One of the more interesting things to follow every year is the international free agent market, and which teams land the top players from overseas.
Some pan out (Carl Soderberg, Jori Lehtera, Mark Giordano, etc.) while others don't - look no further than former Blue Jacket Simon Hjalmarsson - but good teams are always aggressively trying to improve, and the reward usually outweighs the risk.
Steve Moses, 25, figures to be one of the more sought after players in Europe right now, as the 5'9' winger leads the KHL with 35 goals in 56 games.
TSN's Bob McKenzie wrote this morning that Moses is expected to draw plenty of interest, and that there are teams watching how Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen plays this.
Via McKenzie: "Some teams are most interested to see if the Columbus Blue Jackets will step up and make an offer to Moses. No one knows the player better than Blue Jackets' general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, who, as Jokerit's GM, originally brought Moses to Helsinki.If Kekalainen isn't interested, it may send a message – not a good one for Moses – to the rest of the league. Not surprisingly, for obvious reasons, the Columbus GM isn't talking about it. If he is interested in Moses, he doesn't want to signal his intentions to other clubs. If he's not interested, he doesn't want to hurt Moses's marketability with others."
It'll be real interesting to see if Kekalainen has legitimate interest, because if the Blue Jackets are making a competitive offer Moses' connection with Kekalainen could help their chances.
Given where Columbus is at, this could be one of the more interesting storylines to follow as we move forward.
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