The official back to school roster of management, coaching, and skaters are available for the public to review for 2026-2027. The biggest update since the reveal is long time President Mike Priest is retiring as of September 30, with all duties going to John H. McConnell II. With Priest out and just the McConnell family in charge, this hopefully opens the door for Waddell to spend and upgrade this roster.
With one second round appearance, this club must make playoffs and has the most pressure to get there.
The changes for hockey operations may be adjusted longer term, but as soon as there is freedom, opportunity arises. What say you on this sudden retirement?
Additional notes from changes this summer include the following:
- Gilman — new VP from January gets first full season with Columbus
- Granato — new assistant and will run power play
- Vogelhuber — promotion from Cleveland and will run penalty kill
- Bootland — first year AHL head coach run back to back cups with Hershey in 2023 and 2024. Former Cleveland Barons skater.
- Media Departures — Svoboda, Victory, and McElligott replaced by Amazon streaming and simulcasting for cost saving efforts.
Ownership / Senior Management
Majority Owner / Governor: John P. McConnell
President/Governor: John H. McConnell II effective October 1, 2026
President / Alternate Governor: Mike Priest until September 30, 2026, then
Hockey Operations
President, Hockey Operations / General Manager / Alternate Governor: Don Waddell
Assistant General Manager / General Manager, Cleveland Monsters: Chris Clark
Director, Player Personnel: Rick Nash
Vice President, Hockey Operations: Laurence Gilman
Senior Manager, Hockey Operations: Zach Abdou
Team Relations Specialist: Aaron Johnson
Skating Consultant: Lee Harris
Development Coaches: Tommy Cross, Anthony Donskov, Matthew Donskov
Manager, Travel & Logistics: Reid Robertson
Scouting
Director of Pro Scouting: Basil McRae
Scouting Manager: Jim Viers
Pro Scouts: Bob Halkidis, Cole Lussier, Mikko Makela, Todd White
Pro Scouting Consultant: Kevin Clark
Director, European Scouting: Ville Siren
Director, Amateur Scouting: Trevor Timmins
Amateur Scouts: Oscar Akerlund, Marshall Davidson, Danny Flynn, Dave Peters, Roman Polak, Chris Shero
Amateur Scouting Consultants: Byron Bonora, Ari Haanpaa, Brad Peddle
Reserve List & Special Assignments Scout: Alex Campbell
Special Assignment Scout: Ty Eigner
Analytics
Director, Hockey Analytics: Zac Urback
Hockey Analytic Consultants: Cam Lawrence, Josh Weissbock
Coaches
Head Coach: Rick Bowness
Assistant Coach: Jared Boll
Assistant Coach: Don Granato
Assistant Coach: Trent Vogelhuber
Goaltending Coach: Niklas Backstrom
Video
Video Coach: Cody Ward
Assistant Video Coach: Cam Briere
Strength & Conditioning
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Barry Brennan
Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach: Ryan Gadbois
Athletic Training
Head Athletic Trainer: Tom Bourdon
Assistant Athletic Trainers: Dylan Dewey, Mike Vogt
Assistant Athletic Trainer & Physical Therapist:Chris Strickland
Massage Therapist: Inar Treiguts
Equipment
Equipment Manager: Paul DeFazio
Assistant Equipment Managers: Dustin Halstead, Mitch MacLeod, Austin Dykstra
OhioHealth Medical Staff
Medical Director: Joseph Ruane, D.O.
Team Physicians: Jason Dapore, D.O., Ben Burkam, M.D.
