As the Blue Jackets season got underway, General Manager Don Waddell was quick to shut down any conversation about contract negotiations with his pending free agents. He told the media that he would wait things out until the Olympic break, presumably to give himself more time to evaluate.
In hindsight, I wonder if he would have tried to get some things done sooner? Now that the Olympics are set to start in just a couple of weeks, he has left himself a plate full of decisions that need to be made.
The Blue Jackets have an entire roster worth of players with contracts set to expire at the end of this season. There are 23 players between Columbus and Cleveland on expiring deals: 3 goaltenders, 6 defensemen, and 14 forwards.
Obviously, some of these are going to be obvious in one direction or another. I count around 9 players that will either certainly be kept, or almost certainly moved away from.
But, as for the other 15 guys with expiring deals, things could go in a variety of different directions. This depends on where the team thinks it's heading this year and beyond; along with their age, skillset, and whether or not they think someone else is ready to take on a bigger role.
We'll run through them all today. Let's start with the easy ones.
There are 4 absolute must-keep players.
I earmarked four players that the Blue Jackets are going to need back beyond this season. At the top of my list are two guys who should be part of this team's core moving forward: Adam Fantilli and Jet Greaves.
Fantilli has emerged as a top-2 center on this team, and he's only going to get better. If he could just find some luck. As far as what his next contract may look like, it's tough to say. He could sign a bridge deal and bet on his continued improvement to help him cash in more later.
But, I would also not be surprised to see the two sides come to a long-term agreement, either. You can see where his career is headed, so it would make sense for the Jackets to lock him up for as long as they can, right now.
Meanwhile, Greaves has emerged as this team's starting goaltender, and has really strung together some solid play of late. Without anyone else in the system that is set to break onto the scene and steal that job any time soon, Waddell would be wise to sign Greaves for the maximum term he'll agree to. It's not a "blank check" situation, but this is a crucial deal to get done.
The other two guys that I think they have to keep around might surprise you. Or, maybe not. Those two names are Cole Sillinger and Charlie Coyle.
My line of thought here is simple. Sillinger has become a pretty good utility guy in this league. He can play up and down the lineup in whatever style you want, without hurting the team too much when he's on the ice.
He's still young, but already looks to be settling into that 40-50 point range, while being reliable on the defensive side of the puck as well. so if you can pay him as a middle six player, it makes a lot of sense to keep him around.
As for Coyle, he's been very good for this team this season. He's 5th on the team in scoring right now, while winning 51% of his draws. He just played game #1000, sees time on the penalty kill, power-play, and has emerged as a leader in the dressing room. There is nobody in the system ready to take on the role he's been so consistent in this year.
If you want any more of my argument: look at how many teams are hunting for this kind of player right now. Big right shot centers are really tough to come by. The only way Waddell should move on from #3, is if someone blows his socks off with a trade offer that he cannot refuse.
On the next slide, we'll look at the list of guys that Waddell shouldn't be looking to extend.