It was a utilitarian deadline for general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, but his hope is those moves will help the Blue Jackets return to contention sooner rather than later.
Here are three takeaways from what the Jackets with their moves over the past few days.
1. The Blue Jackets checked the boxes.Columbus has been in last place in the NHL for most of the days leading up to the deadline, and you know what that means -- the Jackets came in being sellers. It made sense for players not under contract for next year to be traded for value; Gavrikov, Nyquist and Korpisalo have new homes and will likely play playoff hockey, and the Blue Jackets at the end of the day got three draft picks out of those deals. That was the assignment, and given the market, a pretty fair haul. Other deals involving Voracek and Jonathan Quick got the Blue Jackets some added salary cap flexibility and goalies for the rest of the season, two important things, but the goal of this deadline was to turn expiring assets into future capital. To be blunt, that future capital had to include a first-round pick, and the Jackets got that from Los Angeles as long as the Kings make the playoffs, which they likely will.
2. The first-round pick will be interesting to monitor.Now, the fun begins. Columbus has selected six players in the first round of the last three drafts, netting such names as Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, Yegor Chinakhov and David Jiricek, all of whom have already played NHL hockey. The Blue Jackets now have two first-rounders -- their own, which will likely be near the top of the draft, and Los Angeles', which will be in the bottom half of the first round -- in what is thought to be an excellent draft this summer. That pick now gives the Blue Jackets options -- Columbus can use it to bring in another talented young player, or the Jackets have some pretty useful ammunition on the trade market as the draft nears in late June.
3. What's the window?I'll be honest -- that latter reality would not surprise me at all. Kekalainen has said all along that he does not want this reset to take an extended period of time, and the Blue Jackets already have such key players as Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, Zach Werenski and Elvis Merzlikins under contract for the next three-plus seasons. The development of such youngsters as Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko this year has been a bright spot, and while there is more highly respected talent on the way, it feels like the Blue Jackets don't want to waste the best years of their current core players. As Kekalainen said Wednesday, "we are looking to make our team better, not just be picking year after year." Deciding when the team's best competitive window is and aligning resources to be good at that time will be a big part of this summer; might the answer be provided when the ping-pong balls land in May?