Cleveland Monsters
Head Coach: Nick Bootland
Assistant Coaches: Chris Bergeron, Stefan Matteau
Goaltending Coach: Brad Thiessen
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Ben Eaves
Video Coach: Mike Monti
Assistant Athletic Trainer: Seth Campbell
Equipment Manager: Mike Murphy
Broadcasting
TV Color Analyst and Team Ambassador: Jody Shelley
TV Play-By-Play Announcer: Steve Mears
TV Studio Analyst: Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre
Radio Host & Broadcast Manager: Dylan Tyrer
2026-27 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS TRAINING CAMP ROSTER - NUMERICAL
As of September 16, 2026 \ Injured*
56 total players on opening camp roster
NO | FORWARDS – 32 | HT | WT | DOB | BIRTHPLACE | SHOOTS | ’25-26 Club | LGE | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM |
3 | Coyle, Charlie | 6'3" | 221 | 3/2/92 | East Weymouth, MA | Right | COLUMBUS | NHL | 82 | 20 | 38 | 58 | 3 | 14 |
4 | Sillinger, Cole | 6'00 | 202 | 5/16/03 | Columbus, OH | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 81 | 8 | 25 | 33 | 2 | 37 |
10 | Voronkov, Dmitri | 6'5" | 234 | 9/10/00 | Angarsk, RUS | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 63 | 17 | 15 | 32 | -1 | 59 |
11 | Wood, Miles | 6'2" | 209 | 9/13/95 | Buffalo, NY | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 54 | 8 | 6 | 14 | -10 | 26 |
12 | Sillinger, Owen | 5'10" | 183 | 9/23/97 | Regina, SK | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 69 | 14 | 20 | 34 | -14 | 50 |
19 | Fantilli, Adam | 6'2" | 205 | 10/12/04 | Nobleton, ON | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 82 | 24 | 35 | 59 | -13 | 38 |
20 | Keskinen, Oiva | 6'1" | 185 | 2/28/04 | Ylojarvi, FIN | Left | Tappara | Liiga | 49 | 20 | 17 | 37 | 25 | 14 |
21 | Lundestrom, Isac * | 6'1" | 192 | 11/6/99 | Gallivare, SWE | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 68 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -2 | 4 |
22 | Dumais, Jordan | 5'8" | 167 | 4/15/04 | Montreal, QC | Right | Cleveland | AHL | 46 | 7 | 11 | 18 | -11 | 8 |
23 | Monahan, Sean | 6'2" | 206 | 10/12/94 | Brampton, ON | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 78 | 13 | 23 | 36 | -1 | 12 |
24 | Olivier, Mathieu | 6'1" | 232 | 2/11/97 | Biloxi, MS | Right | COLUMBUS | NHL | 61 | 15 | 11 | 26 | 13 | 101 |
43 | Nichushkin, Valeri | 6'4" | 210 | 3/4/95 | Chelyabinsk, RUS | Left | Colorado | NHL | 72 | 17 | 32 | 49 | 9 | 26 |
53 | Pinelli, Luca | 5'9" | 176 | 4/5/05 | Stoney Creek, ON | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
Cleveland | AHL | 68 | 14 | 32 | 46 | 0 | 66 | |||||||
55 | Novak, Filip | 6'1" | 198 | 3/7/08 | Chomutov, CZE | Left | HC Sparta Praha | CZE | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
HC Stadion Litomerice | CZE2 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
HC Sparta U20 | CZEU20 | 28 | 11 | 24 | 35 | 2 | 60 | |||||||
58 | Heinen, Danton | 6'2" | 187 | 7/5/95 | Langley, BC | Left | Pittsburgh | NHL | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
W-B/Scranton | AHL | 12 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 10 | 6 | |||||||
COLUMBUS | NHL | 33 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 8 | |||||||
Cleveland | AHL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
