Imagine that you are the general manager of the Columbus blue jackets. You have a key number of your face to sign but you are in charge of their destiny. Who stays and who goes if you are Jarmo Kekalainen?
Here is the list of players that are expiring:
F Brendan Gaunce (league Min) F Nathan Gerbe (league Min) F Zac Rinaldo (league Min) F Tyler Sikura (league Min) D Scott Harrington ($1.633M cap hit) D Dean Kukan ($1.65M cap hit) G Joonas Korpisalo ($2.8M cap hit) G Jean-Francois Berube (league Min) G Cam Johnson (league Min)
Here is what comes off the books: F Max Domi— $2.65M retained salary
Here is what added to next season’s cap: F Boone Jenner: same pay; extended 5 years F Justin Danforth: $225K pay raise for 2 years F Eric Robinson: $625K pay raise for 2 years D Billy Seeezey: $750K contract for 2 years G Elvis Merzlikins: $1.4M pay raise for 5 years
Columbus is continuing their build through the draft, and will have two picks in the top 16 in the draft, unless Chicago’s pick wins in the top 2. Else, this will be a different conversation. They also have prospects Kent Johnson, Liam Foudy, and Daniil Tarasov competing for more time next season, and that’s not counting the games Yegor Chinakov and Cole Sillinger have played in this year as rookies. The club is still trying to get F Kirill Marchenko over from the KHL to play in North America. Keep the trend of youth going, or keep a veteran culture up while there’s years like this?
More to come from California…