Heading into the 2024-25 season, we figured we would be seeing the last of Ivan Provorov in a Columbus Blue Jackets sweater. He looked like an obvious trade chip for a team needing to cash in on a valuable pending unrestricted free agent. Instead, he ate up a ton of minutes for the team and was a big part of their surprising playoff push, right up until the end.
By the time it was all said and done, he quietly had one of his best seasons in the NHL. When he came into the league in 2016-17, he had a lot of promise surrounding him. Taken two picks ahead of Zach Werenski at the vaunted 2015 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers; Provorov looked the part of a future #1 defenseman.
Reality has set in at this point, and while that level hasn't been reached; Ivan is still a very solid defenseman. This season, he posted 7 goals and 33 points - the third-highest points total of his career - while adding a +11 rating, skating in all 82 games and averaging more than 23 minutes per night.
He finished second on the team in average ice time, and second in points from the blueline; both behind only Werenski. He quarterbacked the second power-play unit and was a mainstay on the team's penalty kill. In fact, nobody played more than his 2:36 ATOI while shorthanded this season. Taking that all into account, he's pretty obviously comfortable and capable playing as a #2/3 defenseman.
Ivan's defensive game can certainly leave us scratching our heads from time to time, but overall I thought he gave the team good minutes. He's not afraid to have and skate with the puck; and he has good all-around skill that makes it easy for him to at least hold serve in any situation. You need good, reliable veteran guys like this to win hockey games.
While it's hard to call things perfect, it's also impossible to ignore the fact that Ivan Provorov was very valuable to this team this season. His ability to eat up minutes in all situations, against any competition, while staying remarkably healthy; makes him an obvious fit inside a contending team's top-four.
Should he stay, or should he go?
Which begs the question: where do the Blue Jackets and Ivan Provorov go from here? Rather than picking up a bounty of futures for him at the deadline, Don Waddell chose to hang onto his reliable second pairing defenseman for the playoff push. Even though the team came up short, it's hard to fault this move. Trading this player would have certainly tanked the rest of this season.
After all, the moment you trade a guy who gives you 23 reliable minutes each and every night, you immediately have to start looking for another guy just like him. So, while his defensive zone game certainly isn't perfect; I think Waddell could be wise to extend Provorov and keep him in Columbus for the foreseeable future.
There aren't a ton of these guys available around the league, so unless they can find a suitable replacement; I can see the team running it back with Provorov on that second pairing again next season. With that in mind, maybe the correct decision here is finding another place to add a stay at home defenseman - such as the top pairing, alongside Zach Werenski.
Whatever the outcome, Ivan Provorov brought a lot of value to the Blue Jackets this season. Perhaps more than any of us expected, and that value could be sorely missed if it's lost.