Flyers

Jackets Acquire Hartnell for Umberger | Heatherington Invited to WJ Camp

Jun 23, 2014 • 12:24 pm

R.J. Umberger is heading back to his old stomping grounds.

After requesting a trade earlier this off-season, Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has finally found a partner as he's shipped Umberger off to Philadelphia in exchange for Scott Hartnell. Columbus will also send a 4th round pick in 2015, per Aaron Portzline.

Umberger, 32, is coming off an 18-goal campaign where he tallied 34 points in 74 games before being a healthy scratch in the playoffs.

Hartnell, also 32, scored 20 goals and recorded 52 points in 78 regular season games with the Flyers.

Not only are Hartnell's possession numbers far better than Umberger's, but his production at 5 vs 5 over the last few seasons has been better (lockout year aside) as well.

Hartnell has five years remaining on his contract at $4.75M per season while Umberger has three years remaining on his deal and carries a cap hit of $4.6M per year.

On the outskirts, it seems as though Kekalainen took on a little more salary and a longer contract in order to get the better player.

Given the amount of cap space the team has, that looks like a smart decision.

Hockey Canada announced its roster for their World Junior summer development camp, and the Blue Jackets own a prospect who happened to earn an invite.

That prospect is defenseman Dillion Heatherington, who was selected 50th overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Jarmo Kekalainen used the team's draft value chart and elected to trade down from No. 44 to acquire picks No. 50 and No. 89, which turned into Heatherington and skilled forward Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Heatherington is coming off an impressive season where he recorded 35 points in 70 games with the Swift Current Broncos.

While it's too early to tell just how good of a chance he has of making Team Canada's roster for the upcoming World Junior tournament, it's certainly encouraging that he was invited.

Below is a video of Heatherington's highlights from the 2013 U18's.