The Three Best and Worst Deadline Moves by Jarmo Kekalainen
By Curtis Deem
As the 2023 trade deadline approaches, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the trades made under GM Jarmo Kekalainen. This will be his 11th trade deadline as GM of the Blue Jackets, and under his direction the team has made some pretty significant deadline deals – both good and bad.
There have been plenty of small moves made, including positives such as sending Jordan Leopold to his home state of Minnesota at the request of his 11 year old daughter in 2015. There was the Steve Mason trade to Philadelphia in 2013 – ending a rocky relationship with the former Calder Trophy winning goaltender.
We could talk for days about the time Jarmo acquired Tomas Vanek, Mark Letestu, and Ian Cole in rapid succession. But for the purpose of this article, we’ll stick to some of the higher profile deadline moves made by the Jackets since 2013. First, let’s start with the ugly ones, that way we’ll appreciate the good ones more later on.
At the 2013 deadline, the Jackets sent away three core players, returning struggling superstar forward Marian Gaborik from the Rangers. At the time of the trade, Gaborik had just 9 goals and 19 points through 35 games in New York. But the Jackets, loading up for what they hoped would be a long playoff run, took a shot in acquiring the speedy sniper.
Really, Gaborik wasn’t bad at all for the Jackets. He played in 12 regular season games, scoring 3 goals and 8 points. Unfortunately, in spite of a late hot streak, they missed the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, not giving the team a chance to make that playoff run. Gaborik would return the following season, but showed obvious signs of wear and tear, before being dealt at the deadline that year. More on that later.
On the flip side, the Rangers got 254 games of 2006 first round pick Derrick Brassard, who scored 69 goals and 174 points in four seasons there – before being traded for young, upcoming center Mika Zibanejad. (Ouch!) Brassard’s production alone makes this trade difficult to swallow, but when you look at how that piece has turned out for the Rangers, it stings.
They also got a depth defenseman in John Moore, who gave them some good minutes – and fan favorite grinder Derek Dorsett in the deal (though Dorse would only play one season in Manhattan). The sixth round pick was involved in a later deal, and ended up being used by Minnesota to select Chase Lang. Still, in the end, all of this for what became 34 games of Marian Gaborik, makes this one of the most lopsided trade losses in franchise history.