Trade Review Corner: Columbus Blue Jackets
2019-12-20Welcome to the first (and hopefully not last) edition of the trade review corner. A chance to look back at the trades that helped shape a franchise, for better or worse. We will review trades made by current and former General Managers with commentary from yours truly. The inspiration for this series began from looking back and cringing at some of the trades made by former Blue Jacket GMs...and then looking back and cringing at some of the trades made by the current Blue Jacket GMs. So without further ado...
The Good:
08/05/2015 22:58 | New York Islanders | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Evgeny Kuznetsov | Andreas Athanasiou | |
2015 DP - Round 2 (Travis Konecny) | ||
2015 DP - Round 2 (Evgeny Svechnikov) |
One of the first trades made in franchise history landed a young, bonafide number one centre. Obviously a win for the Blue Jackets as they give up what amounts to a second line centre and a second line winger. Kuznetsov has 284 career points for the BJs while Konecny and Athanasiou have a combined 117 points.
17/02/2017 13:29 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Anaheim Ducks |
Matt Duchene | Ivan Provorov | |
Jason Zucker | ||
Ryan Spooner | ||
Frederik Gauthier |
GM Andrew Payeur took over a Blue Jackets team with Jeff Carter, Mika Zibanejad, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Matt Duchene at centre. Impressive depth but a bit of a waste to have Zibanejad playing 10 minutes on the fourth line. The BJs made a few moves to spread out the wealth and this was by far the most successful. Duchene is a fine player but Provorov developed into a solid top four defenseman at age 19 and Jason Zucker who was an after thought at the time of the trade would become a 30 goal scorer the following year. Spooner had a moment and was dumped before his value plumeted while Gauthier has become a decent depth piece in real life but has only played in 3 career EHE NHL games.
12/03/2017 12:57 | Calgary Flames | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Evander Kane | Zach Senyshyn | |
Malcolm Subban | ||
2017 DP - Round 1 (Timothy Liljegren) |
EHE GMs voted in favor of the Flames trade package at the time of the trade at 9-2-1. Since then Evander Kane has scored 133 points in 185 EHE games. Liljegren looks like he has the chance to be a player but the Flames package has played a combined 1 game of NHL game action in the EHE as of today.
31/07/2019 18:45 | Ottawa Senators | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Evgeni Malkin | Kirill Kaprizov | |
Mike Hoffman | Logan Brown | |
Keith Yandle | Ryan Murray | |
Jared McCann | ||
Nikita Okhotyuk | ||
2020 DP - Round 1 (TBD) | ||
2021 DP - Round 1 (TBD) |
If the young players and picks turn out well for the Senators this trade could easily swing the other direction. But as of today, a clear win for the Jackets. The trade makes the team a legitimate Stanley Cup contender for the 2019-20 season and seemed so lopsided at the time there were accusations of "collusion" from some GMs and had the former Sens GM flee the league in shame.
The Bad:
08/05/2015 22:40 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Boston Bruins |
Drew Doughty | Dougie Hamilton | |
2015 DP - Round 4 (Tommy Novak) | Malcolm Subban | |
Matt Puempel | ||
2015 DP - Round 6 (Elvis Merzlikins) |
The fifth trade in franchise history. I love myself some Dougie Hamilton, considering him one of the more underated players in the NHL, but this trade is a big "yikes" for me and set the franchise back considerably.
26/06/2015 15:44 | Boston Bruins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Derrick Pouliot | Mark Stone | |
Jordan Caron | 2015 DP - Round 6 (Elvis Merzlikins) | |
2015 DP - Round 3 (Gabriel Carlsson) | 2016 DP - Round 3 (Ryan Lindgren) |
A month and a half after the Doughty trade, Mark Stone is traded for....basically nothing? At the time of the trade Pouliot was a former top 10 draft pick and highly regarded young player, Mark Stone was coming off a 64 point rookie season. This did not age well.
24/12/2015 22:51 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Tampa Bay Lightning |
Ryan Ellis | Josh Ho-Sang | |
Jonathan Diaby | ||
2017 DP - Round 3 (Troy Terry) |
Troy Terry seems like he could develop into a nice player but Josh Ho-Sang seems like he'll never pan out while Ryan Ellis sports impressive facial hair. Side note: Ryan Ellis is also a very good hockey player.
16/01/2017 9:10 | Columbus Blue Jackets | New York Rangers |
Jeff Carter | Tyson Barrie | |
Dalton Prout | Jack Roslovic | |
Joel Edmundson |
The first bad trade made by yours truly. On first glance you're probably thinking "Hey, Andrew. Three legit NHL players for one washed up star? Seems like you won that trade." Context is everything. Although Barrie is a good player, his EHE ratings never warranted more than second pairing minutes. Joel Edmundson was claimed in the expansion draft by Vegas that summer before ever playing a game for the Jackets. Jack Roslovic, a fairly well regarded prospect at the time, was not signed to an entry level contract by the Jackets and became UFA that summer (pains me to this day).
13/03/2018 9:52 | Columbus Blue Jackets | New York Rangers |
Mika Zibanejad | Bryan Little | |
Josh Ho-Sang | Phil Myers | |
2019 DP - Round 4 (Alex Beaucage) |
A trade made to help the Blue Jackets playoff push did not age well. Although Little has an impressive albeit short stint in Columbus, scoring at a point per game pace, Zibanejad would become a number one centre the following season, while Little soon became a glorified third line centre with a massive contract.
09/01/2019 8:02 | Columbus Blue Jackets | New York Rangers |
Robin Lehner | Chad Johnson | |
Jonatan Berggren |
Whoops! I thought Robin Lehner was having a hot start to the season and wanted to cash in early before his play regressed to mediocrity. Note to self: Don't trade with the Rangers.
The Maybes:
07/03/2017 11:33 | Boston Bruins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Dylan Larkin | Seth Jones | |
2017 DP - Round 1 (Robert Thomas) | 2017 DP - Round 3 (Reilly Walsh) |
This one seemed to work out well for both teams. Both added a young top line player at a position of need. Robert Thomas will be the X-Factor that decides this trade, he has yet to put up big offensive numbers but he shows flashes that flaunt his skill and show why the Jackets think he's close to taking a massive leap forward.
01/03/2018 6:11 | Vancouver Canucks | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Shea Weber | Henri Jokiharju | |
Lawson Crouse | ||
Marcus Pettersson | ||
2018 DP - Round 5 (Curtis Hall) |
The first of the trades for Franchise defenseman made by Payeur. Jokiharju seems like he could be a top four defenseman while Crouse and Pettersson although not flashy, are legitimate NHL players. Weber is obviously the best player in the trade so if you want to say this is a win for the Blue Jackets I'll accept that. But there's a debate to be had about whether there is more value in 4.5 years of Shea Weber or a combined 25 or so years of controllable NHL players in the Canucks package.
19/11/2018 13:46 | Boston Bruins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
Erik Karlsson | Tyson Barrie | |
Alex Galchenyuk | Matthew Tkachuk | |
Andre Benoit | Danton Heinen | |
Ben Lovejoy |
Erik Karlsson baby! He cost a ton to land. Matthew Tkachuk soon became a point per game player, while Tyson Barrie and Galchenyuk's best days appear to be behind them. Danton Heinen is a fine depth player, but the offense he showed in his rookie year seems like a non replicable fluke. Look, I know with is a trade is probably a loss for the Jackets, but I would jump in front of a bullet for Erik Karlsson and I'll defend this trade to the death.
Fin.