Columbus faithful and anyone else in the hockey world that cares, here is the plan today. I will update frequently with actual news. Enough of the rumors get covered on this site that I don't want to cover all the speculation. When things happen I will post them on this page and give commentary from a CBJ perspective. For those of you who haven't followed hockey since Game 6 of the Jackets Bruins series here is a very brief recap of things you may have missed.

3 PM UPDATE:

The inevitable has happened: Bobrovsky, Duchene and Panarin have signed elsewhere. Coming into today that was not really too shocking. Bob is the newest goalie for FLA, Duchene is a Pred and Panarin snubbed the Islanders and landed in New York as a Ranger. The cap hits totalled around $22M per year. The Jackets had a little of $30M in cap space this season, but still needed to sign Korpi, Murray and Werenski. Excellent segue...

Columbus re-signed Joona Korpisalo to a one-year deal (salary not disclosed) and Ryan Murray to a two-year deal worth $4.6M per year.

Columbus also signed Gus Nyquist to a 4-year contract with a $5.5M cap hit per year.

Still outstanding is a contract for Zach Werenski and any sort of goaltender signing with NHL experience.

Note: Once updates start they will be listed from newest to oldest. All transaction are confirmed on TSN.ca.

July 1:

SIGNING: Devils Wayne Simmonds 1 year $5M per year.

SIGNING: Panthers Brett Connolly 4 years $3.25M per year.
notes: The Panthers want to win and win now. Connolly had 52 goals over the last three seasons in WAS and provides scoring depth in FLA.

SIGNING: Lightning Curtis McElhinney 2 years $1.3M per year.
notes: After a surprisingly good year splitting time in CAR, seems like an underwhelming contract for him to sign. In TBL he will obviously serve as the back up, so maybe not so surprising.

SIGNING: Oilers Alex Chiasson 2 years $2.15M per year.
notes: This guy had 22 goals last year and is only 28 years old. This is an extremely good signing for EDM.

SIGNING: Capitals Richard Panik 4 years $2.75M per year.

SIGNING: Blue Jackets Gustav Nyquist 4 years $5.5M per year.
Fills the Top 6 forward need. He isn't Panarin, but certainly will replace some of the scoring that was lost.

SIGNING: Red Wings Valterri Filppula 2 years undisclosed amount.

SIGNING: Sharks Timo Meier 4 years $6M per year.

SIGNING: Blue Jackets Ryan Murray 2 years $4.6M per year.
notes: Columbus didn't get the 'injury-prone' discount at all. In a fully healthy year this contract is totally worth it given his play at the end of the 2019 campaign. Another injury and the CBJ faithful will be demanding a trade.

SIGNING: Avalanche Joonas Donskoi 4 years $3.9M per year.
notes: Forward that could have worked well with the Jackets. Avalanche are paying for potential with this contract. If that potential is realized they got a steal.

SIGNING: Panthers Noel Acciari 3 years $1.67M per year.

SIGNING: Penguins Brandon Tanev 6 years $3.5M.

SIGNING: Rangers Artemi Panarin 7 years $11.642M.
notes: This one stings. It was rumored that the Jackets offered 8 years $12 per year and it was refused. He truly didn't want to stay in Columbus. Artemi: Thank you for your time here, it was fun to watch.

SIGNING: Canadians Keith Kinkaid 1 year $1.75M per year.
notes: This feels like a miss for the Jackets. He was a deadline pick up that never saw playing time and served as an insurance policy. After splitting time as the starter with NJD, could have been a safety net for the young CBJ goalies.

SIGNING: Canucks Jordie Benn 2 years $2M per year.

SIGNING: Wild Ryan Hartman 2 years $1.9M per year.

SIGNING: Panthers Anton Stralman 3 years $5.5M per year.
notes: This signing makes the Murray signing at $4.6M per year feel better.

SIGNING: Oilers Mike Smith 1 year $2M per year.
notes: Oilers and Flames swap starting goalies from last season.

SIGNING: Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky 7 years $10M per year.
notes: Panthers are paying for success in the next 1-2 years and are willing to take the hit 4-5 years from now. If it pays off, they could be going deep into the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. But, in 2024 and beyond they may not like this contract so much.

SIGNING: Predators Matt Duchene 7 years $8M per year.
notes: Team friendly contract that solidifies the rumors that Nashville was his desired destination.

SIGNING: Wild Mats Zuccarello 5 yeas $6M per year.

SIGNING: Stars Joe Pavelski 3 years $7M per year.
SIGNING: Stars Corey Perry 1 year $1.5M per year.
SIGNING: Stars Andrej Sekera 1 year $1.5M per year.
notes: Pavs and Perry bring veteran leadership. Perry is a low-risk-high-reward signing. For that price it was certainly worth it.

SIGNING: Canucks Tyler Myers 5 years $6M per year.

SIGNING: Senators Ron Hainsey 1 year $3.5M per year.
notes: Former CBJ signing a decent contract.

SIGNING: Flames Cam Talbot 1 year $2.75M per year.
notes: Potentially a CBJ target as an insurance policy against injury or poor play.

