Monsters, who will now have to search for McCarthy’s replacement, who was a huge part of the coaching staff and development team in the AHL.

Blue Jackets Unlikely To Trade For Top Center

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For years, the Blue Jackets have been searching for help down the middle with those moves largely not panning out.  Now, with the team entrenched in a rebuild, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that they may back off of that approach now.  With the selections of Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger at the draft, the hope now is those two will represent their future at center, lessening the need to try to trade for a significant replacement.  Portzline also notes that GM Jarmo Kekalainen has spoken about the ability to take on a bad contract to add other pieces for a rebuild.  While such a move hasn’t happened yet, that could change depending on what happens in training camp as more players re-sign and injuries start to strike, potentially creating the need for some teams to move out money quickly.

Peter Reynolds To Attend Blue Jackets Prospect Camp

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  • Prospect camps are opening across the league, and Scott Wheeler of The Athletic notes that Peter Reynolds, his highest-ranked undrafted player, will be in attendance with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Wheeler had Reynolds ranked as his 71st best prospect in this year’s draft after a strong rookie season in the QMJHL, but he was passed over entirely. NHL Central Scouting had the undersized forward ranked 80th among North American skaters.

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