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Should the Columbus Blue Jackets Take a Chance on Jan Kovar?

By William Espy

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 18: Jan Kovar #10 of the New York Islanders skates against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Barclays Center on September 18, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Flyers defeated the Islanders 5-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 18: Jan Kovar #10 of the New York Islanders skates against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Barclays Center on September 18, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Flyers defeated the Islanders 5-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The Columbus Blue Jackets need to add a center following the Dubinsky injury if Lukas Sedlak continues to be invisible.

The Columbus Blue Jackets need to explore their options to add to the team, like every team continuously should do. Jan Kovar was recently released by the New York Islanders. With the Brandon Dubinsky injury, a one year deal for the former KHL star could be a good gamble.

A player in a similar situation, Anthony Duclair, has performed very well to start the season. Taking a risk on a player who, according to Alvis Kalnins of Hockeybuzz, is still trying to find a spot in the NHL may be beneficial to the Blue Jackets in the long run.

According to Capfriendly, Kovar was signed to a one year, $2M contract by the New York Islanders prior to the season and had a difficult training camp and preseason. If he can get used to the North American game quickly and produce even half as well as he did in the KHL then he’d be a great add to any teams’ middle six forward corps.

If Kovar is willing to take even less money than he took from the Islanders, then he’d almost certainly get a team taking one more chance on him at the NHL level. If he’s looking for a similar deal, then this could be another Vadim Shipachyov situation where the player ends up back in the KHL.

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This news will likely move quickly with both the NHL and KHL seasons under way. It’s highly unlikely that a player of Kovar’s skill level would want to sit out when he could be on the ice nightly, whether it be in the NHL or back in Russia. It’s not likely the Columbus Blue Jackets look Jan Kovar’s way, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

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