The Blue Jackets are currently 29-20-7 with 65 points. They're 4th in the Metro, 9th in the East, and 13th in the NHL.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are on a heater. With new Head Coach Rick Bowness behind the bench, they've won 7 straight and 11 of 12. The Olympic break came at a bad time, but as Bowness put it, "I don't care about the break. As long as they continue to play within the system, and the right way, it won't matter."
It was the perfect time to bring Bowness in, too. It was right before a home stretch of playing 6 of 7 at home. Get that new coach bump at home. Bowness is 6 for 7 at home so far, so it worked.
All this winning puts Don Waddell in a tough situation, though. He now has to decide whether to sell or buy. With the CBJ just 4 points out of both the Metro's top three and the wild card, the time is now to act. Now, let's come back to that Olympic break and realize that for the front office, it came at the perfect time. Waddell will have 21 days to figure this out.
Rumors started circling this week that Waddell will start talks next week with certain UFAs and get them signed. It sounds like Waddell wants to get Charlie Coyle, Mason Marchment, and Captain Boone Jenner signed.
Signing those three, or at least Coyle and Marchment, would signal that Waddell and his team are going to make a strong push for the playoffs. Trading any of those players would most likely only net draft picks, which Waddell has said that he's not interested in. The teams that would trade for any of those players would most likely not want to give up players of consequence in return.
Don Waddell needs to go all-in, in my opinion. Now, before people start hating, let me clarify that by saying all-in, I don't mean trading top players or prospects away for temporary help. Jarmo Kekäläinen did that in 2019 when Sergei Bobrovsky refused to waive his no-trade clause, forcing his hand. He ended up keeping Bobrovsky and Panarin and brought in Duchene and others. After those guys all left in free agency in the summer of 2019, that was all she wrote for Kekäläinen in Columbus in my opinion.
Waddell is very lucky not to have the talent like Kekäläinen did on the verge of leaving.
This iteration of going all-in is a bit less intense than in 2019. Even without contract extensions for Coyle and Marchment, he should not trade them and ride out this season. Let's not forget about Erik Gudbranson.
But not like last season's ride it out. Last year, they weren't supposed to be where they were, so Waddell let the guys do what they could to push for the playoffs, ultimately coming up just short. He traded for Luke Kunin on March 7, 2025, and that was basically it. He added just a little depth in case of injuries, but that was it.
Waddell has the ability to make moves with this roster to make it better. He has the salary cap space, picks, and assets he can trade to get it done as well.
Waddell has $45,551,598 is deadline cap space per PuckPedia.com, meaning "Assuming the team does not make any roster moves between now and the trade deadline, this is the annual cap hit that the team can fit on trade deadline day. If the team adds cap hit between now than the deadline, the space at the deadline will decrease," per PuckPedia.
He has other UFAs like Danton Heinen and Erik Gudbranson, who might fetch a pick or two. But would he dare look at trading a player like Kent Johnson or Dmitri Voronkov, if it means the team gets better this year, and possibly the future? If he's going to entertain trading Johnson or Voronkov, now would be the time.
Players like Corson Ceulemans and Stanislav Svozil seemed to be destined to stay in Cleveland. Veteran Zach Aston-Reese was sent down to Cleveland after the CBJ got fully healthy, and there's no doubt he could get a pick in return.
There are rumors that Waddell is going to go "all-in," so now we wait to see what that means. In my opinion, though, he needs to do what he can to make this team better not only this year, but the next few years as well, and that can start at next month's deadline.
Next up for Werenski - United States vs. Denmark - 3:10 p.m. ET - USA Network
Next up for Merzlikins - Latvia vs. Germany - 6:10 a.m. ET - CNBC
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