The Blue Jackets face early adversity as GM Don Waddell remains patient, opting for development over quick moves on the NHL trade market (Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
After dealing with the tragic loss of forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew just before training camp, the Columbus Blue Jackets have continued to face adversity on the ice as the 2024-25 regular season kicks into high gear.
A rash of injuries has new head coach Dean Evason and new general manager Don Waddell already working feverishly to ice a healthy and competitive lineup. However, don’t expect Waddell to make knee-jerk reactions on the NHL trade market. Despite having the most salary cap space ($20.3 million) in the NHL, Waddell isn’t in a rush to boost the roster via the external route.
“Look, I talk to every team, and every day, I’m picking a few more teams off to see where they’re at right now because that’s part of my job,” Waddell told RG in an extensive one-on-one interview this past weekend.
Trust The Process
Despite the early-season adversity, the Blue Jackets, who have been rebuilding for over five years now, don’t plan on rushing the process for short-term gain.
“One player isn’t going to make a huge difference here because we know where we’re at as an organization right now. I can’t go spend a second-round pick to get a player because I need that position filled for the rest of the year. It just doesn’t make sense for a young team. We gotta manage our assets well. Now, saying that if it’s a young player, we like that we can go for more than one year and build with, then that’s something different.”
After undergoing successful shoulder surgery last week, captain Boone Jenner is expected to be out of the lineup until at least March, if not the rest of the regular season. Veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson was recently placed on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury last week, and forward Kent Johnson could be out a while with an upper-body injury suffered last week. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins also missed the last three games. That was all on top of an injury list that already included Justin Danforth, Cayden Lindstrom, Gavin Brindley, and Dmitri Voronkov.
As Waddell pointed out, though, that creates an opportunity for the younger players to grow via NHL experience.
“We want to make sure we manage our assets and, frankly, give a lot of the young players more ice time,” the veteran GM pointed out. “Frankly, what we’ve seen with [Adam] Fantilli, Johnson, [Cole] Sillinger, [Kirill] Marchenko, [Yegor] Chinakhov, four games into it, none of them have disappointed us to this point.”
Market Heating Up?
While Waddell isn’t expecting to be a major player on the NHL trade market at this point, he certainly won’t shy away from having conversations in the future as talks pick up.
According to Waddell, he believes that there could be a big uptick in trade talk by the 15-20 game mark this season, as a lot of top teams have been underperforming to start the year.
“You have some teams right now - I’m not naming any of them - that have high expectations that have started off a little slow. And I know those GMs aren’t going to be patient forever and hope they get it back going. So, I would say that you should start looking at that 15-game mark. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start seeing some action around the league.“
It doesn’t seem likely that the Blue Jackets will be major players in going after some of the big fish that will be made available on the trade market. But, given their significant reserve of cap space and flexible roster, they could certainly be called upon as a cap broker in the right deal.
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James Murphy