62 | Bezeau, Riley * | 6' | 187 | 5/4/02 | Mansfield, MA | Right | Cleveland | AHL | 24 | 5 | 2 | 7 | -1 | 74 |
67 | Malatesta, James | 5'9" | 199 | 5/31/03 | Montreal, QC | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 57 | 10 | 8 | 18 | -1 | 87 |
71 | Tuch, Luke | 6'2" | 203 | 3/7/02 | Syracuse, NY | Left | Laval | AHL | 68 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 3 | 82 |
72 | McGuire, Ryan | 5'11" | 192 | 2/29/04 | Burlington, ON | Left | St. Francis Xavier | USports | 28 | 13 | 14 | 27 | -2 | 89 |
75 | McCue, Max | 6'1" | 180 | 2/10/03 | Sudbury, ON | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 26 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -9 | 39 |
76 | Eernisse, Josh | 3-Jun | 216 | 12/31/01 | Apple Valley, MN | Right | Michigan | Big10 | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 17 | 37 |
Cleveland | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
81 | Di Iorio, Alessandro | 6'1" | 194 | 3/17/08 | Vaughan, ON | Right | Sarnia | OHL | 45 | 12 | 19 | 31 | -37 | 16 |
82 | Pyyhtia, Mikael | Jun-00 | 178 | 12/17/01 | Turku, FIN | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
Cleveland | AHL | 59 | 21 | 28 | 49 | 0 | 22 | |||||||
83 | Garland, Conor | 5'10" | 165 | 3/11/96 | Scituate, MA | Right | Vancouver | NHL | 50 | 7 | 19 | 26 | -15 | 30 |
COLUMBUS | NHL | 21 | 5 | 2 | 7 | -6 | 4 | |||||||
86 | Marchenko, Kirill | 6'3" | 201 | 7/21/00 | Barnaul, RUS | Right | COLUMBUS | NHL | 76 | 27 | 40 | 67 | 7 | 32 |
88 | Ahcan, Roman | 5'9" | 170 | 3/24/99 | Savage, MN | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 67 | 16 | 9 | 25 | 4 | 81 |
89 | Singleton, Tate | 5'9" | 176 | 9/5/98 | West Lebanon, NH | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 39 | 6 | 5 | 11 | -2 | 54 |
Greenville | ECHL | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 11 | |||||||
91 | Johnson, Kent | 6' | 170 | 10/18/02 | Port Moody, BC | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 76 | 7 | 15 | 22 | -8 | 20 |
92 | Williams, Jack | 6' | 189 | 3/2/02 | Biddeford, ME | Right | Cleveland | AHL | 72 | 15 | 23 | 38 | 0 | 14 |
93 | Del Bel Belluz, Luca | 6'1" | 191 | 11/10/03 | Woodbridge, ON | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 4 |
Cleveland | AHL | 55 | 22 | 36 | 58 | -4 | 2 | |||||||
94 | Lomberg, Ryan | 5'9" | 184 | 12/9/94 | Richmond Hill, ON | Left | Calgary | NHL | 57 | 4 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 59 |
96 | Griffin, Owen | 5'10" | 161 | 4/8/07 | Markham, ON | Right | Oshawa | OHL | 66 | 25 | 42 | 67 | -28 | 54 |
NO | DEFENSE – 17 | HT | WT | DOB | BIRTHPLACE | SHOOTS | ’25-26 CLUB | LGE | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM |
2 | Christiansen, Jake | 6' | 199 | 9/12/99 | West Vancouver, BC | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 40 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -7 | 8 |
5 | Mateychuk, Denton | 5'11" | 188 | 7/12/04 | Winnipeg, MB | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 75 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 12 | 8 |
6 | White, Colton | 6'1" | 187 | 5/3/97 | London, ON | Left | New Jersey | NHL | 23 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
Utica | AHL | 30 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 29 | |||||||
