Early indications point to no. John Tortorella used some interesting words to describe Matt Calvert’s season.

A gem this afternoon from John Tortorella on Matt Calvert about how good he's been in this series after his play was sometimes up and down during the regular season, "like a toilet seat."

Here's full quote: pic.twitter.com/JnuMsBlhte

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 23, 2018

Calvert did not take too kindly to the “toilet seat” comment, saying “the only thing that was up and down like a toilet seat was my time on ice.” This was clearly a poor choice of words by Tortorella and Calvert obviously initially frustrated from the Game 6 loss, didn’t appreciate that.

This could have been the end of the situation right there. It wasn’t as Darren Dreger made a radio appearance in Buffalo and discussed Calvert’s future. Chris Nichols of FanRagSports transcribed the interview transcribed the interview.

“Doesn’t sound like it,” agreed Dreger. “And as I always say, when players get to this point where they’ve earned their right to unrestricted free agency, take advantage of it. Your careers are so short.”

“… There’s going to be a strong market for Matt Calvert. He’s going to get paid. He’s going to get a decent increase in his salary. And if he’s not good enough for John Tortorella, off the top of my head I can probably name 15 teams that would have an interest in the type of game that Matt Calvert brings to the table.”

Dreger is a connected insider but most of what he says here comes off as speculation. He doesn’t know for certain how many teams exactly will have interest in a player like Calvert but he expects almost half the league. You look at the performance Calvert just had in the playoffs, he certainly raised his stock and will be looking at a raise on the $2.2M he made this past season.

The Jackets don’t need to paying Calvert that much. He’s a bottom six winger, and easily replaceable. He had a 47.83% Corsi at 5 on 5 and had only 24 points. He’s a nice penalty killer, but considering the Jackets just had one of the worst penalty kills on the season, he wasn’t adding a ton of value there.

The Jackets also have wingers coming up in the system who will need ice time. Sonny Milano should be getting regular minutes next season. Top prospect Vitali Abramov is done with junior after this season, he could push for a spot on the wing as well.

You never want to see a player like Calvert go, he’s a hard worker and a fan favourite. There comes a time though where you have to move on, and for the Blue Jackets it seems like it’s right now.

You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot

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