Blue Jackets sign Boll to three-year extension

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed right wing Jared Boll to a three-year contract extension that keeps him with the club through the 2016-17 season, the team announced Friday.

"We started talking halfway through the summer," Boll told The Columbus Dispatch. "There was no rush; I still have a full year left. But I didn't care about free agency. I didn't even want to think about playing somewhere else. There was no reason for me to test free agency.

"The way this team is moving. The [Nathan] Horton signing this summer. The season [Sergei Bobrovsky] just had. The way we finished the season. The people we have in charge at the top. Just everything is headed in the right direction right now, and there's nothing I want more than to be a part of it."

Financial terms of the deal were not released.

"Jared Boll has invested a great deal of himself in this organization and community, and we are very happy that he will continue to be an important part of our hockey club," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in announcing the contract. "He brings toughness, determination and a great work ethic to our team and has become an important leader for us both on and off the ice."

Boll, 27, had two goals, four assists and 100 penalty minutes in 47 games last season.

A 2005 fourth-round pick (No. 101), Boll has 24 goals, 52 points and 963 penalty minutes in 388 NHL games, all with the Blue Jackets.