The scandal is well known throughout hockey circles. It's been national news in Canada, though not as much here in the US. After all is said and done, the five former Canadian World Junior hockey players accused of sexual assault were found not guilty.
Yesterday, the NHL and its Players Association announced that all of them are eligible to sign contracts as soon as October 15th. They will be allowed to return to play on December 1st.
Certainly, there are teams in the NHL that are going to look at signing some of these players. I'm here today to make one statement very clear: the Columbus Blue Jackets are not in a position to be one of those teams.
From a strictly on ice perspective, I could see some of these guys making sense. Most notable is Carter Hart, who was just emerging as a high end starting goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers when this whole scandal broke loose.
The Jackets could certainly use some help in goal, and from a talent perspective, they would be hard pressed to find anyone better to bring into the mix. There just aren't any starting goaltenders readily available.
Even so, it does not make sense. Not for this team, not at this time. The Blue Jackets have not exactly been the NHL's model franchise for the last half decade or so. Far from it.
This is a franchise that went from having the identity of a proud, hard working, blue collar effort type of team in the late 2010s; to a complete disaster in the seasons following the departure of then-head coach John Tortorella.
Since Torts left after the 2020-21 season, they've had four different head coaches. One of them, famously, didn't even get to training camp before resigning amidst a scandal of his own. This team fired their long-time GM, at least in part due to rumblings of his management style being the reason a lot of talent left town.
Worst of all, the organization has suffered two tragic losses in that span, with the late Matiss Kivlenieks and Johnny Gaudreau both being taken from us in what should have been the prime of their lives.
All of this happened amongst one of the worst stretches of hockey this franchise has ever seen. Which says a lot for a team that has won just one true playoff series in its 25 year existence.
For all of these reasons, bringing any kind of negative attention to this team should not be in the plans for Don Waddell. So, they would be wise to avoid Carter Hart, Dylan Dube, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote, or Michael McLeod.
This isn't a franchise that has the kind of elite talent or recent success to distract from this kind of situation. It would be a PR nightmare, and that's the last thing the Blue Jackets organization needs.
Better to stick to the long-term plan.
Let a team like Florida, or Vegas, or Edmonton take a shot on them. It may be high reward for them. Carter Hart could very well lead the Oilers over the hump and into a Stanley Cup. Or, the risk could be too great and it could fail. But, they would still be well positioned to make a quick recovery. I'm not sure we could say the same about the Blue Jackets.
It seems like this team is finally starting to gel and find its way. The culture has been quickly turned over, and last year's group played like a much more cohesive, well tuned machine. There's no reason to tinker with that. Not even for a potential upgrade in goal.
Besides, none of these guys have played NHL hockey in at least two years. Are they really going to be what they were when this whole scandal broke out? I wouldn't want to find out the hard way.