{"id":642625,"date":"2026-08-14T05:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/642625\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T05:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:00:18","slug":"zach-werenski-open-to-long-term-extension-in-columbus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/642625\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Werenski Open To Long-Term Extension In Columbus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following speculation that Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski might be open to a move, it didn\u2019t take long for a trade to be reached with a deal with Dallas done in principle.\u00a0 However, Werenski vetoed<\/a> that on the eve of free agency with reports then surfacing that he\u2019d simply block all other potential swaps.\u00a0 Both sides then issued statements affirming his commitment to Columbus and the team confirming he\u2019ll be with them to start next season.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t stopped the speculation about his future.\u00a0 With just two years left on his deal and a consistent history of top players eventually moving on from the Blue Jackets, many felt the statements were just damage control.<\/p>\n

Today, Werenski tried to dispel that notion.\u00a0 Speaking with reporters including NHL.com\u2019s Craig Merz<\/a>, the veteran called the recent speculation \u201cmisconstrued\u201d while opening the door towards extending his stay with the only NHL franchise he has been a part of:<\/p>\n

I think everyone knows how much I love this city and how much it means to me and I would have no issues being here for an even longer time. I want to see us in the playoffs, and I want to see us make progress and I feel like we\u2019ve done that. I think winning solves everything and that\u2019s where we have to get to as a club. We have to raise our standards and expectations and that starts with myself.<\/p>\n

I fully plan on doing that this year, being even a better player, better leader, and a better person for my teammates and for this club and hopefully that just means I\u2019m here even longer.<\/p>\n

Werenski was a first-round pick by the Blue Jackets back in 2015, going eighth overall.\u00a0 Since then, he has blossomed into one of the NHL\u2019s top blueliners.\u00a0 Last season, he surpassed the 80-point mark for the second straight year while taking home the Norris Trophy as the league\u2019s top defenseman.<\/p>\n

Since the 29-year-old has two years left on his current contract, he\u2019s not eligible to sign a contract extension until July 1st, 2027.\u00a0 Whenever the time comes to sign his next deal, Werenski is certainly in line for a significant raise, even though he\u2019s already one of the top-paid blueliners in the league.\u00a0 He currently holds a cap hit of just over $9.583MM and figures to earn several million more per season on top of that.<\/p>\n

Werenski mentioned how big of a priority winning is for him and that will certainly be worth noting.\u00a0 The Blue Jackets narrowly missed out on a playoff spot last season and have lost a couple of core players in Boone Jenner and Mason Marchment, though they added Valeri Nichushkin from Colorado.\u00a0 If Columbus can get back to the postseason this year, it seems like the odds of a potential extension next summer might go up.\u00a0 Otherwise, Werenski may very well find himself back in trade speculation once again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following speculation that Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski might be open to a move, it didn\u2019t take long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":["post-642625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-blue-jackets","tag-bluejackets","tag-columbus","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-columbusbluejackets","tag-hockey","tag-nhl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117092104559003485","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642625","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=642625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}