The deadline isn’t until Monday but things are already starting to heat up for the Blue Jackets. On Tuesday Pierre LeBrun on
TSN’s Insider Trading mentions the Blue Jackets among others as one of “five-to-six teams, I’m told, have begun to tell the Rangers, ‘Here are some of the pieces we could part with” in a trade for Rick Nash.
Also on Tuesday, Elliotte Friedman in
31 Thoughts had more information on who the Blue Jackets were in discussion with.
13. Columbus asked Ottawa about Derick Brassard and Chicago about Artem Anisimov as it looks for centres.
Brassard is still available, but there is doubt the Blue Jackets can (or will) match what Ottawa is asking. As some of you pointed out on Twitter, Anisimov has a no-move clause, but it drops to a partial no-trade on July 1, which is why he might prefer to do it now — when he has more control over the situation.
Of course, the question is moot if, as I’d heard, Chicago prefers to keep him. Centres are hard to find.
Of these two players Brassard is definitely the one to go for. He’s having a nice season with 35 points in 56 games and has been a decent play driver in Ottawa. Anisimov doesn’t really help with goal scoring as much. He has 22 points in 50 games and has been a negative possession player relative to his team. This seems like a situation where the Jackets are doing their due diligence on available players. We know the Jackets are
not going to pay a high price for a rental and even with Brassard and Anisimov having term on their deals, the Jackets do not appear like they are willing to overpay for a player this deadline.
On 31 Thoughts the Podcast
31 Thoughts the Podcast Friedman says the Blue Jackets are buyers, “but here’s the problem I've heard what they are willing to pay, teams consider it to be way to low.”
It’s also been discussed that the Jackets might be a fit for another former centre, Edmonton’s Mark Letestu.
Yesterday the Jackets claimed Taylor Chorney off of waivers from the Capitals.
Chorney isn’t very good, he has a 43.23% Corsi on the season, but he's a defencemen and that is what the Blue Jackets need right now. With Dean Kukan and Markus Nutivaara hurt, the Jackets depth on defence has taken a hit. There is also the looming possibly of a Jack Johnson trade. Chorney can help cover for a game if Johnson is traded say Saturday before the Blackhawks game or is traded late on Monday; Chorney will be with the team and could jump into the line-up.
The Jackets also recalled Nathan Gerbe from Cleveland. Gerbe was playing well in the AHL with 10 points in 11 games. This was a bit of a curious call-up. The Jackets need help offensively and while Gerbe does some things well, he’s a gritty bottom six player at best. Sonny Milano should have been the player recalled. He’s not a traditional bottom six player but who cares. He’s extremely skilled and just what the team needs at this moment.
After all this here is what we know heading into Monday. The Jackets are buying, are looking at forwards, but do not want to overpay. They still have pieces to sell notably Jack Johnson and Matt Calvert. They also have a big trade chip in Boone Jenner should they want to make a huge move. With the acquisition of Taylor Chorney the Jackets might already be adding bodies in anticipation of making a deadline move. I imagine more things will happen over the weekend and there will be plenty of things to discuss on Monday.
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