For the first time in several seasons, the Columbus Blue Jackets may be sellers at the NHL trade deadline.
It wasn't supposed to be this way, but the Blue Jackets sputtering start has become a mid-season struggle. Through 26 games, the Blue Jackets have won consecutive games just three times, and are yet to put together three straight victories.
With just 30 games left in the season and the Blue Jackets in need of an immediate surge to thrust themselves back into contention, it's time to start wondering if Columbus will be supplying other teams with the player they need to make a spring run at Lord Stanley's Cup.
The asset that will receive the most phone calls is likely to be David Savard. While he's disappointed this season, he's still seen as a beacon of hope for a team that thinks they are one defenseman away, as our own Jacob Nitzberg touched on last week.
Because Savard, 30, is an unrestricted free agent, the return won't be dollar-for-dollar. A draft pick is all but assured, and depending on the cap space of his suitor, another player with an expiring contract could come back to the Blue Jackets.
Where are some of the potential destinations for Savard? Washington, St. Louis, and Edmonton are teams that have the ability to make a run, but each are allowing more than three goals per game and could be in the market for a defensemen. Per MoneyPuck, here are the updated playoff odds:
Savard's expiring contract may not be the only one who is moved, though. There are two other Blue Jackets who are in the final year of their deal, are unrestricted free agents at seasons' end, and who could help another team.
One of them is Riley Nash. Any return would not be significant; a mid-to-late round draft pick. For a team looking for veteran leadership, Nash will turn 32 on the final day of the regular season - the same number of postseason games he has played in. He's a smart player, defensive-minded, can play any forward position, and is above 50% at the faceoff dot. He could be a 4th line guy for a young team that is in position to make a run. Possibilities here could be a return to where his career started in Carolina, or he could join former Blue Jackets' Brandon Saad and Matt Calvert in Colorado.
The other is Nick Foligno. This is not to say that he'll be moved or that it's even likely, but if you remove the name and the man from the facts, Foligno makes sense for just about any type of team. He's not someone you want on the ice in overtime (cc: John Tortorella), but he's tough-as-nails, gritty, versatile, can score, and brings plenty of heart.
As Aaron Portzline of The Athletic mentioned recently, if Columbus were to deal Foligno, a conversation would likely take place well in advance with between the Blue Jackets brass and their captain, perhaps that the move is intended to be a pure rental for a team and that they intend to bring him back in the fold this summer. He's an unrestricted free agent with a no-movement clause, so he'll have a lot of say so. Given his ties to the capital city, one would have to at least consider the possibility that the only way he agrees to a deal is with a verbal that he'll be back for the 2021-22 season. If Foligno is dealt, just about any postseason-bound team would at least check the asking price.
And then you've got the goalie conundrum. Joonas or Elvis? Merzlikins or Korpisalo? Both are 26, both turn 27 next month, both had flashes of brilliance last year, both have been a little shaky at times this year. Columbus can't keep the tandem together forever, though in theory, they could keep them together through next season: both are under contract through the 2021-22 season. The expansion draft won't have any impact on this; Elvis Merzlikins is protected from going to the Seattle Kraken and Columbus will assuredly protect Joonas Korpisalo, as each team may protect a netminder.
How long general manager Jarmo Kekalainen will hang on to both remains to be seen. An offseason trade is far more likely, but if Columbus doesn't right the ship starting now, nothing can be ruled out.
