An offseason checklist for the Columbus Blue Jackets

As a result, GM Jarmo Kekalainen will soon be engaging in serious discussions with Laine’s camp on a new deal if he hasn’t done so already. If the winger wants to keep his options open instead of committing to a long-term deal, then the team will have to give serious consideration to trading him this summer. Doing so by the draft would be preferable as some picks would almost certainly be part of any package.

Even if Laine is willing to sign a long-term contract, finding a number that works for both sides will be tricky. This season was Laine’s first point-per-game campaign but he missed 26 games due to injury. If we look at his career average on a per-82 extrapolation, Laine checks in at 35 goals and 31 assists. Those are certainly good numbers but the market value for a player with that type of production isn’t far off the $7.5M he made this season. For him to forego testing the market, the Blue Jackets will need to come in above that but at what point does that become too much of an overpayment to justify (even with their current cap flexibility)?

Right now, Laine’s contract should be their top priority. While there’s no firm deadline to get something done, they have about six weeks to figure things out before the draft gets underway. 

Add defensive help

The good news for the Blue Jackets this season was that they set a franchise record for goals scored. The bad news is that they also set a franchise record for the most goals allowed. With several young forwards with room to continue developing, there’s some hope to maintain or even improve upon their offensive production.

However, there isn’t a lot of room for optimism to significantly improve that defensive number as things stand. Their goaltending tandem remains intact with Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo. Neither netminder is coming off a particularly strong season. Both are capable of being better but with the back end Columbus currently has, that improvement might not be particularly significant.

Accordingly, this is an area that needs to be addressed. They have a decent core of younger players, but as they look to take the next step on the path to contention, some veterans that are capable of playing an impact role should be added. It probably won’t all come in one summer – this process will likely be gradual – but an emphasis on bringing in someone capable of playing the penalty kill and in key defensive situations would certainly help to stabilize things in the short term.

Gavrikov extension talks

Over his three years with the Blue Jackets, Vladislav Gavrikov has worked his way into a prominent role on the back end. But because he waited until the age of 23 to come to North America, he’s already just a year away from unrestricted free agency after Kekalainen curiously signed him to a bridge contract that walked him straight to UFA eligibility.

With Seth Jones, David Savard and Ryan Murray departing in recent years, Columbus has seen the loss of some important defenders. They did well to get good assets back for Jones and Savard in trades but the talent coming in hasn’t been close to the talent that left. To lose Gavrikov next summer or even at the trade deadline would deal them another blow.

As a result, trying to work out an extension will be fairly high on Kekalainen to-do list. He’s going to be in line for a nice raise on his $2.8MMAAV coming off the year he had (33 points in 82 games while averaging over 22 minutes a night), but his salary for next season – $4.2M – serves as a reasonable starting point for talks. A multi-year offer a little above that rate (in the $4.5M to $4.75M range) might be enough to get it done and ensure that a key piece of their defensive is a part of the post-rebuild future.