What would a dream offseason look like for the Blue Jackets?
Since stunning the Toronto Maple Leafs in the play-in round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Columbus Blue Jackets have missed out on the postseason for six straight years.
In 2024, the club hired Don Waddell to run the front office, fresh off a successful tenure as general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes. The Jackets went from 66 points in 2023-24 to 92 this past season under Waddell, but a late slump cost Columbus a playoff spot.
Now, Waddell needs to push the right buttons this summer in order to add to his talented core that consists of Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli Kirill Marchenko and goaltender Jet Greaves.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL video coach Steve Peters discussed what Waddell needs to do this summer to get the Jackets back into postseason contention.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Another team I’m curious about is the Columbus Blue Jackets. They’re our offseason preview for today, and a team that, listen, as much as I will sit here and I’ll rip the Seattle Kraken for not having an identity and not having a direction that they’re going, I worry that Columbus is kind of stuck in that same boat. They signed Charlie Coyle, which is great, you need good players. They have a boatload of cap space still with $32 million remaining heading into this summer. They have some organizational check marks that maybe Seattle doesn’t. Jet Greaves… he’s looking like a legitimate franchise level goaltender… You have Zach Werenski, who I think should be in Hart Trophy conversations more often than he is, but that forward group is just so thin up front. They have a bunch of good players, but no great players. So Petey, when I float you the question of what would be a dream offseason for Columbus, they probably do need to find some version of the Trevor Zegras trade where you find a piece somewhere else that’s being overlooked and can turn into a legitimate top-line player for you.
Steve Peters: Yeah, I think it is up front is the issue. I think most importantly, and the very first thing they need to do, is they’ve got to get Adam Fantilli signed. He’s the future of this team… and Jet Greaves, they’ve got to get signed. So I think the RFAs become the most important piece for them this summer, but you need somebody that can play alongside Fantilli. You need somebody that can make him be as good as he possibly can be. Finding that top-six forward is difficult, especially through free agency to Columbus. Again, this is no knock on Columbus, but you see players gravitating away from Columbus as opposed to trying to muscle their way into Columbus. I think for them, find somebody that can help get this offense going. You’ve got Kirill Marchenko, another unbelievably skilled, talented forward up front, and Adam Fantilli, they just need somebody else that can help them get over the hump.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…