We've gathered once again to talk about the Blue Jackets, and this time, we're talking about their offseason agenda. There's a lot to digest in the months ahead, including the NHL Draft, free agency...and this little thing called the expansion draft.
Our team has thoughts and perspectives on what could be next for the NHL's fourth-best team in 2016-17. Let's get right to it.
Complete the sentence: the Blue Jackets need to add ___ this summer to not simply compete for a playoff spot, but to legitimately make some noise.
JEFF: I want to say they need to add a bona fide goal scorer up front, but where is that likely to come from? While the Jackets do have enough flexibility to add guys (and could even get a windfall if they can somehow get Scott Hartnell and/or David Clarkson off the books), I don’t expect the team to be a major player on the free agent market, so it seems to me any offensive danger is going to have to come from within in the form of perhaps Oliver Bjorkstrand, Sonny Milano or even Vitaly Abramov. I’d also like to see the team add a veteran presence who has been through the postseason wars. The team’s relative inexperience in the postseason was obvious this year.
SAM: More fire power. They had good depth offensively and they have some horses that can run with some of the best teams in the league. But if they aren’t going to have players like Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, they need to have third liners that can score at a 20-goal level. There is a real possibility that they can fill it internally. More ice time given to young players may give a player like Bjorkstrand the boost needed to take his game to the next level.
ROB: I’m with Sam -- they need a horse. They need a guy who can run with some of the best players in the league, and from no perspective other than being relied upon to produce offense. I thought Jarmo Kekalainen’s comments on Monday were interesting: he mentioned that the Blue Jackets were able to manufacture chances in the first two games of the series, but they weren’t able to score. He also pointed out how, despite fewer chances, the Penguins were able to score enough goals to win the game. I suspect that’ll be addressed by the Blue Jackets this summer.
Your thoughts on the pending contract negotiations between the Blue Jackets and Alexander Wennberg?
SAM: They are likely to be tough. Whether or not anyone wants to admit it, Wennberg scored at a first line rate. Much like Johansen before him, he wants to be paid for his services. How the tone of the conversation goes depends completely on the team and Wennberg’s agent. It doesn’t have to get bad, but he has a claim as a top-line center. Given that it is only one year of production, a bridge contract seems likely...but whether they agree on that is a different story.
JEFF: I suspect negotiations won’t get quite as nasty as they did with Johansen, but it is certainly fair to say Wennberg is due quite a raise (and a longer term contract) after he made less than a million dollars while posting 59 points this season. Wennberg’s end-of-season lack of production helps the Jackets a little here, but you still have a first-round pick who produced at a first-line level for much of the season. I hate to throw numbers out there but this will certainly be the most-watched Blue Jackets offseason move among players on the current roster.
ROB: I fully expect them to be tricky, but perhaps not as tricky as they could have been if Wennberg had continued on No. 1 center production for the duration of the season. For the first 60 games of the year, Wennberg flirted with a point-per-game output (around 0.90 PPG) and then tailed off. In the final 22 games of the regular season, Wennberg scored at one-third of that pace and was relatively quiet in the Stanley Cup playoffs. If I had to guess, he will get a three-year contract in the $12 million range total, but it’s hard not to wonder what it could have been had his 60-game pace continued.
The expansion draft is about two months away. Which Blue Jackets player, in your opinion, is the best option for the Vegas Golden Knights?
ROB: While it’s nearly impossible to know, at this point, what Vegas will be looking for, it’s not a stretch to assume they’ll be looking at young and talented players who slip outside the protection zone by their clubs. Also, young and talented players with some degree of team control remaining would be preferable. I think they would do well to land a guy like Jack Johnson on defense, who could be a no-frills veteran addition and play several productive seasons there, but the lack of a contract beyond 2017-18 might scare them off. Emphasis on MIGHT. I suspect they’ll take a long look at guys like Josh Anderson and William Karlsson, who are young, affordable and possess differing but valuable skill sets.
JEFF: This is a tough one because so much will depend on what the Golden Knights have and need by the time the draft comes around. It’s pretty clear they’ll be able to get a good player from the Blue Jackets if they want one -- there simply aren’t enough spots to protect all the legitimately good NHL players on the team -- but the Golden Knights’ strategy will determine how they want to go. Will they go young and cheap, then try to nab a contract like David Clarkson’s to hit the salary cap floor? Will they stock up on goalies like Joonas Korpisalo and try to make trades from there? Or will they just take the best players available? The latter seems the most likely, but you never truly know. A veteran like Jack Johnson, should he not be protected, would seem like a steadying choice for a young team, or grabbing a young forward like Josh Anderson or Boone Jenner, should either be left available, would make a lot of sense too.
SAM: There is a difference between best option and who they should take. The back bone of most teams come from the back end. Either a goaltender or a defensemen will likely be their pick. Joonas Korpisalo likely won’t be protected and a valuable defensemen on the Blue Jackets like Ryan Murray or Jack Johnson won’t be protected. Any of those selections could be justified. Murray and Korpisalo are still young, they also both have high ceilings. If Murray isn’t exposed then Jack Johnson is a natural leader that can slot into the lineup easily. It all depends on the expansion draft strategy GM George McPhee wants to employ.
It’s early, but we can look ahead: which position is paramount for the Blue Jackets to solidify or improve heading into the 2017-18 season?
SAM: Strong depth everywhere is going to be key. The third pair this year was leaky at times. All four forward lines contributed this year but with some players departing, that depth may no longer be a luxury. As much as you want to credit the top line players, the depth pitched in and made sure the ice time they were given wasn’t wasted. The offensive boost from the third pair wasn’t there this past year with Nutivaara and Murray. If they can become more involved offensively, the Blue Jackets will be one of the most well-rounded teams in the league.
JEFF: This might sound a bit odd, but I’m going to have to go with goaltender. A big part of this is because I really like the young players and talented depth the Blue Jackets have at the other spots -- this is as deep as the organization ever has been. Between the pipes, Joonas Korpisalo’s half-season tryout as a potential full-time backup didn’t go nearly as well as his 2015-16 cameo, and Anton Forsberg’s albeit brief NHL appearances have not inspired confidence. I’m not terribly worried by what Sergei Bobrovsky’s shaky postseason showing means going forward, but you do have a goalie who has at times been dogged by injuries. Having credible depth at that position is important.
ROB: When healthy, their defensive depth looks good. They’re set at goaltender and will probably find a way to get Joonas Korpisalo a few more starts next season, provided he isn’t snapped up by the Golden Knights. This leads me back to the forward position, and specifically at center ice; odds are they’re not re-signing Sam Gagner and they need to account for the inevitable run of injuries that pops up in the course of a season. Remember, there was a point this season when the Blue Jackets were one center injury away from having to call up Alex Broadhurst. That’s not a slight on Broadhurst, mind you, but he’s not yet proven he can be a regular NHL player and they are going to need depth at such an important position. They're hoping Pierre-Luc Dubois can be part of the solution here, but we'll see.