7 | Soucy, Carson | 6'4" | 211 | 7/27/94 | Viking, AB | Left | NY Rangers | NHL | 46 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 18 |
NY Islanders | NHL | 30 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -10 | 20 | |||||||
8 | Werenski, Zach | 6'2" | 214 | 7/19/97 | Grosse Pointe, MI | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 75 | 22 | 59 | 81 | 7 | 18 |
9 | Provorov, Ivan | 6'1" | 224 | 1/13/97 | Yaroslavl, RUS | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 82 | 9 | 22 | 31 | 14 | 32 |
15 | Fabbro, Dante | 6' | 200 | 6/20/98 | Coquitlam, BC | Right | COLUMBUS | NHL | 74 | 5 | 6 | 11 | -16 | 33 |
44 | Gudbranson, Erik | 6'5" | 222 | 1/7/92 | Ottawa, Ontario | Right | COLUMBUS | NHL | 37 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 19 |
54 | Marrelli, Luca | 6'2" | 184 | 10/4/05 | Toronto, ON | Right | Cleveland | AHL | 32 | 4 | 12 | 16 | -14 | 10 |
56 | Buckberger, Boston | 5'11" | 172 | 6/1/03 | Saskatoon, SK | Left | Denver | NCHC | 43 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 32 | 18 |
57 | Elick, Charlie | 6'4" | 205 | 1/17/06 | Villach, AUT | Right | Tri-City | WHL | 63 | 6 | 14 | 20 | -15 | 46 |
Cleveland | AHL | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
63 | Topp, Rowan | 6'2" | 203 | 4/2/06 | St. Anns, ON | Right | Guelph | OHL | 57 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 64 |
74 | Ceulemans, Corson | 6'2" | 208 | 5/5/03 | Regina, SK | Right | Cleveland | AHL | 64 | 8 | 16 | 24 | -14 | 43 |
77 | Croskery, Callum | 6'1" | 187 | 1/29/08 | Oakville, ON | Left | Soo | OHL | 43 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 25 |
78 | Severson, Damon | 6'2" | 204 | 8/7/94 | Melville, SK | Right | COLUMBUS | NHL | 71 | 8 | 24 | 32 | 18 | 45 |
84 | Richard, Guillaume | 6'1" | 193 | 2/10/03 | Quebec, QC | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 70 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 20 | 20 |
95 | MacDonald, Caleb | 6'3" | 223 | 11/29/02 | Cambridge, ON | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 58 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -6 | 74 |
NO | GOALTENDERS – 7 | HT | WT | DOB | BIRTHPLACE | CATCHES | ’25-26 CLUB | LGE | GP | MIN | W-L-OT | GAA | SV% | |
29 | Copley, Pheonix | 6'4" | 205 | 1/18/92 | North Pole, AK | Left | Los Angeles | NHL | 1 | 59 | 0-1-0 | 3.07 | 0.893 | |
Ontario | AHL | 33 | 1,971 | 21-11-1 | 2.59 | 0.901 | ||||||||
31 | Lalonde, Nolan | 6'1" | 197 | 2/14/04 | Kingston, ON | Left | Cleveland | AHL | 1 | 1 | 0-0-0 | 0 | 1 | |
Toledo | ECHL | 22 | 1,191 | 11/4/03 | 2.57 | 0.903 | ||||||||
33 | Talbot, Cam | 6'3" | 202 | 7/5/87 | Caledonia, ON | Left | Detroit | NHL | 34 | 1,750 | 12/9/06 | 3.19 | 0.883 | |
35 | Gardner, Evan | 6'1" | 180 | 1/25/06 | Fort St. John, BC | Left | Saskatoon | WHL | 52 | 2,821 | 25-16-6 | 2.96 | 0.902 | |
40 | Snell, Parker | 6'2" | 176 | 4/21/08 | St. Albert, AB | Left | Edmonton | WHL | 33 | 1,886 | 21-9-1 | 2.74 | 0.895 | |
73 | Greaves, Jet | 6' | 188 | 3/30/01 | Cambridge, ON | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 53 | 3,276 | 26-19-9 | 2.6 | 0.908 | |
90 | Merzlikins, Elvis * | 6'3" | 190 | 4/13/94 | Riga, LVA | Left | COLUMBUS | NHL | 30 | 1,679 | 14-11-3 | 3.4 | 0.883 |
Source — NHL.com for Management updates and completed roster table