Our worst fear came to fruition today, with defenseman Daemon Hunt being claimed off of waivers as the Blue Jackets were trying to sneak him down to the American Hockey League.
The team that claimed him? The Minnesota Wild, who sent Hunt our way in the David Jiricek trade last November.
After less than 11 months in the CBJ organization, Daemon returns to the team that drafted him 65th overall at the 2020 NHL Draft. As a result, the blue line just became a little thinner for the Blue Jackets.
It's hard to call this anything other than a fumbling of the bag by Don Waddell and his management staff. After placing Christian Jaros on unconditional waivers Wednesday, the team left the door open for Hunt to remain in Columbus to start the year.
Instead, it seems they've decided to keep three goaltenders around beyond Monday's regular season roster deadline. As a result, someone had to go. That someone became Daemon Hunt, who will now head back to a place he's well familiar with.
The Jackets also neglected to offer a contract to veteran pivot Brendan Smith, who was at camp on a PTO until earlier this week. This means that, when the first injury occurs on the back end, they will likely have to rely on one of Dysin Mayo or Stanislav Svozil to play minutes in Columbus.
That goes entirely against what seemed to be the plan here. Waddell spent the summer trying to better insulate his blue line, but now winds up with an arguably thinner group than what he started with.
They can still win the David Jiricek deal.
The good news is, the Blue Jackets can still come out of the David Jiricek trade looking good. It's just going to be many years until we know the full return.
For now, they will have to fall back on the future in the form of goaltender Pyotr Andreyanov, picked in the first round of this summer's draft using Minnesota's 20th overall pick. There are other lottery tickets that may or may not pan out, as well.
It's just a bummer that they never had a chance to see what the lone player returned in that deal (Daemon Hunt) might bring to the fold, and they lost him for nothing.