Expansion Draft Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets

The 2021 season was nothing short of a disaster for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The team put together back-to-back playoff upsets in 2019 and 2020 over the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs but fell flat in 2021, finishing with an 18-26-12 record. The implosion ultimately resulted in the Blue Jackets and head coach John Tortorella parting ways after six seasons.

Though the Blue Jackets have a wealth of problems to deal with, such as finding a new coach, the Seattle expansion draft shouldn’t be too difficult for them to navigate.

Eligible Forwards

@Cam Atkinson, @Brandon Dubinsky, @Gustav Nyquist, @Max Domi, @Patrik Laine, @Boone Jenner, @Oliver Bjorkstrand, @Jack Roslovic, @Mikhail Grigorenko, @Eric Robinson, @Kevin Stenlund, @Zac Dalpe, @Nathan Gerbe, @Cliff Pu, @Kole Sherwood

Eligible Defencemen

@Seth Jones, @Zach Werenski, @Vladislav Gavrikov, @Dean Kukan, @Scott Harrington, @Gabriel Carlsson, @Michael Del Zotto, @Adam Clendening

Eligible Goaltenders

@Joonas Korpisalo, @Matiss Kivlenieks, @Cam Johnson

Exempt Players

@ Elvis Merzlikins, @Emil Bemstrom, @Joshua Dunne, @Yegor Chinakov, @Alexandre Texier, @Liam Foudy, @Trey Fix-Wolansky, @Tyler Angle, @Andrew Peeke, @Mikko Lehtonen

What should they do?

One interesting thing to watch from Columbus this off-season is which goaltender they opt to roll with. Both Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo are unrestricted free agents after the 2021-22 season and logic would indicate that the team keeps one and moves the other.

Fortunately for Columbus, they don’t have to deal with making that decision just yet as Merzlikins is exempt from being taken by Seattle. That makes Korpisalo the easy choice to protect.

The Blue Jackets’ other fairly obvious choices are Cam Atkinson, Gustav Nyquist, Max Domi, Patrik Laine, Olivier Bjorkstrand, Jack Roslovic, Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, and Vladislav Gavrikov. That leaves them with one decision: Boone Jenner or Eric Robinson.

Jenner is probably the better but he also features a larger contract. Jenner has a cap hit of $3,750,000 while Robinson only costs $975,000 Both players are set to hit free agency next summer. With that in mind, I would assume the Blue Jackets protect the cheaper player in Robinson to potentially open up some more wiggle room financially this off-season.