Waddell got the offseason off to a critical start last Thursday, inking Bowness to a new deal that ensures his return to lead the team for the 2026-27 season.\u00a0Things aren\u2019t about to get any easier, though, as\u00a0Waddell\u2019s calendar\u00a0over the coming months figures to be pretty busy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eight players who spent time with the Blue Jackets this year \u2013 captain Boone Jenner, alternate captain\u00a0Erik\u00a0Gudbranson,\u00a0Charlie\u00a0Coyle,\u00a0Mason\u00a0Marchment, Danton Heinen, Zach Aston-Reese, Brendan Gaunce and Brendan Smith \u2013 are set to become unrestricted free agents.\u00a0In addition, four others \u2013 Adam\u00a0Fantilli, Cole Sillinger, Jet\u00a0Greaves\u00a0and Egor\u00a0Zamula\u00a0\u2013 need new contracts as restricted free agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the Blue Jackets figure out those contracts,\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0also have to\u00a0navigate\u00a0the open market\u00a0come\u00a0July\u00a01,\u00a0look\u00a0into\u00a0any potential trades that can make the team better, and prepare for the NHL draft at the end of June.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So\u00a0the possibility\u00a0exists\u00a0that the CBJ team that takes the ice when the season begins in September could look quite different than the one that finished this campaign. The first order of business will be the team\u2019s\u00a0internal free agents,\u00a0especially given the lengthy list at hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unfortunate part is we\u2019re not in the playoffs; the fortunate part is we have time on our side to make sure we make the right decisions,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cWe\u2019ll\u00a0sit down, go through our\u00a0roster\u00a0and talk about those players. We have a lot of contracts to get done.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0probably the\u00a0most\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0ever had in my career at one time with all the expiring RFAs \u2013 some big ones \u2013 and whichever UFAs we decide to try to get back, so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0gonna\u00a0be a busy summer. But\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0looking forward to it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0PuckPedia, the Blue Jackets have more than $40 million in cap space available going into next season, but with so many contracts that must be signed \u2013 and how attractive such players as Coyle and\u00a0Marchment\u00a0will likely be\u00a0on the\u00a0market \u2013\u00a0the team must balance want and need with prudence\u00a0and reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s\u00a0especially true given such players as Kirill Marchenko, Denton Mateychuk, Kent\u00a0Johnson\u00a0and Dmitri Voronkov will be\u00a0due\u00a0new contracts after this upcoming season.\u00a0With all that in mind,\u00a0Waddell noted that the front office recently gathered to discuss a five-year plan for contracts based on where the team sits with the salary cap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jenner, Coyle,\u00a0Marchment\u00a0and Gudbranson all spoke on exit day about their desire to return to Columbus; how\u00a0many of them are back, though, will depend on how negotiations go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players all, to a man \u2013\u00a0I talked to them yesterday, all the free agents want to come back,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cBut it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0all\u00a0gonna\u00a0come back. We do have some decisions to make. The salary cap is going up, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0amazing how fast you get there when you start talking about young players and some of the contracts\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0gonna\u00a0get. You\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0just look at next year because\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0signing guys for six, seven, eight years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0also not hard to see where the Blue Jackets might want to improve in free agency or trades. A high-end offensive talent is on every\u00a0team\u2019s\u00a0wish list, but that might be\u00a0especially\u00a0attractive to Columbus considering\u00a0just four players reached 50 points this season. Depth on the back end could also be a\u00a0target\u00a0depending on what happens with Gudbranson, and size may also be on\u00a0a desire considering how the\u00a0injuries\u00a0to\u00a0Mathieu Olivier hurt the team both midseason and down the stretch\u00a0(CBJ was 34-18-9 with him in the lineup, 6-12-3 without).\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s also the fact that much of the improvement could come from within, especially because the Blue Jackets have built around a young core featuring such names as Marchenko,\u00a0Voronkov,\u00a0Johnson,\u00a0Fantilli,\u00a0Sillinger and\u00a0Mateychuk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last four are all 23 or younger and\u00a0taken in the top 12 picks of the draft, and all had varying levels of success this season.\u00a0Waddell said one of the big\u00a0reasons\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0excited to have Bowness back is his ability to communicate and teach those young players who are expected to be mainstays of the franchise for years to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the steps some of the guys took since Rick took over,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0talked about the young players. Again, we need these young players to continue to grow because that\u2019s\u00a0gonna\u00a0be our franchise for\u00a0a lot of years.\u00a0…\u00a0\u00a0I know how Rick\u00a0operates\u00a0and I know these guys.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0gonna\u00a0get better every day, and if\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not getting better, I know Rick is\u00a0gonna\u00a0communicate with them what they need to do to get better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
News and Notes\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson went from 24 goals and 57 points a season ago to seven tallies and 22 points this year, and Bowness noted he \u201cwas almost in tears, he feels so bad that he let people down\u201d during the team\u2019s exit meetings. The coach said he wants Johnson\u00a0to\u00a0add 10 to 12 pounds in the offseason that\u00a0were\u00a0the difference between the seasons, and the 2021 first-round pick is still just 23 years old.\u00a0Waddell said\u00a0Johnson\u00a0remains\u00a0a big part of the team\u2019s plans going forward\u00a0even after the adversity he faced this year. \u201cKent is\u00a0probably the\u00a0most skilled guy on our hockey team. …\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0not giving up and giving away (23)-year-old players,\u201d Waddell said.
\nThe ascension of Jet Greaves to the No. 1 spot in net meant Elvis Merzlikins went from 53 starts a year ago to 30 this season. Bowness said he had an extensive chat with the\u00a0veteran\u00a0goaltender during his exit meeting.\u00a0\u201cHe told me he thinks\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0a No. 1. I said, \u2018Good. Come to camp, be in great shape and prove it.\u2019\u00a0We\u2019ll\u00a0give him every opportunity. He wants to fight for that No. 1 spot. Fight for it.\u201d\u00a0Merzlikins\u00a0has one season left on his five-year contract, and Waddell said he likes the\u00a0netminding duo that played every\u00a0minute\u00a0for the Jackets this year. \u201cWe feel pretty comfortable with the two guys we have going forward,\u201d the GM said.\u00a0
\nCoyle has positioned himself as quite the attractive piece on the free agent market, posting a 20-38-58 line, totals that were third, tied for first and tied for second, respectively, in his NHL career. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t say he was way better than I thought he could even be,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cI\u2019m probably walking myself into more money on the contract, but he\u2019s an important part here.\u201d
\nBowness inherited assistant coaches Scott Ford, Mike Haviland and Jared Boll, as well as goalie coach Niklas Backstrom, when he took over in January and lauded how easy the quartet made his transition when he got to Columbus. \u201cGive those guys a lot of credit. They all did a great job. … For them to work as hard as they did and jump right on board, it\u2019s a tribute to them.\u201d Bowness added there would be meetings with the group as he looks to finalize a coaching staff for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waddell got the offseason off to a critical start last Thursday, inking Bowness to a new deal that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-558109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116449609196199056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}