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What does the future hold for the Blue Jackets goaltending?

May 22, 2018, 4:10 PM ET [15 Comments]
Paul Berthelot
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Blue Jackets have one of the best goalies in the NHL in Sergei Bobrovksy. He’s won two Vezina trophies and should have been nominated for a third this season. In the regular season Bob is a force. When he’s on, he’s unstoppable, carrying his team for stretches.

In the playoffs it’s another story. That force from the season is gone and the Jackets have yet to make it out of the first round because of it. It seems like every season this discussion is had: “What to do with Bobrovsky?” The Jackets need a goalie who can play in the playoffs, at the same time they are not in the playoffs without Bobrovksy.

In years past you just shrugged these things off, Bob wasn’t going anywhere, these were pointless conversations. Now however things are different. Bob is entering the last year of his deal and he carries a large cap hit of $7.425M. He’s likely to want at least that if not more on his next deal. He’s also not young, next season will be his age 30 season. Teams really shouldn’t be committing big long term deals to goalies on the wrong side of 30. Even one as good as Bobrovksy, eventually he will start to decline.

The Jackets have some alternatives in net. Joonas Korpisalo played fine in a back-up role last season. Elvis Merzlikins was fantastic once again in the World Championships showing he’s ready for look at the next level. The Jackets could potentially roll those two in net and while it wouldn’t be as dominate as Bobrovksy it would save the team upwards of five million dollars.

The money you save you can allocate to your younger players. Zach Werenski’s next deal isn’t going to be cheap, Pierre-Luc Dubois is going to get paid in a couple seasons, plus the team needs to be doing everything they can to convince Artemi Panarin to stay.

They have already made one change on the goalie front; goal-tender coach Ian Clarke is gone. This is a massive deal and people are not making enough of it. Clark has been with the Jackets since the 2011-12 season. He has been with Bobrovsky all these years and has definitely been a factor in his transformation to one of the elite goalies in this league.

It has been reported that Merzlikins has travelled to North America and is meeting with the Jackets brass.




Merzlikins does not have an out clause in his deal and it has been said that Elvis does not want to come over and play in the AHL. He wants the opportunity to compete for an NHL job.




It’s tough for the Jackets to give him that opportunity with both Bob and Korpisolo around. Korpisolo after being the backup for two seasons is not going to take very kindly to an AHL, assignment, plus he will need waivers to be sent down. The best option here would be to trade one of them. There isn’t much of a prescient for trading an elite goalie. You had the Ben Bishop trade but that was a rental and he’s not the same calibre of goalie that Bob is. Elite goalies simply aren’t traded, for obvious reasons. Plus, all the reasons mentioned above for not signing Bob, are reasons teams wouldn’t want to trade for him. The best option would be to trade Korpisalo. Aaron Portzline has speculated that the Jackets could get a first round pick for their young backup.




This situation reminds of the Jack Johnson deadline situation. If a first round pick is on the table that’s a deal that should already be done. Seeing as that deal hasn’t been made yet, I’m skeptical that the team could get a first. The Ducks were able to get the 30th overall selection and a second when they traded Frederik Anderson to the Leafs. Anderson is a much better and was a far more established goalie at the time than Korpisalo is.

Even if the Jackets are only able to get a mid-round pick and/or a prospect they should still explore trading Korpisalo. If they can buy out Merzlikins from his contract in Switzerland and it turns out he does need some time in the AHL, you can find a back-up goalie pretty easily.

The Jackets have plenty of options which is a good thing. If they can get Merlikins to Columbus they will have two young goalies they are very high on. If you can’t get him out of his deal in Switzerland, it would be best for them to roll with Bobrovsky and Korpisalo for one more season and we can have this discussion all over again next season.

You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot
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