The Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2025-26 campaign wasn’t going according to plan through the first half of the season. However, a seven-game winning streak that they carried into the Olympic Break has changed the course for the front office.
Now, during this two-week break, instead of planning on which pending unrestricted free agents they’ll be selling, the latest intel is that Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell and his staff will be keeping busy doing their best to re-sign a number of them.
Boone Jenner, Charlie Coyle, Mason Marchment and defenseman Erik Gudbranson, instead of being trade candidates, are right now looking like long-term keepers for Columbus, as Aaron Portzline reported in The Athletic.
It would be a massive boost to the dressing room if those deals got done, a proof of commitment to the players on the cusp of what they hope will be a playoff berth and run.
All in all, “it would be surprising if the Blue Jackets were a lesser team after the March 6 trade deadline,” writes Portzline.
The one thing that Waddell would be scanning the market for, is to add “an offensive finisher with term.” He could also look at adding a veteran depth piece for a playoff run, and the name Nick Foligno of the Chicago Blackhawks would be a target there.
Blue Jackets won’t be selling—they’ll be re-signing; at least, that’s the plan
“Waddell wants to help this group,” writes Portzline, “which he thinks could be a real threat in the postseason given their size and depth.”
The Jackets are currently the top team on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoffs. At 29-20-7, with 65 points, they’re just four points back of the Boston Bruins for the second Wild Card spot.
If they stumble in their five games coming out of the break up to the deadline, whether plans will change, is still in question.
But for now, expect the captain, Jenner, a career-long Blue Jacket, to remain in Columbus. Same for Marchment, whom they recently acquired in a trade with Seattle that’s worked out tremendously for them. Marchment has nine goals and 13 points in 14 games.
Both Coyle and Gudbranson have had their names on the rumor mill of late, but if they’re going for it, it appears they’ll be sticking around too, if they can work out deals.
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