On what he calls one of the most dangerous days in hockey, Don Waddell opted to play it safe.
For a variety of reasons, the Blue Jackets president of hockey operations and general manager didn’t make a big splash on NHL trade deadline day, opting instead to keep together a team that has defied external expectations to sit in a playoff position with 20 games to go.
In a seller’s market where the premium to make a move was about as high as the longtime executive has ever seen, Waddell made a couple of small moves to bolster the Blue Jackets’ forward depth. One day after adding veteran wing Christian Fischer off waivers from Detroit, the Blue Jackets brought in another experienced forward Friday in Luke Kunin from San Jose in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick.
Those players bring a combined 944 games of NHL experience to the table to help round out the forward group, which is what Waddell was looking for. And in the end, the way things unfolded, it didn’t make sense for the Blue Jackets to take a big swing.
For one, the market wasn’t kind, as with so many teams still in the mix for playoff spots, the buyers far outnumbered the sellers. Waddell noted that there were less players on the market than he had ever seen in nearly two decades of working as an NHL general manager, leaving the big moves to the teams who truly felt they were a player or two away from the Stanley Cup.
“The mentality going in was we were not going to trade first-round picks for rental players,” Waddell said. “We’ll make hockey deals for sure, but we could miss the playoffs on April 18 and I’d be sitting there looking in the mirror saying, ‘Why the heck did you give out the first-round picks for players and you didn’t make the playoffs?’
“Managing our assets right now is important. My job as the GM is to watch out for today but also the future, and I think it could have been a dangerous day if we were just trying to live for today.”
Meanwhile, Waddell chose to keep his group together and not deal away any of the team’s unrestricted free agents-to-be, including defenseman Ivan Provorov. With the Blue Jackets holding the first wild card spot as they try to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020, taking a player out of a tight-knit locker room was a no-go for Waddell.
“This group has done a great job,” Waddell said. “They deserve to keep going forward, and the biggest thing for us is we didn’t rip guys out of this room.”
Add in the fact the Blue Jackets have a young core that’s just coming into its own and is set up for bigger success down the road – not to mention loads of salary cap space – and Waddell opted to add a few pieces rather than mortgage the future for a major return this year.
It’s something he said he discussed with his leadership core of players, who appreciated the chance to stay together to try to return to Stanley Cup Playoff hockey.
“I had a couple of calls today, a couple of texts with a couple of our players, and they were supportive,” Waddell said. “They know the situation. One of them in particular said, ‘We’ve got the team this far. We can get it the rest of the way.’ That was always good to hear from one of our top players.
“This is a tight group. I’ve been around a lot of hockey teams, around good groups of people. This group is special. We’re in this position because of the leadership in that room. The coaches have done a great job, but the leadership int he room from the players I think has got us to where we are today and is going to finish the job for us as we move forward.”
Waddell noted that he has firsthand experience with both players brought in over the past two days, having worked with them previously with USA Hockey, and said they should both fit well into the team’s locker room.
Fischer, 27, was added off waivers on Thursday and should bring size (6-2, 212), penalty killing and energy to the table. A nine-year veteran with Arizona and Detroit, he’s skated in 522 career games with 62 goals and 137 points while topping 100 hits six times. So far this season, he has a goal, six assists and 89 hits in 45 games with the Red Wings.
Kunin, meanwhile, has produced more offensively in San Jose with 11 goals among his 18 points in 63 games. The 2016 first-round pick also brings physicality to the table – his 163 hits this year are tied for 24th in the NHL – and has 73 goals and 142 points in 422 career games with Minnesota, Nashville and San Jose. An alternate captain with the Sharks, the 27-year-old played in Minnesota when CBJ head coach Dean Evason was serving as an assist with the Wild.
“Luke can play any forward position,” Waddell said. “He’s played them all. Obviously he’s been a natural centerman for years, but he’s played the wing. Dean coached him in Minnesota, and Dean liked him as a player. He’s a trustworthy player who you put him in a spot, he would succeed. He’s a coach’s dream. He’ll do what you ask him to do. Having that experience goes a long way, and when I talked to Luke, he was excited about being here.”
A couple of other notes from Waddell’s press conference:
- When it comes to discussions with Provorov about a new contract, Waddell seemed optimistic that the two sides could come to a deal at some point even as the defenseman is set to hit the open market this summer. “We made a decision to keep Provy, and I’ve had great conversations with his agent and I’m pretty confident that we’re going to be able to get a deal,” Waddell said. “Then if we don’t, obviously we’ll have to find a replacement for him.”
- The Blue Jackets made a “paper” transaction Friday, sending rookie defenseman Denton Mateychuk to Cleveland and then recalling him, a move made so he would be eligible to play for the AHL team during the upcoming playoffs if the situation arises. “He’s a young player. Hopefully we’ll be playing playoff hockey here in Columbus, and if not, if Cleveland is still going on down in the American League, it’s great experience. We just wanted to keep that as an option.”
- While the Blue Jackets didn’t make any massive moves this week, discussions with other teams could bear fruit down the road, Waddell said. “Actually, I think we set some great ground for summertime with some teams,” he said. “There are some teams that didn’t want to give up a lot right now, but they had interest in some of our guys. We had some good conversations.”
