The Three Best and Worst Deadline Moves by Jarmo Kekalainen

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.

Jarmo’s first trade deadline, in hindsight, did not turn out the way the team hoped. It happens, but at least he took a shot, which is more than we could say for previous management over the years. At the following deadline, he tried to ratify his mistake by trading Gaborik away. No way he could lose a Marian Gaborik trade twice, right? Wrong.

This is the kind of trade that really hurts. Just one year after acquiring him, the Jackets dealt Gaborik away at the 2014 deadline. And, for the second time in three years, the Jackets sent the Kings a player who became a key member of an eventual Cup winning team. Only instead of getting back Jack Johnson and a first round pick like they did for Jeff Carter, the Jackets picked up 4A player Matt Frattin and a couple of mid round picks.

Gaborik would post 16 points in 19 regular season games, then 14 goals and 22 points in 26 playoff games, lifting the Cup with the Kings that spring. Frattin played 4 games in Columbus, registering one assist. The 2015 second round pick (#34 overall, Travis Dermott) was eventually packaged with a 2015 third round pick (#68 overall, Martins Dzierkals), to move up 5 spots at the draft and select Gabriel Carlsson 29th overall. In hindsight, they might have been better suited standing pat and selecting the player who went 35th – Sebastian Aho (the one in Carolina) – but, they can’t all work out. I cannot find what happened to the conditional pick in this deal.

If you’re following along with this trade tree, the Jackets turned Brassard, Dorsett, and John Moore into a forgettable stint with both Gaborik and Frattin; and eventually Gabriel Carlsson. The Rangers have gotten a decade of productivity from two talented centers, and the Kings came away with a Cup.

For our next terrible move…

We’ll look back at a trade made at the 2019 trade deadline. This was a fun year, with the Jackets sneaking into the playoffs and upsetting the President’s Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning in a thrilling four-game sweep. Key to this success was deadline acquisition Matt Duchene, acquired from the Ottawa Senators (more on him later) – but the other trade the Jackets made with Ottawa, did not work out.

If you could go back and redo this trade, I don’t think you would give up any one of the assets traded by the Jackets for Ryan Dzingel – let alone all three. Dzingel was quickly in John Tortorella’s doghouse, playing deep in the lineup in spite of his relatively solid productivity.

He scored 12 points in 21 games (4 goals), and then added one goal in 9 playoff games before being allowed to walk to free agency after the season. Since the trade, he’s bounced around four franchises – even passing through waivers – while failing to find the success he had in his last two seasons in Ottawa.

On the other side, Anthony Duclair was solid in his next season in Ottawa, and has spent the last two years in Florida. The speedy winger has become a vital piece of the Florida offense, scoring 31 goals and 58 points in 74 games last season. If he had done that in Columbus, he would have led the team in goals, and been second in points.

The first draft pick Ottawa acquired, was later sent to Pittsburgh in the Matt Murray trade; they selected Finnish goaltender Joel Blomqvist. The second pick was traded to Arizona as part of the Derek Stepan deal; the Coyotes later taking Josh Doan, son of former long-time Coyotes captain Shane.

The Jackets selected Tyler Angle with the 7th round pick that came the other way. It will be years until we see how these draft picks all turn out; but it seems logical that the Jackets may have benefitted in this rebuild by having additional second round picks to play with.

Now that we have the negative stuff out of the way, let’s look at some of the positive deadline returns for Jarmo Kekalainen and the Blue Jackets. This list has to start with the big swing made in the 2019 season.

In spite of the fact that they were mired in a battle for a wild card spot at the 2019 deadline; Jarmo decided that he wanted to make a splash and turn the Jackets into contenders. So, he went out and surprised the hockey world by acquiring the top player available: Matt Duchene.

This was a year that really seemed like a toss-up as far as who could win the whole thing, and by making this trade, Jarmo put the Jackets into that conversation. With talent on defense, the wings, and in goal; the Jackets needed to add some depth down the middle if they were going to cement themselves as a team that could make some noise. In acquiring Duchene, they did just that.

Though the balance of the regular season kept us all on the edge of our seats, they snuck into the final playoff seed and earned a matchup against the President’s Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning. We all know how that series turned out; and Duchene was a huge part of things. In 10 playoff games, he scored 5 goals and 10 points, finishing 1 point behind Artemi Panarin for the team lead.

All they gave up for Duchene were second-tier prospects and what wound up becoming the 19th overall pick (Lassi Thomson) at the 2019 NHL Draft. Since the Jackets did not re-sign Duchene, they were not required to send Ottawa that 2020 1st round pick.

To this point, the three pieces sent to Ottawa in this trade have combined for just 29 NHL games played, with 1 goal and 6 assists. With Davidsson and Abramov both playing in Europe, only Thomson remains a legitimate NHL prospect for the Senators. The memories we’ll have from that 2019 sweep of the Lightning, are more than enough to make up for what the Jackets gave up in this deal – even if Duchene packed his bags for Nashville as soon as the second round ended.

By the time the 2021 season was played, the Jackets were a much different team than the one that loaded up for a playoff run just two years prior. Gone were Panarin, Duchene, Sergei Bobrovsky, Pierre-Luc Dubois … the list goes on and on. At the 2021 deadline, the team had grown stagnant and needed freshened up. So, GM Jarmo Kekalainen made two deals that kicked off the rebuild in earnest.

The Jackets traded beloved defenseman David Savard, who played more games on defense in a CBJ sweater than any other player in their history (597). Originally taken in the 4th round (#94 overall) all the way back in 2009, Savard went from high scoring junior player, to rugged, shot blocking, stay-at-home defenseman under John Tortorella.

On the ice, he could be maddening because of his sluggish skating or refusal to generate any kind of offense. But in reality, he was a reliable defender who quietly took the toughest assignments, mostly stayed healthy, and did whatever it took to help his team win. And then, every so often, that skill would make a brief appearance and he would score a goal like this.

Off the ice, he was adored both amongst teammates and the fans alike. You could spot his beard from a mile away, and he was always willing to engage and sign autographs or have a quick chat. But as things go, eventually teams need to reset, and so the Jackets sent him down to Tampa Bay in exchange for a couple of futures.

This trade turned out to be an absolute win for both sides. The Lightning would use Savard in a depth role and go on to win their second straight Stanley Cup that summer. Regardless the outcome of the draft picks, that is the ultimate goal.

The Jackets would trade that 32nd overall selection (Nolan Allen) at the 2021 draft as part of the Seth Jones deal; eventually acquiring two first round picks (Cole Sillinger, David Jiricek) from the Blackhawks in that trade. The 2022 third round pick in this deal? That was used to select Jordan Dumais, who is currently leading the entire CHL in scoring.

So to summarize, the Jackets were able to turn a 30 year old, second pairing defenseman – on an expiring contract – into some combination of Dumais, Sillinger, and/or Jiricek. These are the kind of moves that, eventually, turn teams into contenders.

And that wasn’t the only one Jarmo made at the 2021 deadline…