Looking through the Blue Jackets system and at the contracts current defensemen have been given, I started to question whether Tim Erixon will have a spot on next year's team.
With Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski, Ryan Murray and Fedor Tyutin all signed and essentially all four locks to be playing in the top-4, it seems like Erixon is fighting an uphill battle right from the get go.
Factor in restricted free agents David Savard and Dalton Prout, both of whom the Jackets seem to like, need to be re-signed on top of Nikita Nikitin, who's a regular in the lineup, and perhaps Nick Schultz, and you already have eight defensemen.
I'm not sure Schultz will be re-signed, but even if that's not the case, they'll probably have seven defensemen signed before the off-season even gets going. I believe the Blue Jackets want to add to their defense, but for the sake of the argument let's say they do that via trade, and one defenseman goes out when one comes in.
There doesn't look to be any room for Erixon. He's an interesting player, because he always produces at a high rate in the AHL, but the offense seems to completely disappear whenever he's given a shot in the NHL.
Take the last three years for example. Erixon posted 33 points in 52 games, 29 in 40, and most recently 38 in 40. What has that translated to in the NHL? Seven points in 51 games. He's really only been given two good looks in the NHL, but you'd like to see more from a guy who's considered to be an offensive defenseman.
After being drafted in the 1st round of 2009, Erixon's already been traded twice, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's moved again.
It seems unlikely that he'll make the Blue Jackets next season, so the team may look to move Erixon for what they can get before the asset starts to diminish.
Defense take longer to develop than forwards, which is fine, but at 23 you'd expect a 1st round pick to have made more of an impact at this point, or at least have earned a regular spot in the lineup.
He's shown a lot of potential in the AHL and left a lot to be desired in the NHL, but perhaps a team starving for defense or youth in their lineup would be willing to take a shot on him.
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