The Blue Jackets are facing another long offseason, but president/GM Don Waddell has already crossed a big item off his spring/summer to-do list.
More: Columbus Blue Jackets agree to contract extension with coach Rick Bowness
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The Blue Jackets announced April 16 that coach Rick Bowness, hired Jan. 12 in a midseason shakeup, will return with a one-year contract extension. That takes care of a big task for Waddell, who could have been hunting for a third coach in two years had it not worked out.
Now, rather than conducting a coaching search, he can start on the rest of his offseason tasks. Here’s what’s ahead for Waddell and his front office:
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (left) reacts beside center Charlie Coyle (3) and left wing Mason Marchment (17) after scoring a goal against the Rangers on March 19.
Columbus Blue Jackets have six NHL unrestricted free agents
The big four here are captain Boone Jenner, center Charlie Coyle, forward Mason Marchment and defenseman Erik Gudbranson.
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Re-signing all four is unlikely. The greatest challenges will probably be keeping Coyle and Marchment. A more sentimental question is whether Jenner, who’s played his first 13 seasons in Columbus, has played his final game with the Blue Jackets?
Time will tell, but Waddell can jump straight into the UFA situation now that Bowness is returning.
“If I had to go hire a coach, it would be months,” Waddell said. “As we all know, it doesn’t happen overnight. So, to get Rick to come back this next year certainly helps us as we move forward with all our players, but more importantly, our UFAs.”
Danton Heinen, a depth forward acquired along with draft picks in a trade that sent Yegor Chinakhov to the Pittsburgh Penguins, also merits consideration for a new contract. Depth defenseman Brendan Smith is a pending UFA as well, along with seven players playing in the AHL for the Cleveland Monsters.
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) shoves Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy on March 29.
Columbus Blue Jackets have four NHL restricted free agents
Waddell has an intriguing group of restricted free agents at the NHL level.
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The top three are Adam Fantilli, the Jackets’ top center, goalie Jet Greaves and forward Cole Sillinger. Egor Zamula, who handled a depth defenseman role, is the fourth.
Getting Fantilli a new deal takes top priority, but Greaves is a close second after earning the No. 1 goaltending role. Sillinger, meanwhile, has developed into a versatile young forward who contributes at high levels in every way but scoring goals. Should he improve his scoring, his value will skyrocket.
Inking Fantilli and Greaves could be the biggest difficulties, and Waddell has already tasked the Jackets’ salary-cap wizards to project future salaries that include several big pay bumps.
Blue Jackets president/GM Don Waddell
Columbus Blue Jackets to assess NHL free agent, trade markets
The NHL’s cap ceiling is poised to take another massive leap from $95.5 million to $104 million in 2026-27, which means the vast majority of teams should be rife with cap space to re-sign pending UFAs and RFAs.
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If that’s how it plays out, good luck finding impact talent on the UFA market when it opens July 1. Regardless, the Jackets’ front office will monitor the league’s pool of potential UFA and trade targets, which could bolster their NHL roster depth or replace departing UFAs.
Jackson Smith was selected as the 14th pick to the Blue Jackets in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Columbus Blue Jackets will finalize NHL draft scouting
The Blue Jackets will send scouts to Slovakia for the U18 men’s world championships held April 22 through May 2. Waddell usually attends at least part of the tournament to get in-person looks at top draft-eligible prospects in competition.
Top prospects are also evaluated at the NHL scouting combine in Buffalo, which is typically held in late May and/or the first week of June. Buffalo will be the headquarters of the draft June 26-27, but teams will make selections remotely for the second straight year.
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Going into the NHL draft lottery May 5, the Blue Jackets are 14th in the picking order. The maximum number of spots they can move up by winning the lottery is 10 spots, while the most they can drop is two spots.
So, the highest pick they could potentially land is fourth, and the lowest they’ll pick is 16th. Last year, they moved back from 13th to 14th after the lottery.
Blue Jackets center Luca Del Bel Belluz
Cleveland will again host postseason hockey with the Monsters clinching a spot in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs.
While they don’t have as many high-ranking prospects as previous years, there’s a contingent of youngsters who have either played for the Blue Jackets already or may crack the NHL in the near future.
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Luca Del Bel Belluz leads the group, which also includes forward Luca Pinelli, forward Mikael Pyyhtia, forward James Malatesta, defenseman Luca Marrelli, defenseman Corson Ceulemans, defenseman Stanislav Svozil and defenseman Charlie Elick.
Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins
Waddell can’t stand dead money on the books. Buying remaining years on player contracts falls into that category, and he doesn’t seem interested.
That includes goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who has one year remaining on a five-year deal that carries a $5.4 million annual cap hit. Buying it out would free up cap space by adding another year of salary at a lower rate, while making Merzlikins an unrestricted free agent.
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Rather than scouring the UFA goalie market, Waddell would rather bring Merzlikins back with Greaves and let them continue to hash out playing time through internal competition. Bowness also told Merzlikins to prepare for a goaltending competition at training camp if he wants to earn the No. 1 spot back.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 6 offseason tasks for Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell