A lot has happened in Columbus since I last looked at the Blue Jackets roster in March. At that time, the GM seat was empty, Patrik Laine had an open trade request and Johnny Gaudreau was still with us. During a week where Gaudreau’s passing was marked by the Blue Jackets meeting the Flames in both home and away games, 2022 6th overall pick David Jiricek was traded to the Wild for a large return.
Change In Direction
I’ve previously noted that it appeared that the Blue Jackets changed their strategic direction in the summer of 2022 when they landed Gaudreau in free agency. A promising rebuild had been taking place, however Columbus changed focus and brought in more veterans, presumably in a bid to build a contender around Gaudreau.
That change to their competitive timeline may have been wishful thinking. The Blue Jackets roster was too thin, while their prospect pool was quite strong. Continuing with their young cohort seemed like a better long term strategy and new GM Don Waddell seems to agree. Gaudreau’s passing hit hard on a human level and also clearly had a significant impact on the current roster, but Waddell’s other major moves give some insight into where the team is headed.
Laine to Montreal
Waddell traded disgruntled Patrik Laine to the Canadiens, getting 24 year old defenseman Jordan Harris in return. The move eliminated an $8.7MM cap hit this year and next, improving the team’s cap flexibility. That may have helped the the Blue Jackets feel more comfortable in signing Sean Monahan to a 5 year deal in the summer, while still opening up roughly $3MM in cap space through the 25/26 season.
Developing Cohort
Waddell seems to have re-prioritized building around the incoming cohort. Kirill Marchenko is currently projected to lead the team in 5v5 points this season and we see a bunch of forwards in the 20-24 age range having an noticeable NHL impact this season. This group is going to improve as they move into their prime years and look like an excellent base for a competitive cohort.
Things don’t look quite as good on the blue line though. In March’s roster ruminations post, we listed Adam Boqvist, Denton Mateychuk, and David Jiricek as the three key defensemen in this cohort. Boqvist departed in the summer, not qualified by the Blue Jackets and signing in Florida. David Jiricek was recently sent to the Wild for a package of draft picks.
Teambuilding Tenet #10 – Mistakes Happen. I wrote yesterday why I liked the Jiricek acquisition for the Wild. For the Blue Jackets, we can flip the script to some degree. They are building a cohort in a similar age range as the Wild and they just removed a promising piece from that group. However, the Blue Jackets should know Jiricek the best at this point in time. Perhaps there was something they identified in his development that made them think he wouldn’t work out. If that ends up being the case, they deserve some Kudos for moving on before the rest of the league figured it out.
Boqvist’s departure may be a similar theme. He’s only played 13 games for the Panthers this season and may simply not have been a suitable top four option for their incoming cohort. It would have been preferable to trade him and get something in return but that may not have been on the table. If he wasn’t going to be a part of the long term plan, moving on was a smart move instead of tying up future cap space on a player the team wasn’t sold on.
Work in Progress
The Blue Jackets have been better than many expected this season, but there is still plenty of work in front of Waddell. There’s a promising forward cohort in place, but the corresponding defense group has just gone through a significant reset. Filling out the blue line portion of the cohort should be a priority going forward.
The Blue Jackets also need a set of elite players to drive the team into a contention window. Zach Werenski fits that bill on the back end and, at age 27, can fill that need for a number of years yet. Up front, Columbus needs to find a couple of elite players. Those may be in the system already. Perhaps one or two of the incoming cohort will grow into the elite tier. It’s also possible that doesn’t happen though, and the existing group only provide a solid supporting cast. In that case, the Blue Jackets should keep their eye on any elite tier forwards that may become available around the league.
The Blue Jackets have a lot of draft capital at their disposal. While the picks can turn into good pieces down the road, players from the next few drafts won’t fit well with the age of the current incoming cohort. Using some of this draft capital as trade currency to add elite tier players or defensemen for the developing cohort could be a smart way to deploy it to maximum effect.
