The Blue Jackets have been facing some tough times recently.
They traded Patrik Laine to Montreal, and Johnny Gaudreau passed away last month. On top of that, Justin Danforth will miss the start of training camp due to a hand/wrist injury. He got hurt late last season and had surgery during the offseason, but his recovery hasn’t gone as planned. Danforth’s status will be re-evaluated on Monday.
GM Don Waddell mentioned that they’re down to just 10 healthy forwards for training camp. Players like Trey Fix-Wolansky, Gavin Brindley, James Malatesta, or Dylan Gambrell might step up, but they still need more additions up front. Although fans might think trades are coming since they’re nearly $3M below the $65M cap floor per PuckPedia , Waddell said they plan to sign one or two forwards before camp starts.
Possible New Signings:
These new players will get full contracts instead of tryouts. However, the pool of available unrestricted free agents isn’t very deep right now. Some names still out there include James van Riemsdyk, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Okposo, Blake Wheeler, and Phil Kessel. Kessel is hoping to play again after sitting out last season.
Even if Columbus signs a couple of these players, it won’t necessarily bring them up to the cap floor unless they overpay on those contracts. Hedger shared that Waddell has been talking with the league and NHLPA about this issue and isn’t worried about being penalized for staying under the cap floor this season.
Fans might wonder if these challenges could affect their performance in upcoming games. What do you think?
