With NHL training camps beginning this week, it's time to get back to work for players and coaches around the league. GMs are also busy, as they work to add the final pieces to their rosters before things get started. For the Blue Jackets, that could mean big news as early as today.
Until something changes, there is going to be noise around Kirill Marchenko. That change could be the drop of the puck on opening night, with him in the lineup. Or, it could mean a trade. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, today could be a soft deadline for that kind of trade.
On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Friedge ponders if a team might want to up their offer for Marchenko, because today would be their last opportunity to sign him to an 8-year contract extension. At midnight tonight, the max term becomes 7 years.
The return would have to be massive.
All along, Don Waddell has stood pat in his posturing. He's not going to trade Marchenko away unless that trade helps the Columbus Blue Jackets. Which is exactly how he should be operating right now. Even if the player doesn't want to stay long-term, he is still under team control for this season and next.
We have seen plenty of wild speculation this summer, with fans of other teams wondering what kind of offer their own GM could throw our way. Most of them are laughable. Mainly because I believe what Waddell says: he's not giving him up just to give him up.
So far, it sounds like Marchenko is preparing for the season as usual. This hasn't become a distraction from that angle, so the odds of him starting in Columbus seem pretty high. Unless those offers come way, way up.
The Jackets aren't seeking a futures heavy deal. They constructed their roster to try to compete right now. Any chance of a trade going through, is going to have to include pieces that can immediately replace Marchenko's production in the CBJ lineup.
Obviously, that offer has not come along. Waddell is not going to lose anything by holding onto the player to start this season, and seeing where the chips fall. If the Blue Jackets play up to their full potential, there is still a chance that they could convince him to stay. As they always say: winning cures everything.
If that doesn't happen, is the value really going to diminish between now and next summer? That's possible, but only if Kirill does not play well this season. Which would be to nobody's benefit. He's in a contract year, and will get his first real crack at a big contract next summer.
We will see if Elliotte Friedman's hunch is correct or not. If the Blue Jackets deal Marchenko today, the return had better be ridiculous enough to keep this fanbase sated. If it's not, we could be in for another long rebuild in Columbus. That's how important this situation is to this franchise.
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