The Columbus Blue Jackets are in full offseason mode. For GM Don Waddell, it means early mornings and some potentially late nights.
Given what all the team wants to do between the upcoming NHL Combine, NHL Draft and free agency, the Blue Jackets are putting in long days and nights to ensure they are as ready as possible to tackle everything about to come.
For Waddell, he gets to his office at Nationwide Arena at 4:30 every morning. Given that the Blue Jackets will be holding their amateur scouting meetings next week and then their pro meetings the week after, every moment of time is precious to cover as much ground as possible.
One person currently absent from the proceedings within Nationwide Arena is head coach Dean Evason. He’s with Team Canada at the Men’s World Championships. They’re about to play in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Thanks to their schedules, Waddell and Evason haven’t met or seen each other since the start of the World Championships. When the news came down that Evason would be the head coach for Team Canada, Waddell was in Frisco, TX at the U-18 tournament scouting. Some talks and discussions on pending free agents among other things will take place when Evason returns from the tournament.
Meanwhile, Waddell is busy not only preparing for the meat of the offseason, he’s in the midst of starting the process of deciding who to hire for certain positions including a Strength & Conditioning Coach, a Video Coach and perhaps an Assistant Athletic Trainer.
“I probably have 300 resumes for the different positions we have opened downstairs,” Waddell said. “How I handle these things is just like I did last year. I talked to a lot of people, try to get all the background I can. Because once I start the process, I don’t want the process to be a month long. I want the process to be a week long. Then I’ll narrow down the people I want to talk to after I’ve done all my homework on them and then interview people either by phone or by Zoom. And then, if we find the right candidate, we’ll move forward.”
NHL Combine
The 2025 NHL Combine starts on June 1 at Buffalo’s Harborcenter and will last through June 7 when the prospects complete the bulk of their fitness testing. The Blue Jackets already know their daily schedule for the week and who will be in the room helping interview the prospects.
Waddell said they will meet with prospects on Tuesday that week from 9:10 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. with just one 45 minute lunch break built in. On that Wednesday, they’ll go from 10:00 A.M. until 5:25 P.M. Besides Waddell, Rick Nash, Trevor Timmins and Ville Siren will be in the room talking with the prospects at different points.
Waddell likes to keep the number of staff in the room down during those interviews. He doesn’t believe in having a large crowd. He wants to make the prospects as comfortable as possible.
“Some teams will have 8-10 guys there and I just don’t believe in that,” Waddell said. “We’ll have three or four. Actually, we’ll have four for a couple of days but only three for a few of the days. You walk into a large group, it’s a little intimidating. I can remember when I first started, we’d have 7-8 guys here. I learned real quickly that you don’t need that many people there. I think you want to make the players, these are young men, make them feel comfortable, not intimidated.”
Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell prefers a small group in the interview room at the NHL Combine. (Photo credit: Mark Scheig, the Hockey Writers)
You will likely see the Blue Jackets interview prospects even if they’re projected to go before their range. Waddell admitted there is some purpose behind that.
“All these guys you’re interviewing, you’re only going to draft a few of them. A lot of players are going to become available throughout your career. So the more you get to know guys, the better. I’m a big believer if we’re going to do dinner, we should do that not at the Combine. Last year was different. We picked fourth. And this year, we’re picking 14th and 20th so who knows who’s all going to be there.”
For Waddell, the Combine can have an impact on a prospect and where they fall on the Blue Jackets’ final list. But as he explains, a prospect is more likely to go down than up at this stage.
“It can certainly move a guy I think more down than up. There’s some red flags that come up in an interview and then it gives us the time then to do more research of what we found out about an individual, talking to coaches and things like that. I’ve seen it move up maybe a spot or something like that. But I’ve seen guys move down further because of interviews.”
The Blue Jackets will start the process of creating their list and then fine tuning it as we get closer to the draft. The Combine will help fill in the gaps and answer last minute questions to set their order in case they make both picks at 14 and 20.
Offseason Updates
We say in case they make both picks on purpose. The Columbus Blue Jackets are open for business. Perhaps players they like will be available at 14 and 20 in which they make both picks. But Waddell made one thing clear. When asked if the 14th and 20th picks are available in the right deals, he didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, 100%,” Waddell said. The Blue Jackets want to get over the hump into the playoffs. If they can acquire players to help that cause with both first-round picks, they are available in a potential deal.
As for their slew of free agents, Waddell shared a few updates.
Waddell said he was planning on meeting with Ivan Provorov’s agent at the Combine. Both the team and the player are interested in getting a deal done.
Waddell said he also had some talks with Dante Fabbro. “They are both willing to talk and both want to stay here,” Waddell said of Provorov and Fabbro. “Both players told me at the exit interviews that they want to be Blue Jackets. So we’re going to see everything possibly that makes sense for both sides.”
James van Riemsdyk recently said on Spittin’ Chiclets that he’d be interested in staying with the Blue Jackets also. “I talked with JVR and told him just to hang tight. Let’s see how things transpire again. I told him the same thing I told you. I haven’t had a good chance to sit down with Dean and go through all the guys. I can’t tell you for sure it’s going to happen but we’ll certainly talk about it for sure.”
James van Riemsdyk is interested in returning to the Blue Jackets, but things are up in the air. (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)
Waddell reiterated he doesn’t anticipate using any buyouts this offseason. That’s a good sign Elvis Merzlikins will be back with the Blue Jackets barring a trade.
On offer sheets, Waddell believes there will be some league wide. But he is not worried at all about anyone presenting him with an offer sheet on one of his players. “We have a ton of cap space.”
On the goaltending, Waddell said he is still interested in potentially bringing Daniil Tarasov back. However, it’s still up in the air. “I actually called his agent, the same as Fabbro’s, the other day. Just said let’s just put it on hold for night now and there’s no rush to get that done. He’s got arbitration rights but I don’t think that makes much of a difference right now. I said let’s get through the next month here and we’ll talk more about him. So I haven’t made a final decision either direction on that yet.”
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Waddell believes that Damon Severson can get back on track after a rough end to 2024-25. When asked if he’s still a key part of the team moving forward, “He has to be. He had some good periods this year and some periods that didn’t go so well. He’s a guy we need to get back on track and I fully believe we can. We’re going to take the summer to make sure that the communication is good and that he prepares himself for camp that he could prove that he can be a top-four guy.”
Yegor Chinakhov has one year left on his deal. With some rumors out there that he could be included in a potential trade, it seems like Waddell’s priority is to make sure the player stays healthy. “He’s got the skill. He skates. He shoots the puck. The last few years, he’s had some injuries so that’s a concern obviously. He’s got another year left so we got to try to figure out the best way to keep him healthy and get the most out of him for sure.”
The Blue Jackets will have captain Boone Jenner and Erik Gudbranson up after next season as UFAs while Cole Sillinger and Adam Fantilli up after next season as RFAs. Waddell said talks haven’t started with any of them given how much they have going on right now. “All the guys at some point will have conversations to see if it makes sense to move forward right now or work on it throughout the summer.”