The Blue Jackets posted on Twitter that defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov will not play at home against New Jersey on Tuesday for "trade-related reasons". The pending UFA is expected to be moved before March 3rd, but holding him out of the lineup more than two weeks before the deadline would indicate that GM Jarmo Kekalainen is close to a deal or is trying to press the interested teams into upping their offers.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman floated the interesting idea that Columbus would move Gavrikov and then flip the return to Arizona in a deal for Jakob Chychrun, but it will take significantly more than what they get for Gavrikov to get that deal done.
The interesting thing is that both Arizona GM Bill Armstrong and Kekalainen are being extremely careful in shutting down these players for fear of them getting injured and losing out on a significant return. Is this the new normal???
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) January 5, 2021