Boone Jenner (Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
Three potential 2026 unrestricted free agents who multiple teams were eyeing heading into the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline could be off the NHL trade market.
Per two NHL sources, Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell entered the NHL Olympic break last week set to make contract offers to potential unrestricted free agent forwards Charlie Coyle, Mason Marchment, and captain Boone Jenner.
“Those talks should be underway by next week at the latest,” one of the sources told RG this past weekend.
“With the way the team has played since [Rick] Bowness got hired and where they are in the standings now, I’m hearing a lot less chatter around Coyle, Marchment, and Jenner. Regardless of whether they’re signed to extensions before the Olympic break ends, they’re off the trade market heading into the trade deadline. Waddell is just going to ride with them and add to the roster so they can make it into the playoffs.”
That aligned with what another trusted source told RG regarding Coyle and Marchment this past weekend.
“I’m betting Coyle, Marchment get offers,” that source said last week.
On Wednesday, Waddell, via Blue Jackets Manager of Communications Glenn Odebralski, confirmed to RG in an email that contract talks will begin next week.
Coyle, 33, has 15 goals and 27 assists in 56 games this season. He is on a one-year, $5.25 million contract.
Marchment, 30, has 13 goals and 13 assists in 43 games. He is in the final season of a four-year, $18 million ($4.5M AAV) contract.
Jenner, 32, has eight goals and 19 assists in 42 games. He is in the final season of a four-year, $15 million ($3.7M AAV) contract. He has been the team captain since October 12, 2021.
After firing head coach Dean Evason and replacing him with 71-year-old Rick Bowness on January 12, Waddell watched his team go on a 10-1-0 run into the NHL Olympic break. They currently sit within five points of the final wild card slot in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets return to NHL action on February 26 when they play the Bruins in Boston, and will then play four more games leading into the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.
After that, Columbus will have 21 games to secure their first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the 2020 COVID bubble playoffs, where it beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the qualifying round but then lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Earlier this month, Don Waddell confirmed that his plan was to contact the agents of his potential six unrestricted free agents over the break. Waddell actually specified Coyle and Marchment as two potential UFAs he’s interested in signing.
“Yeah, it’s a two-way street,” Waddell told RG on February 1.
“So they have the right to go unrestricted. So we haven’t gotten into any real negotiations with anybody. I’ve told everybody we will touch base over the break and see where they’re at and see where we’re at, and I said it last year, if players want to be here and we want ’em here, we’ll find a way to get it done. We did it last year, and we’ll do it again this year. So it’s a two-way street. Obviously, money and terms are always the big things, but if a player says they want to be a Blue Jacket, usually we find a way to get a deal done.”