Denton Mateychuk is emerging as a high end puck moving defenseman. Teams are starting to love these guys.
We are seeing a bit of a transitional period as far as preferred archetypes for defensemen. The trend lately is that smaller puck mover, who can dictate the pace of the game with the puck on his stick. Denton Mateychuk fits that mold.
This season, he finished inside the top-20 league-wide for goals from defensemen (13). He was tied with names like Roman Josi and Shayne Gostisbehere, amongst others. He added 18 assists and played more than 19 minutes per game for the Blue Jackets, all without seeing meaningful power-play time.
How many more points would he have if he'd played on a capable power-play unit?
Meanwhile, his overall game was more than serviceable, despite his smaller stature. In all, I thought Denton was one of the most consistent players on the entire roster. For both coaching staffs that were here, he was reliable and played in every situation.
Reminder: he's only 21 years old. With another year left on his entry level contract, he has tremendous value to the Blue Jackets organization. He's a part of the future core. Still, are they really getting the most out of him any time soon?
He's going to be slotted behind both Werenski and Provorov for the foreseeable future. So, unless the Jackets plan on playing someone on their off-side while simultaneously finding a way to get one or two of their current puck movers to magically morph into a physical shutdown guy: it's hard to see anything changing.
Add in the fact that their top defense prospect is starting to look pretty good, and you can see how crowded the left side of this team's defense corps could be for years to come.
All of that changes if they were to trade Mateychuk. The haul here could be absolutely massive. In fact, I have an idea that just might work.
Enter the San Jose Sharks and their #2 overall draft pick.
The San Jose Sharks have the exact opposite problem: they only have three defensemen signed for next season. They are trying to find young defensemen that fit in with their upstart core. Who better to fill that role than 21 year old Denton Mateychuk?
From the Blue Jackets side of things, how much would the #2 pick in next month's draft revitalize their rebuild? Getting the opportunity to land a franchise-altering forward such as Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg could be the kick this team needs to vault themselves into contention for years to come.
Now, lets not assume the Sharks would trade that pick straight up for Mateychuk. The Blue Jackets would need to add more to the pot, but they have the pieces to do so. Whether that's pick #14, an NHL ready prospect like Luca del bel Belluz, one of the other bountiful defensemen Waddell has picked over the last couple of years (not named Jackson Smith), or even an NHL player like Dmitri Voronkov.
It would probably take two of those additional assets. But that's fine. They can make that trade. Then, Waddell would be able to go out and acquire the shutdown defense pairing that his team so vitally needs. Again, they have the pieces to swing a deal.
While I would hate to see them let Mateychuk go after such a promising sophomore season, the old adage says that you have to give up good players to get good players. And, as good as Denton was this year, it's going to be really tough for him to unseat the guys ahead of him on the depth chart.
The Jackets may as well give him a chance to thrive with one of the league's best young players, if they do want to trade him. He could be exactly the player San Jose needs to quarterback their first power-play unit for the next decade.
Meanwhile, the Jackets would add another potential franchise forward to their own mix, while also freeing up the logjam on the blue line. It makes sense to me.
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