The CBJ organization has 14 pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs).
One thing about adding a handful of crafty veteran bodies to fill out the roster: you wind up with a lot of one year contracts. This is especially true when your team competes for a playoff spot all year and you don't sell any of these guys off at the deadline. Waddell has more than a handful of UFAs to work through this spring.
Starting in Cleveland, there are five guys that don't have contracts beyond this year: forwards Trey Fix-Wolansky, Dylan Gambrell, Joe LaBate, Owen Sillinger, and goaltender Zachary Sawchenko.
Sawchenko spent this season as the backup to Jet Greaves, who will be promoted to the NHL next season. He got into 27 games with the Monsters and played pretty well, but this is one that could go either way. They'll get prospect Nolan Lalonde next season, and Waddell has already talked about restructuring the goaltending situation for the entire organization.
If it seems like it's been ages since the Jackets drafted Trey Fix-Wolansky, that's probably because it has. The 2018 7th round pick has become one of the most dangerous scorers in the AHL, but hasn't been able to crack the NHL lineup for any significant stretch of time.
He becomes a group 6 UFA this summer because he hasn't met the minimum number of NHL games to retain his RFA rights. I don't see him signing back on with the organization beyond this year; he will probably be looking for a fresh start.
Dylan Gambrell was brought in to provide center depth and another veteran presence for the Monsters. He did a nice job of that this year. You won't get a ton of offense out of him, but he's a reliable two-way player who can play in the NHL on an emergency basis. It will be interesting to see if he's given an extension to keep filling that role.
Owen Sillinger and Joe LaBate, similarly, were brought in to provide some depth and energy in the AHL. Both saw cups of coffee in the NHL this season, and I thought Sillinger looked good in limited minutes. With his brother on the NHL team, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get an extension to stick around.
LaBate was admittedly a bit of a disappointment. I thought he was physically out-matched every time he was on the ice - which isn't good for a bigger depth forward who is supposed to bring some physicality. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who thought that, either - the Jackets added two forwards near the trade deadline to come in and bring a lot of the same traits.
We'll talk about both of them, and the other pending UFAs, on the next slide.