Yesterday Aaron Portzline of the Dispatch reported that the Jackets had given two-year contract extensions to President of Hockey Operations John Davidson, General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen and Assistant General Manager Bill Zito. They are now all under contract through the 2018-19 season.
Dispatch: #CBJ POHOP John Davidson, GM Jarmo Kekalainen and assistant GM Bill Zito sign two-year extensions https://t.co/zEiURVXPGa
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) September 6, 2016
This tweet from Jeremy Crowe does a very good job of summing of the management group.
Mostly every JK/JD move has been defensible.
— Jeremy Crowe (@307x) September 6, 2016
The trouble is that mostly every JK/JD move has required defending. https://t.co/P5vDq89pZE
At first glance these extensions are somewhat questionable. The Jackets made the playoffs in the first full season under this regime but since that 2013-14 season the team has finished 23rd and 27th in the league. They also have done a poor job managing the cap as the Jackets had almost no flexibility this summer to make any roster moves.
That has been the big story with this management group. They have put themselves into a terrible cap position, mostly by their own doing. Contract extensions to players like Nick Foligno and David Savard, players coming off one big season, were questioned right away. Since both players have fallen back to their career averages both deals already look bad. The Brandon Dubinsky deal gets some heat but it’s a more defensible one, he's a very strong two way player with good underlying numbers.
The David Clarkson deal was regarded as the worst in the NHL well before he came to Columbus, and they decided to trade for it. Yes there was more to it than that, with Nathan Horton’s deal not being insured, and wanting to get a player who can actually play. Clarkson’s been so hurt though he's barely played more than Horton.
The Sergei Bobrovsky deal is another one that is defensible but has been a real anchor for the Blue Jackets. At the time of the signing Bob was one of the top goalies in the league. There are always risks with goalies, but Bob had been a strong goalie for a couple years, so it’s understandable why he got the deal he did. It looks bad now as Bob can hardly stay healthy.
Even some of their smaller signings should be questioned as well. Signing Jared Boll to a three deal was a curious one, as was giving Dalton Prout two years. Contract negotiations have been a strength of this management group.
They have been a fairly good team at drafting and trading. They have drafted some solid NHL players in Alexander Wennberg, and Marko Dano. They have drafted top end talent in Zach Werenski and Pierre-Luc Dubois, and they have found some steals late with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Vitali Abramov. Outside of the Clarkson-Horton trade they have well in that regard too. The Brandon Saad trade was very good. The Seth Jones trade was questioned at the time but really has solidified the blue line.
This management group has had three full seasons on the job with minimal success. They are being given another three seasons to follow through on their plan, and continue to build this team. They need to start seeing success soon as ownership and fans can only be patient for so long. If success doesn’t come soon this may be the last extension this group signs in Columbus.
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