4 recently traded players the Blue Jackets can sign in NHL free agency
The Columbus Blue Jackets can sign some recently traded rentals to long-term agreements if they choose to go that route in NHL free agency.
The Columbus Blue Jackets don’t look good on paper, or at least at first glance. They mustered just 66 points this past season and finished a distant eighth in the Metropolitan Division. So when NHL free agency rolls around at the beginning of July, you may find it tough to believe that some star players would even be remotely interested in playing in Columbus.
Or maybe they will, as there won’t just be a good deal of talent for the Blue Jackets to seriously consider in the free agent market, but potential rentals from this past year’s trade season will also be available.
These players may look beyond the 66 points accumulated and realize that Columbus seems a little bit better when one checks out their overall lineup. They got a few excellent players who have yet to hit their respective primes in Adam Fantilli, Zach Werenski, Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, and Daniil Tarasov, so that could be an enticing to potential signees.
Blue Jackets could land a previous trade deadline rental in NHL free agency
Plus, Johnny Gaudreau is still in town, as is Boone Jenner, so if this team finds the right guidance for once, they are a much more attractive group than the average fan may believe. So if they end up signing one of the recently traded free agents named in this article or even some of those left out, it shouldn’t be too much of a shocker.
When compiling this list of players, I didn’t want to be unrealistic, however, so you won’t see the biggest stars like Jake Guentzel mentioned. Not saying it’s impossible to bring a player of his caliber to Ohio, but solid top-six and role players are the likeliest ones to join the organization.
Of all the recently traded potential rentals out there, here are four that I’d like to see in a Blue Jackets uniform. They won’t sign them all, but landing just one will shift this team in the right direction.
Brandon Duhaime, W/Colorado Avalanche
Brandon Duhaime won’t help the Blue Jackets score, but the gritty winger wouldn’t be in town to put up points. Instead, he would add a dose of much-needed physicality to a team that averaged just 19.2 hits per game.
Duhaime has 555 hits over his three full seasons, giving him an average of 185 per year. Add the latter number to the Blue Jackets meager 1,578, and that 19.2 average sails north to 21.5. That may not be a huge increase to some, but do the math, and it’s an increase of nearly 11 percent.
And no, I’m not endorsing signing a player like Duhaime just for the sake that he can hit, as the Blue Jackets need more than that if they want to be even somewhat relevant next season. I’m also looking at Duhaime’s advanced numbers from his short stint in Colorado: 53.5 percent Corsi For, 48.7 offensive zone starting percentage at even strength - this indicates someone who can constantly help move the puck between the three zones.
Although that number was a meager 44.1 through his 62 games with the Minnesota Wild, Duhaime’s offensive zone starting percentage was just 36.0, or 8.1 percent lower than his Corsi For. Once again, he was doing a sensational job helping to move the puck and to create scoring chances, maximizing his 10:52 of average total ice time.
Columbus has a brewing core group of scorers; they just need more chances. This is evident when you look at their sub-50 percent Corsi For, Scoring Chances For, and High-Danger Chances for at 5-on-5. Maybe they still wouldn’t reach 50 percent with Duhaime, but those numbers would nonetheless rise.
Sean Monahan, C/Winnipeg Jets
Sean Monahan could be a hard sell, thanks to the fact he went from a bad team in Montreal to a winning organization in Winnipeg, even if the latter didn’t last in the playoffs. If he ends up as more than just a rental for the Jets, or if he’s selective with where he signs next, then more power to the veteran heading into his age-30 season.
But given the number of injuries and misfortunes the Blue Jackets faced this past year that saw just one player suiting up for all 82 games and two playing in 80 or more, it would be a great idea for the front office to go out and find a player who proved to be more reliable of staying on the ice this past season.
Monahan played in 83 regular season games in 2023-24 - 49 with Montreal and the final 34 with Winnipeg, not counting the playoffs. He was a top-six player with both organizations, and a reliable scorer with 26 goals and 59 total points.
