Hello Hockeybuzzards! Apologies for the late blog this week. Long holiday weekend to clear the mind followed by the birthday shared by Bobby Brink and Andrew Copp carried over into the start of the week.
Lots of news broke just today regarding the Columbus Blue Jackets, but more specifically the AHL Monsters.
Jets/Jackets Rumor
Let’s start with the rumored internet troll trade of defender Ivan Provorov and a third to Winnipeg for top prospect, forward Rutger McGroarty, shared on X.
First off, hilarious. While the package may be around the Columbus price, my sense is this is not the case in Winnipeg. Provorov is already at a reduced cap hit for one season only, which risks the Jets’ to close a Top 4 defender after 82 regular season games for nothing. The third rounder is magic beans. My feeling on the Provorov situation is a potential deadline move with salary retained for the second time as a deadline move. Rutger McGroarty, interesting trade chip. A first rounder from 2022, he played with Fantilli and Brindley at Michigan, and chose to go back to school over committing to Winnipeg.
No Todd
Todd McLellan, who was considered the front runner for the Blue Jackets’ head coaching job, and that I originally reported as the man with job, will not be the next coach. Contract talks between the Los Angeles Kings and Blue Jackets fell apart.
According to Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch, there was also a disagreement when it came to playoff relevance between the coaching candidate and the organization, as the team thinks they are closer than the coach says.
Christainsen Extended
Defender gets a one year $775K extension from Waddell. Could be competing for the bottom pair with Johnson and Mateychuk.
AHL Home Opener
Cleveland opens at home on October 26 v Rochester. They start in an Eastern Conference final rematch and banner raising against the defending Champions in Hershey on October 12.
Foudy Joins Duclair
Liam Foudy signs with the New York Islanders. Last season, he was a waiver claim off the main roster to Nashville.
Laine and Montreal?
They appear to be back on top with Utah, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA, Anaheim, all looking.
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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