The Daily Faceoff Show: What are the Blue Jackets trade deadline plans?
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a team in a weird position going into the trade deadline. They have talented pieces, but they also find themselves well out of the playoffs and lack the consistency to make up any ground.
Do they start to try and sell off these pieces, and if so, what pieces should they try to sell?
Frank Seravalli and Chris Gear talked about what Columbus might do at the trade deadline on today’s Daily Faceoff Show.
Frank Seravalli: “Another team that’s got an interesting deadline proposition ahead of them would be the Columbus Blue Jackets. They’ve got a lot of cap space, they’ve got some draft picks, they have an extra first rounder from Chicago in the trade for Seth Jones. And they’ve got a lot of pieces that I think a lot of people watching this team, and you see their game last night, it feels like games this season, the Blue Jackets are either scoring seven or giving up seven, and that’s just the year it’s been for them.
They’re in a spot where they’ve got players, some that are pending unrestricted free agents like Joonas Korpisalo in net, as well as Max Domi. They’ve got some other guys that have sort of been square pegs in round holes to this point, I think Jack Roslovic is one of them. Columbus was hoping bringing him to his home town in that trade with Patrik Laine for Pierre-Luc Dubois that this would be a match made in heaven. I don’t think that it’s quite worked out that way after a really hot start. I think there have been teams that have been calling on Roslovic, but it’s sort of a blank canvas for Jarmo Kekäläinen and his group in Columbus in that there’s a number of ways in which they can attack this.”
Chris Gear: “Yeah, it really is. When you look at Columbus, other than Zach Werenski that anchors the blueline, and you’ve got Voracek, Laine, Boone Jenner’s probably there to stay because he’s on a good contract, Bjorkstrand’s making $5.4 (million). But, all of these guys, could they shuffle the deck, and come out with something a little better in Columbus?
They’re kind of a middling team right now, they’ve shown well this month, I think they’re 6-2 in the month. But still not a team that you expect is going to really make a jump. They have eight of their picks going into the draft, including two first rounders, maybe it’s time for them to sell on one hand, but also maybe look to make a move that solidifies them for the future, and brings in another talented top six player.”
Frank Seravalli: “Yeah, another pending restricted free agent in need of a new deal is Patrik Laine, he’s on another one of those heaters that he goes on time to time, he has 10 goals in his last seven games, and his ninth career hat trick. He’s one of those guys that I think teams are curious about. Would Columbus potentially move on from a player like Patrik Laine? They sure gave up a lot to get him.
I think Columbus, just like everyone else, is intrigued to see him go on a run like this. He’s been so mercurial, that it’s like, how do you even come up with a contract to pay this guy, because the talent is clearly there, at times the production is there, but the consistency isn’t. And sometimes that obviously ends up effecting his goal totals, whether it’s a down year or an up year, and basically how it ends.
I do think that if there were going to be a transaction for Patrik Laine that were to pop up, it feels like an offseason one, where it’d be a lot of different things involved in terms of negotiating that contract, what it would look like, that would certainly be a big part of it. But, Jarmo Kekäläinen has been pretty clear in his public statements about Laine that he’s under team control as a pending RFA, and that they intend to keep it that way.”
You can watch the full episode here…