With their roster all but set and talks with Ryan Johansen at a standstill, the Blue Jackets are now doing their due diligence to see what it'd take to keep two of their top players around long-term.
Those two players are center Brandon Dubinsky, who the team has fallen in love with since acquiring him in the Rick Nash trade, and Sergei Bobrovsky, who's become one of the league's best goaltenders. Both are set to become free agents next summer, though Bobrovsky will be restricted.
#CBJ have begun early, exploratory contract extension talks w G Sergei Bobrovsky / C Brandon Dubinsky, both entering final year of contracts
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 4, 2014The Blue Jackets have over $40 million in cap space for 2015-16 with half their roster already signed, and the cap is expected to go up again after this season. While both players are in line for raises, they won't cost much more than they already do, and should hardly dent the team's abundance of cap space.
Dubinsky, 28, is coming off a 50 point season and a strong playoff campaign. Another good season should boost his value, but he's already making $4.2 million and likely wouldn't command more than $5 million on a mid-to-long-term deal.
As for Bobrovsky, 25, his numbers are right up there with the NHL's elite over the last couple seasons, but with a cap hit of $5.625M already he likely won't cost much more, either. He'll probably sign for a similar cap hit - my guess is $6 million - but get more term than the two years he was given on his current contract.
Both players have been excellent for Columbus and are still on the right side of 30. The team has the cap space to pay them, and they will.
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