Ryan Murray has accepted the Blue Jackets qualifying offer and has signed a one-year contract with a salary of $2.825 million for the upcoming season.
Murray will be a restricted free agent (RFA) when the deal ends.
The contract dollar value is the same money he's made the past two seasons.
Columbus is hoping that Murray, still only 24 years-old, can prove himself as a top-four defenseman. David Savard, Markus Nutivaara, and Murray will likely head to camp vying for two spots, with Zach Werenski and Seth Jones likely to be kept together as the club's top pairing again in 2018-19.
GM Jarmo Kekalainen had some nice praise for his young defenseman in a press release:
"Ryan is a talented, young defenseman with terrific puck-moving abilities. He has battled some injuries early in his career, but we believe he has overcome those and will be an important part of our blue line this season."
In 2017-18, Murray played in 44 games, scoring one goal and adding 11 assists for 12 points. He played in all six playoff games, notching one assist.
The only remaining player left unsigned is Oliver Bjorkstrand.
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