TRADE: Sabres get Jimmy Vesey for 2021 3rd Round to Rangers.

SIGNING: Blue Jackets Joonas Korpisalo 1 year undisclosed $
notes: Expected signing for the Jackets. One-year 'show me' deal is favorable to both CBJ and player. Looks like he will get his shot as a starter. May point to the CBJ going with the 'sink-or-swim' approach in net this season with Elvis and Korpi.

TRADE: Senators get Zaitsev, Connor Brown & Michael Carcone for Ceci, Ben Harpur, Aaron Luchuk & 2020 3rd Round to Maple Leafs.

What does everything up to this point mean to the Jackets?

The price of quality F is high this year even given the number of free agents available.

Defensemen have been a hot commodity with many of the big names off the board, but this doesn't impact the Jackets too much.

William Karlsson will not be returning to Columbus. I, personally was holding out hope for this one. It was a mistake to have let him go and the Knights got him signed to a cap friendly contract (as long as he keeps producing).

There are still a good amount of quality goaltenders still available. One of them will likely land in Columbus as a free agent. Don't look for a big splash, but a quality bridge goalie is not out of the question. Dark horse here is signing Kinkaid as a split starter for a very reasonable 2-3 year contract. Bobrovsky to FLA rumors are still all the rage, I don't expect him back in Columbus, but that was known before today.

As reported by many sources including TSN.com the Jackets made one last big push for Panarin. The offer was rumored to be an 8-year-$96M-offer. That would have resulted in a $12M cap hit, but had to be signed before July 1 to include the 8th year. That is a big cap hit and a great offer for two reasons, 1) it shows the fan base that they really tried to bring him back and 2) it sets the floor very high for another team to try to match, thus causing another team cap issues in the future. Sad part is that he will be wearing another team's sweater next season.

June 30:
TRADE: Blackhawks get Andrew Shaw & 2021 7th Round for 2020 2nd and 7th Round & 2021 3rd Round to Canadians
TRADE: Hurricanes get James Reimer for Scott Darling & 2020 6th Round to Panthers

June 29:
TRADE: Coyotes get Kessel, Dane Birks & 2021 4th Round for Alex Galchenyuk & Pierre-Oliver Joseph to Penguins

June 28:
SIGNING: Maple Leafs Kasperi Kapanen 3 years $3.2M per year
SIGNING: Maple Leafs Andreas Johnsson 4 years $3.4M per year
TRADE: Avalanche get Burakovsky for Scott Kosmachuk, 2020 2nd Round & 2020 3rd Round to Capitals
TRADE: Sabres get Colin Miller for 2021 2nd Round & 2022 5th Round to Golden Knights

June 27:
TRADE: Hurricanes get Haula for Nicolas Roy & 2021 5th round to Golden Knights

June 26:
SIGNING: Flyers Brian Elliott 1 year $2M per year

June 25:
TRADE: Coyotes get Soderberg for Connauton & 2020 3rd Round to Avalanche

June 24:
SIGNING: Golden Knights William Karlsson 8 years $5.9M per year
SIGNING: Flyers Travis Sanheim 2 years $3.25M per year
TRADE: Blackhawks get Calvin de Haan & Aleski Saarela for Anton Forsberg & Gustav Forsling to Hurricanes

June 22:
TRADE: Maple Leafs get 2020 6th Round for Patrick Marleau 2020 1st Round & 7th Round to Hurricanes
TRADE: Devils get Subban for Steven Santini, Jeremy Davies, 2019 2nd Round & 2020 2nd Round to Predators
TRADE: Canucks get JT Miller for Marek Mazanec, 2019 3rd Round & 2020 1st Round to Lightning

June 20:
SIGNING: Canucks Alex Edler 2 years $6M per year

June 19:
SIGNING: Flyers Kevin Hayes 7 years $7.14M per year

June 18:
SIGNING: Lightning Braydon Coburn 2 years $1.7M per year
TRADE: Flyers get Justin Braun for 2019 2nd Round and 2020 3rd Round to Sharks

June 17:
TRADE: Rangers get (RFA rights to) Jacob Trouba for Neal Pionk & 2019 1st Round Pick to Jets
SIGNING: Sharks Erik Karlsson 8 years $11.5M per year

June 16:
SIGNING: Capitals Carl Hagelin 4 years $2.75M per year

June 15:
TRADE: Blackhawks get Olli Maatta for 2019 5th Round Pick & Dominik Kahun to Penguins

June 14:
TRADE: Capitals get Radko Gudas for Matt Niskanen to Flyers
SIGNING: Islanders Jordan Eberle 5 years $5.5M per year

June 7:
SIGNING: Sabres Jeff Skinner 8 years $9M per year

June 3:
TRADE: Flyers get (rights to) Kevin Hayes for 2019 5th Round Pick to Jets

May 29:
SIGNING: Senators Anders Nilsson 2 years $2.6M per year

May 23:
SIGNING: Islanders Brock Nelson 6-year $6M per year

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