The Blue Jackets announced Tuesday that they acquired defenseman Ivan Provorov from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for the No. 22 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and a conditional second-round pick in either 2024 or 2025 in a three-team trade that included the Los Angeles Kings.
TRADE: #CBJ have acquired defenseman Ivan Provorov in a three-team trade involving the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings.https://t.co/kI9PcSQ7Jz
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) June 6, 2023
The condition on the second-round pick is that the Jackets will have to choose after the first round of the 2024 Draft whether or not they want to send that year's second-round selection or the second-round pick in 2025.
#CBJ also sending a conditional second-round pick in either 2024 or 25 to Philadelphia as part of the Provorov deal.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 6, 2023
The condition: CBJ must decide after the 2024 first round is complete if theyre sending that years 2nd round pick or the 2025 2nd round pick.
Provorov, a 26-year-old from Yaroslavl, Russia, was the seventh overall selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, one pick before Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski. He played all 82 games in 2022-23, posting 6-21--27, and has appeared in 532 of a possible 535 regular reason games over seven seasons, scoring 65-152--217 since debuting in the 2016-17 season. Additionally, he's recorded 3-8--11 in 22 playoff games.
“Improving our blue line has been a priority for us and acquiring Ivan gives us an established left-shot defenseman who is still a young player with his best seasons in front of him,” Jarmo Kekalainen said in the team's release. “He immediately improves our group on defense as he is durable, has great skill, skates well, is an excellent passer with an accurate shot and can effectively play at both ends of the ice.”
The Kings are retaining 30% of Provorov's $6.75M cap hit, so the Blue Jackets will take on a $4.725M annual cap hit on his deal, which expires following the 2024-25 season, when he is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent.
The No. 22 overall pick that Columbus is sending to Philadelphia was acquired by the Blue Jackets from the Kings on March 1, 2023, in exchange for Vladislav Gavrikov and Joonas Korpisalo.
