Columbus Blue Jackets: Wennberg to Montreal Would Make Sense
By William Espy
Alexander Wennberg is aging quickly and the Columbus Blue Jackets center hasn’t shown much improvement when it comes to shooting the puck, is it time to make a move?
Alexander Wennberg certainly isn’t making the life of Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen easy. When he was drafted, the Blue Jackets likely expected him to slot in as the second line center of the future and yet his play is still far from that level.
Wennberg’s stats look more like a defenseman’s should than a forward. He did put up 59 points in 2016-2017, however the issue is his career high in goals being only 13. Not to mention the fact that the season with 13 goals he also had a career high shooting percentage of 11.9%. That simply means he never shoots the puck.
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Wennberg simply doesn’t know how to shoot the puck which has cost the Blue Jackets many goals, he is a phenomenal playmaker however when the opposition knows he only shoots it makes it fairly simple to take away the passing lanes.
The defensive side of Wennberg’s game is certainly above average, his takeaway to giveaway ratio of 36 to 15 last season shows that. That doesn’t excuse his offensive incompetency however.
The cap hit is the next issue. The Columbus Blue Jackets are currently paying $4.9M (courtesy of capfriendly.com) a season for a player who put up only 8 goals last season. With the cap issues regarding Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky coming up next season, the Blue Jackets need to trade Wennberg and dump off his contract. The step after that would be to acquire a center who can shoot the puck, whether through free agency (Tyler Bozak) or through trade (Ryan O’Reilly or Charlie Coyle).
Next: CBJ and Montreal Perfect Trading Partners?
The Columbus Blue Jackets need to see improvement out of Alexander Wennberg this season, otherwise it’s time to send him packing. Would Montreal be willing to trade the number three overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft for Wennberg and a draft pick? The Canadiens still need a center and with the trade of Alex Galchenyuk, their need for a center is even higher.
If it’s possible, Kekalainen should make the move instantly. The Jackets could get an NHL ready youngster in either Filip Zadina or Brady Tkachuk and add more scoring punch to their top two lines.