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Life for the Columbus Blue Jackets After the Trade Deadline

By Steve Gessic Jr

ST. PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 14: Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella looks on during the regular season game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild on October 14, 2017 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Blue Jackets defeated the Wild 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 14: Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella looks on during the regular season game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild on October 14, 2017 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Blue Jackets defeated the Wild 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Four trades made since February 22, and all four were beneficial for this playoff push for the Columbus Blue Jackets. What have the Blue Jackets lost and what are their lines going to look like moving forward after the trade deadline? Let’s look at it.

The initial trade was for Matt Duchene and Julius Bergman. The Columbus Blue Jackets gave up two first round picks. One pick is protected if it is a top three lottery pick, the other is a 2020 conditional pick if Duchene resigns with Columbus. Also in this trade was Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson both are forwards and both haven’t shown much upside.

So what all did the Blue Jackets lose in this trade? Really one first round pick if Duchene doesn’t re-sign, and if he does come back to Columbus, he’ll be the first line center for presumably the rest of his career with the Blue Jackets and fans can enjoy watching him play at a high level for a long time.

The second trade was for Ryan Dzingel, former Ohio State Buckeye, and overall improvement over Anthony Duclair. The Blue Jackets give up two second round picks and Anthony Duclair for a stud winger. Why not? Jarmo, go for it. Adding these two goal scorers, who should be top 6 forwards moving forward, is only improving this team for the rest of this season.

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I would love to see Duchene and Dzingel resign with the team no matter the outcome of this season. These two players can replace Panarin and already have incredible chemistry with each other. Say Panarin leaves in the offseason, which is expected, Jarmo has to go all out to keep these two building blocks on offense and maintain at least the first two lines.

Third trade was for Adam McQuaid, who above all else will be for veteran depth on the blue line. The Blue Jackets lose Julius Bergman and 2019 fourth and seventh round picks. Jarmo is hoping this veteran presence can help keep the young blue liners together while making this playoff push. We shall see how this trade plays out as the season comes to a close.

The fourth and final trade, a 2022 fifth round pick was given up for Keith Kinkaid. Having that depth in between the pipes is always welcomed and often undervalued. Kinkaid could pay off to be a viable veteran backup in the future if he resigns with the team but as for now I’d expect him to remain on the Blue Jackets roster for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs.

I for one am on the bandwagon and think that these last minute moves only improve this team and absolutely give them the firepower moving forward to compete with anybody in the NHL. I feel that Jarmo has made all the moves necessary to give this team a fighting chance and the will to win deep into the playoffs. Ryan Murray will come back healthy eventually and that only adds to the talent of this now even more dangerous team offensively.

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I was expecting Artemi Panarin to be shipped off but the fact that he wasn’t I feel that Jarmo wants to bring him back next year and absolutely sees him as a building block for the future of this team and wanted to show him that this team is committed to competing for the Stanley Cup.

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