What Did It Cost - Everything

Team: 2019-20 Columbus Blue Jackets

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 18, 2019

Published: Jun. 19, 2019

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Kekalainen pushed his chips in and Columbus can take pride in upsetting the best regular season team the salary cap era has seen. However, they are likely to lose several of their best players as UFA's and are left with few draft selections in the next couple of years. They have built a solid defensive core that Tortorella should be able to rely on to attempt to eke out games and remain competitive, but Columbus will have their work cut out for them in order to avoid taking a step back and try to build on their first playoff round win in franchise history.

RFA's
Werenski - Jackets lock up one of the top young defenders in the game to a max term contract. They see him as their future captain and will build their roster around him and Jones at the back end.
Murray - Sign him to a medium term reasonable value deal, solidifying the second pairing. They can also trade him or one of their younger LHD for help up front if the right offer comes along. The Jackets may be a candidate to end up protecting 4F & 4D instead of 7F & 3D for the Seattle expansion if they don't choose to move Murray.
Sedlak - Signs in the KHL.
Harrington - Signs a 1 x 925k to be the 6/7 defenseman, competing with Gavrikov for the bottom pairing LD spot.
Korpisalo - Is likely traded with Merkzlikins coming over to take over his backup spot and be groomed alongside a veteran starter to take over the starting job.
Clendening - Signs 1 x 825k to compete for the 6/7 spot or lead the AHL team.
Milano - Extended for one more year in hopes he puts it together and earns a spot on the big club. He is also a candidate for a change of scenery trade to recoup picks.
MacInnis, Scott, Somerby, Robinson - Signed for AHL team for one more year.

UFA
Panarin - Jackets offer him 8 x $9.25M but he likely elects to sign for similar money (or perhaps even more) in a larger market.
Dzingel - Likely offer him a decent contract (4 x $4M), but someone else overpays for his career year.
Duchene - Will be costly to re-sign as not only does Columbus have to out bid other teams, they would have to send Ottawa another first rounder. They choose to keep the pick and get forward help from another avenue.
Bobrovsky - Jackets are willing to move on from Bobrovsky after an up and down year. He's still a great goalie, but they can't afford to pay him what he'll get on the open market.
McQuaid - A tough, solid 6/7 defenseman, but I believe the Jackets will not bring him back.
Kinkaid - Moves on to another team looking for a veteran backup.
Jackets other UFA's are not re-signed either.
The Blue Jackets sign Varlamov to a short term contract to allow himself to prove he is still an NHL starter. He should also be a decent mentor for Merzilikins during his first taste of the NHL.
Did not want to add additional cap for next season as Dubois, Andersson, Kukan, Gavrikov, Harrington and Merlzilikins will need new contracts ($17M plus cap inflation available next season for these players). The Jackets may need to move out Nash & Dubinsky next season to free up some additional funds for these re-signings.

Trades
Comments in each individual move, but overall Columbus can look to their defensive depth to try to get a talented scoring forward. They can also take on bad money for the 19-20 season in exchange for picks.

Lineup
As a number of key UFA's were not retained by the club, the Jackets will have to see what they have in their top forward prospects (Texier .32PPG NHLe last year, Bemstrom 0.43PPG NHLe last year) and move some of their blueline depth for a scoring forward (Drouin). I've put the young guys on lines with good veteran mentors. The lineup also relies on Wennberg bouncing back. There's no point in trading a 24 year old #2/3C for pennies on the dollar. His shooting percentage was way below career average last season and feeding Atkinson and hopefully Bemstrom, who have been more traditionally goal scorers, should help this playmaking center bounce back.

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