The NHL's offseason is still over a month away. As the playoffs reach their midway point, the league has whittled down to only 5 remaining teams questing for the Stanley Cup.
Of course, our beloved Blue Jackets are not one of those teams. It's already offseason mode in Columbus, and it should be a very busy one for GM Don Waddell. He's already cross off arguably his most urgent piece of business, signing center Charlie Coyle to an extension.
But, he still has a ton of work to do. With several restricted free agents (RFAs), and a handful of unrestricted free agents (UFAs) still needing new contracts before next season, a lot of his work is going to involve roster projections.
Today, we will run down the depth chart, and take a look at some of the important decisions he has to make.
The team does not need to make any big changes in goal.
As things stand, the Blue Jackets have only one NHL goaltender signed for next season: Elvis Merzlikins. He enters the final year of his contract, and as things stand, it sounds like head coach Rick Bowness is preparing to have him here as part of his tandem next season.
With that said, the starting position is in the hands of someone else for the first time in several years. The team will look to re-sign Jet Greaves to a new contract at some point this summer. My only question here is: how much and for how long? Behind those two, the team may want to add a veteran third. Or, they could simply lean on a couple of young players to run the show up north.
Entering the system this summer is former second round pick Evan Gardner, who is already working with the Cleveland Monsters in their current run through the AHL playoffs. The #60 overall pick at the 2024 NHL Draft will definitely get his chance to play for the Monsters next season.
The Jackets also have undrafted prospect Nolan Lalonde signed through next year. He will provide depth. Meanwhile, all eyes have turned to the status of intriguing Russian prospect Sergei Ivanov, whose contract will be up at the end of the month.
Should he come over, look for the 22-year-old to take the starting job in Cleveland next season, and be on the fast track to the NHL in 2027. He is a bit of a dark horse prospect in the system, but he's drawing a lot of attention with his development.
If Ivanov does not make the leap to North America, I would expect the Jackets to go out and find an AHL veteran that can fill in some NHL time, as needed.
It's also not impossible to see the team moving on from Merzlikins this summer. With just one year left on his contract, a buyout is actually pretty manageable from a money and cap hit standpoint. Or, it's also possible that they could trade him with retained salary, if they want to throw in a sweetener.
Of course, that would leave a hole behind Jet Greaves, with no real heir apparent ready to step in. Whether it's the popular move or not, holding on to Elvis for his final year probably makes more sense for this organization.
Lets talk about the defense corps on the next slide.
Add us as a preferred source on Google