Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen doesn't have too much house keeping to do this summer.
The most important task is undoubtedly re-signing Ryan Johansen, but after that the rest of the teams unrestricted and restricted free agents are made up of bottom-6 forwards, and depth defensemen.
Kekalainen has some decisions to make, but certainly nothing franchise altering. One thing he'll have to decide is a) if he wants Derek MacKenzie back and; b) what's fair value for the 32-year-old forward.
Aaron Portzline tweeted a few thoughts on the situation.
#CBJ GM Jarmo Kekalainen on C Derek MacKenzie, an unrestricted free agent: "He’s played great for us. He’s a character guy. I have a ..."
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) May 9, 2014"...tremendous amount of respect for what he’s done. Not the biggest guy, but plays like a 6-4 guy. But everything has to make ..."
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) May 9, 2014"... sense (in the negotiations). We’ll take all those things in consideration." Kekalainen essentially confirming #CBJ want MacKenzie back.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) May 9, 2014Based off those quotes, it sounds like Kekalainen has more or less decided he wants MacKenzie back, and the only thing that would keep that from happening is unreasonable contract demands from MacKenzie's camp. I think MacKenzie knows his role and value in the NHL, so that seems unlikely.
He's coming off a pretty nice season where he scored nine goals and added 18 points in 71 games played. On the fancy stats side of things, he fared well driving possession at a 49.2% rate during 5 vs 5, meaning the shot attempts were basically a wash with both teams generating about the same amount of shots when he was on the ice.
He upped his game in the playoffs as, though he only scored one goal, he was one of the better possession players on the team and drove shot attempts at a 4% higher rate than the team did when he wasn't on the ice. He was also a regular penalty killer for the team, and saw almost 50% of their short handed minutes in the playoffs.
I think MacKenzie would be a welcomed addition back to the lineup, but it's probably unrealistic to expect much more from a soon-to-be 33-year-old coming off the 2nd best season of his career.
Kekalainen will want to make sure he doesn't give out too much in terms of dollars or years, but as I said, bringing him back makes sense for the team.
I think a short-term deal (let's say two years, $3 million total) would be a deal that works for both sides.
**
Jackets posts:
Scouting reports
Devils posts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: NHLToddCordell@Gmail.com