Josh Dunne

With the Blue Jackets off for a few days, they’ve decided to send one of their players back to the minors as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned center Josh Dunne to AHL Cleveland.

The 24-year-old was recalled back on Monday as the injury replacement for Boone Jenner after he was placed on IR following thumb surgery.  Dunne played in three games with Columbus while on recall, logging a little under six minutes a night without recording a point while averaging a hit per contest.  It was the second NHL stint of his career after getting into six games late in the 2020-21 campaign.

He has fared better in the minors, however, with six goals and five assists in 24 games so far with the Monsters, numbers that are very similar to the five goals and six helpers he had in 29 contests with them last season.  The Blue Jackets are off until Tuesday so the move, which will likely be reversed prior to that game against Buffalo, will save them a bit of money although, with the team well into LTIR, it won’t make any sort of difference on their cap picture.

The Blue Jackets have taken care of another pending free agent, announcing the signing of center Josh Dunne to a one-year, two-way contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not officially disclosed but Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Dunne’s NHL salary would be $874,125, suggesting he has accepted the terms of what would have been his qualifying offer.  Dunne was set to become a restricted free agent later this month.

The 23-year-old signed with Columbus as an undrafted college free agent out of Clarkson back in 2021, making his NHL debut soon after.  Dunne got into six NHL games that season with the Blue Jackets, recording seven shots on goal while averaging just over ten minutes a night of ice time.  However, aside from a brief stint on the taxi squad in late December, Dunne didn’t see any time with Columbus this past season.  Instead, he got into 29 games with AHL Cleveland, picking up six goals and five assists.

Dunne has one year of waiver exemption remaining so it’s all but certain he’ll return to the Monsters next season with the hopes of a bigger role and a chance to prove himself to be worthy of a recall.  GM Jarmo Kekalainen still has plenty of pending restricted free agents to deal with this summer as eight remain, highlighted by winger Patrik Laine and defenseman Adam Boqvist.