A Look At The Blue Jackets’ Free Agents

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The Blue Jackets have five players that will be unrestricted free agents after this year, and four that will be restricted free agents. Coming up on the trade deadline, they have three options with players whose contracts are coming to an end: trade them before the deadline, resign them for next year, or let their contracts expire and let them go into the free agent market.

Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Most Simply put, the difference between a UFA and RFA is the ability of another team to sign the player. A UFA can be signed by any team he wishes, whereas with an RFA the player’s current team has the right to extend him an offer matching that of any other team he receives offers from. His current team must give him a qualifying offer that changes his salary based on how much his current contract is worth. If his current team doesn’t extend an offer, he becomes a UFA. For the purposes of this article, I am only going to focus on the CBJ players who will be unrestricted free agents after this season.

With that said, here are my predictions for what team management will do with the upcoming free agents this year.

Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Marian Gaborik

Prediction: Trade him before the deadline.

There have been rumors all around the CBJ and NHL news outlets about a possible trade of Marian Gaborik. I feel that this is a real possibility. As you have probably heard, the Blue Jackets have an identity as a young, up-and-coming team, and Gaborik just doesn’t fit in. It wouldn’t make sense to sign him, because given his age and experience he would likely demand a long contract, and signing him to five years just won’t work for the Jackets. Given how much they traded to NYR to get him, I doubt the team would be happy with simply letting his contract expire to let some other team grab him. Most likely they will try to see what they can get for him, and probably make a trade pretty soon.

Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Derek MacKenzie

Prediction: Resign him before the end of the season

Excluding his years in the AHL in 2008-09 and 2009-10, MacKenzie has played for the Jackets since 2007. I don’t see him leaving the team any time soon. He isn’t a team necessity, only contributing 13 points in 47 games played this season, but he has been a Blue Jackets staple player for many years, and I doubt the Jackets would let him go into the free agent market this year. As far as trading goes, I don’t think the Jackets could get much for MacKenzie, at least not as much as they could for a player like Gaborik, so I think signing him is the best plan, unless a really good trade option comes along.

Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Blake Comeau

Prediction: Let him go at the  end of the season, if the team can afford to lose a forward.

Blake Comeau isn’t one of the names Jackets fans hear very often. He just isn’t a prominent player on the team, and doesn’t seem to make a difference on the ice. He has only contributed 11 points in 44 games this season, and only 3 were goals. He has only 16 points in 53 career games with the Jackets. Prior to playing in Columbus, Comeau played for Calgary for just two seasons, and before that he was up and down between the New York Islanders and their AHL affiliate team. It isn’t that Comeau is a bad player, it’s just that he doesn’t really fit in with the young guns on the Jackets roster, and doesn’t seem to be as hard-working as most of the guys on the team. Many fans also point to his multiple fights in practice, most notably his altercation with Brandon Dubinsky. He did, after all, injure himself in practice by attempting to make a check along the boards on a teammate and missing. That means he would have hit a teammate so hard in practice to cause injury. Many people say that proves he isn’t a team player, and just doesn’t fit in on the team. I don’t see him staying in Columbus too much longer.

Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

Nikita Nikitin

Prediction: Resign him before the end of the season.

Nikitin is a solid presence on the CBJ blue line, and is leading all Blue Jackets defensemen in +/- with +6. This ties him with Fedor Tyutin for third best +/- on the roster, behind forwards Boone Jenner (9) and Corey Tropp (11). Despite only contributing 14 points in 51 games this season, Nikitin has the third most shots for CBJ defensemen with 73, and has 12 assists on the year. Being that Nikitin is one of four Jackets players who played in the Olympics this year, I doubt he will be traded or let go.

Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Curtis McElhinney

Prediction: Resign him before the end of the season.

If the Jackets trade McElhinney or let him go, they wouldn’t have anyone to back up Bobrovsky. If Bob got hurt like he did this year, the Jackets would be relying on Mike McKenna of Springfield to take over goaltending duties. That is not likely. Unless they make a trade for some other goalie, which is unlikely, the Jackets will probably have to resign McElhinney this year. Bobrovsky is still the clear goaltending leader on the roster, but McElhinney held his own during Bobrovsky’s injury earlier in the year. His save percentage is .90, and Bobrovsky only barely beats him with a .91. McElhinney’s goals against average is 2.80, whereas Bobrovsky’s is 2.52. I think McElhinney is a good choice for a backup goaltender for the Jackets, so I don’t see him being moved in the near future.

So that wraps up the UFAs for the Jackets this year, now we have to wait and see what happens. The NHL trade deadline is 3 PM on March 5, less than eight days away! It’s time to sit back and wait for the trade rumors and news to come in, and see if my predictions are correct! Leave your own predictions in the comments, and we’ll see what happens!

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