Monahan already has chemistry with Johnny Gaudreau, and he would also help the Blue Jackets win at the faceoff dot, as he’s logged a 50.0 or higher faceoff win percentage in eight of his last nine seasons. This past year, that number sat at just 0.2 points under a career-high - 54.9 percent, raising the likelihood it remains as-is or sails even higher next season.
As for the Blue Jackets, Boone Jenner was the only member of the team who regularly took faceoffs that snagged an over 50.0 win percentage. Columbus’ struggles at the faceoff dot were yet another reason they finished with just 66 points in 2023-24, with a meager 47.2 mark.
While Brandon Duhaime would help give possession back to the Blue Jackets, Monahan could factor in as someone to help them maintain possession in the offensive zone or help them regain possession at the circle when in the defensive zone.
Kaapo Kahkonen, G/New Jersey Devils
If the Blue Jackets are finally willing to move on from Elvis Merzlikins, they’ll need to find a replacement, and few have been more willing to handle the unenviable task of serving as the netminder of a rebuilding team than Kaapo Kahkonen. He not only dealt with 1A duties with the San Jose Sharks, but they also traded him to the New Jersey Devils later in the year, a team that also struggled defensively.
But Kahkonen also showed that he could be an effective goaltender for a bad hockey team, even if it didn’t seem to be the case with the Sharks. He finished his time in San Jose this season with a 3.81 GAA and an 0.895 save percentage, allowing nearly 6.5 more goals than expected at even strength.
But his six starts with the Devils were a different experience, as Kahkonen, despite the 1-4-0 record, finished the year with a strong 0.923 save percentage, a 2.51 GAA, and a shutout. He also finished with just eight goals allowed at even strength, 1.3 better than expected.
While Kahkonen wouldn’t see the same numbers in Columbus that he enjoyed in Jersey should he sign with the organization in free agency with everything as-is, a couple more reinforcements on the blue line or at defensive forward would help. It’s also important to bring up that Kahkonen doesn’t need to be the 1A, as Daniil Tarasov could lock down the position in training camp.
Tarasov didn’t snag a shutout, but he also showed off immense growth in 24 appearances and 23 starts with an 8-11-3 record, a 0.908 save percentage, and a 3.18 GAA. At this point, a Tarasov-Kahkonen tandem sounds a lot better than one with Merzlikins involved, given the latter’s inefficacy and larger salary.
Elias Lindholm, C/Vancouver Canucks
If Sean Monahan goes somewhere else, there is always Elias Lindholm (another former teammate of Johnny Gaudreau’s), even if it took him a while to get going in a new system. Lindholm had spent most of the last six seasons in Calgary, so a learning curve in a new system was expected, but Lindholm ended his first 26 games with the Canucks with just six goals and 12 points.
Despite the slow start, Lindholm’s play skyrocketed in the playoffs, where he scored five goals and finished with 10 points in 13 games. He was also playing “playoff hockey” well defensively, finishing the postseason run with 36 hits and 16 blocks, showing off what he can bring with top-six minutes and a sense of urgency.
Sure, everyone’s play organically picks up during the postseason, but Lindholm looked as though he were more than on a mission, tying Quinn Hughes for third in points and finishing second on the team in goals. Thanks to the way he bounced back, Lindholm could easily be more than a rental in British Columbia, much like Sean Monahan may be in Winnipeg.
His physical play wasn’t just something that skyrocketed in the playoffs, as he ended the regular season with a solid 89 hits and 40 takeaways. When you think about it, Lindholm wouldn’t just improve the Blue Jackets offensively; he would improve this team in every facet of their game.
He will also head into his age-30 season, and while the Blue Jackets don’t need to continually key on bringing in players at or over 30, players like Lindholm and Monahan still have a lot of hockey left. In a previous piece, I also listed Joe Pavelski (on a one-year deal) and Jonathan Marchessault as players whose advanced ages also shouldn’t deter the Blue Jackets - this young team could use a few more leaders as they keep building.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)