Columbus Blue Jackets Buyout Forward Scott Hartnell

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Thursday that the remainder of Scott Hartnell’s contract was bought out, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Scott Hartnell played a total of 234 games in three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He scored 64 goals and recorded 146 total points, including an impressive 60-point campaign in 2014-15. His numbers rank highly in the franchise’s all-time ranks, coming in at 13^th in points scored and 10^th in goals scored.

Why It Happened

Hartnell is a 35-year old whose numbers have regressed in each of his three seasons with the Blue Jackets. That’s not to mention his, now former, contract where he was clogging up $4.75 million of the salary cap.

His tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets had numerous ups and downs. He and head coach John Tortorella supposedly didn’t have the best relationship, which led to numerous trade rumors. Hartnell was notably a healthy scratch multiple times, including game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this past year.

Columbus Blue Jackets

What Next

According to CapFriendly, this buyout gives the Columbus Blue Jackets an extra $3.25 million in salary cap this year. Over the next three years, they will save about $12.887 million in cap space.

The extra cap space could go a number of different ways. The resigning of Alexander Wennberg is a priority, Cam Atkinson is a free agent after next season, the list goes on.

This move also makes room for either a prospect to step into a full-time role, or an acquisition to bolster the team’s top 6 forwards. Regardless, the Columbus Blue Jackets now have options.

Scott Hartnell’s time as a Blue Jacket was interesting to say the least. His 1000^th NHL game was played in Columbus and some even rumored that he wanted to stay until he retires.

Now that his time is up, I think that Blue Jackets fans would agree that Hartnell will be dearly missed. Thanks for the memories, Hartsy.