Blue Jackets in a tough spot with Marchenko situation
It was an incredibly hectic offseason for the Columbus Blue Jackets and their general manager Don Waddell, who was faced with the possibility of having to trade two of his star players this summer.
The situation surrounding reigning Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Zach Werenski calmed down as the summer wore on, with the Olympic gold medalist now content to remain with the Blue Jackets and continue to push toward leading a playoff-caliber team.
But winger Kirill Marchenko remains disgruntled, and Waddell has gone public with updates as to the sort of offers he has received in exchange for the 26-year-old, who notched 67 points in 76 games last year and has scored at least 21 goals in each of his four NHL seasons.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed what the best path forward for Waddell and the Blue Jackets is as they try to navigate the situation surrounding their top scoring winger.
Tyler Yaremchuk: That doesn’t meant that the start of this season is going to be without drama in Columbus, because Kirill Marchenko has been, I don’t know about vocal, because he just kind of dodges questions whenever he’s asked about being happy in Columbus, but Don Waddell had a quote the other day… When he was asked about Marchenko’s future with the team, said: “I’m not calling teams. They’re calling me. I can’t trade him for picks and prospects. That doesn’t make any sense for our franchise at this point.” So Waddell obviously wants to do something that is talent-for-talent, which can be a tough place to negotiate from as a GM when everyone kind of knows that Marchenko is a distressed asset.
Carter Hutton: Yeah I think that’s a factor too, right. When you’re talking about trying to move him out like talent-for-talent, it gets tricky. The team that wants to move him in, is there going to be a piece? Is there going to be a contract now with everything going? The factor is he has a lot of upside, so now that you have Fantilli locked up, to see him move out and not replace it with someone that can help you immediately on the ice; it’s one thing to move him out and get picks, but they’re at a point where… I think for Columbus, just stockpiling picks and not having that linear with where your team is going, trying to win now and just adding picks, it kind of offsets where your team can grow. I think that’s the biggest factor here for Don Waddell.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…
