The Dmitri Voronkov trade speculation is heating up, and with the new report from the Athletic's Aaron Portzline yesterday; a trade may happen sooner than later.
We wrote just a couple of weeks ago about the fact that the Blue Jackets cannot find a way to use the big man properly. Voronkov has been a healthy scratch for four games already this season, despite posting some of the best underlying numbers on the team.
In fact, he's third amongst CBJ forwards in on-ice expected goals percentage (52.5%), and fourth in CORSI percentage (54%). Still, for some reason I can't perceive, he finds himself in the Rick Bowness doghouse, despite playing exactly the type of hockey that Bones himself wants to see his team play.
Big, reliable, and low event. That's Dmitri Voronkov, with the added bonus of a strong net-front presence with surprisingly soft hands and a penchant for scoring power-play goals. Man, the Blue Jackets could use a guy like that.
Selling low.
For the second straight year, it feels like Don Waddell is about to sell low on a talented Russian winger. Last year, he traded Egor Chinakhov to the Pittsburgh Penguins, in exchange for second and third round draft picks; and winger Danton Heinen.
These picks recouped the ones he used to acquire Mason Marchment from the Seattle Kraken. Mush was a great player for the Blue Jackets, but he walked in free agency. Meanwhile, Chinakhov went on to score 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games with the Penguins, before signing a three-year contract extension over the summer.
This feels like a similar situation. Voronkov has been better than advertised since coming over from Russia, at least in my opinion. I long viewed him as a strictly bottom-six player who could play a physical game and chip in some secondary offense.
Instead, he's spent most of his career on the top two lines for the Blue Jackets. In fact, over the last three seasons combined, only one player (Adam Fantilli, 71) currently on this roster has scored more goals than him (58). He leads the team in power-play tallies (21) in that time.
So, I wonder: is the solution to this team's power-play woes sitting in their press box right now? That would be a good question to ask Bowness, or even Waddell, face to face.
During his time in Columbus, Voronkov has been reliable and consistent; but for some reason, this coaching staff does not see the value in having the big man in the lineup. That is forcing the GM to seek out a trade, which I'm sure will bite this franchise in the rear once again.
Futures deal?
This is the part that does not make sense to me. Per Portzline's piece, Waddell is looking for a futures deal for Voronkov in an effort to free up some cap space.
Simply put: why? Unless the goal is to make other changes to the roster, it feels like this team is selling this player off for flexibility in a year where they should be looking to compete for a playoff spot. In my opinion, this guy would help them do that. Are they going to find anyone on the market who can chip in 20 goals for under $4 million against the cap? I would be surprised.
They don't have many guys that can put the puck in the net to begin with. But they do have a lot of other guys who play a low even game, without the added scoring touch. Which begs this question: why did Waddell bring back Danton Heinen and add Ryan Lomberg? Why re-sign Erik Gudbranson and bring aboard Carson Soucy?
I've long praised his moves, but it feels like these band-aids are about to cost this team yet another promising player that is just entering his prime. I sure hope he has something else in the works, because this feels like another trade that is going to hurt the moment it's made.
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