The Offseason Is Almost Here For Columbus, And With It Will Come Huge Changes
The Columbus Blue Jackets have one game to play in the 2023-24 season. This year has absolutely flown by, and now we're almost to the best part, "Speculation Season."
There are a few things to speculate for the upcoming offseason, so let's get you ready for a few of the big ones.
- Who will be the next GM? This is the biggest one of them all. This decision will shape the future of the franchise and shouldn't be taken lightly. They don't have to rush to get the person they feel is the best fit, but with a few RFA's to deal with, they'll need to have some in place to deal with that, hopefully before the draft. There have been a few names floated around like Jeff Gorton, Mathieu Darche, and Mark Hunter. Those names continue to pop up in GM talks when it comes to the position. Will they go with an experienced GM? John Davidson has said from the beginning that they wanted experience. Will they go off the board and hire someone who hasn't been talked about? One thing they won't do is hire from within according to Davidson, already telling Rick Nash and the rest of the front office that they wouldn't be considered. The Columbus Blue Jackets MUST get this hire right. They have a loaded prospect pool and a few key pieces already in Columbus, so the time is now to start building this thing the right way, and with good guidance. But can fans of this team be patient enough? That's a big question around Columbus.
- What will happen with Elvis Merzļikins? Merzļikins had to have a bounce-back year in 23-24, and for the most part, he did, at least compared to 22-23 anyway. His GAA fell to 3.45 from 4.23, and his save % rose to .897 from .876. He also added a shutout as well. The Jackets have a huge decision to make, but it could get easier with the salary cap going up. Merzļikins will make $5.4 million in each of the next three seasons, arguably one of the biggest flubs of former GM Jarmo Kekäläinen's career in Columbus. This mistake will hurt the Jackets for the next three years unless the new GM can convince someone to take both Elvis and his salary with no compensation or salary retention. With the recent play of Daniil Tarasov and the emergence of AHL all-star Jet Greaves, we could be looking at the goalie duo for the next few seasons. The team loves Jet Greaves, and he could push Tarasov to get better, who will probably go into next season as the #1 goalie for Columbus.
- Who will coach Columbus in 2024-25? Pascal Vincent was thrown into the fire head-first in the fall of 2023, and it shows. Questionable personnel decisions in terms of scratches, player deployment during games, and remarks about players have plagued his tenure as the Blue Jackets bench boss. But was he being held back by GM Jarmo Kekäläinen? Some seem to think so. John Davidson sounds like he would like to have Vincent back next season, but he has said that he will leave it up to the new GM to make that decision. Should they fire Vincent, this would technically make the 4th head coach since the summer of 2022 - Larsen, Babcock, Vincent...? Players have come out publicly and said that they love playing for Vincent, would this make a difference to the new GM? Vincent has one year left on his deal and could very go into next year as a lame duck. He could be let go at the slightest hint of a lengthy losing streak if he were to remain in Columbus at the start of the 24-25 season.
There are some other decisions to make in terms of players as well. The Jackets have a laundry list of RFA's to get signed, including Texier, Marchenko, Sillinger, Chinakhov, Meyer, Nylander, Bean, Blankenburg, Greaves, Johnson, and a few others. The question is, how many on this list won't be signed?
The new GM will have a ton of work to do from day 1, get your popcorn ready. Per the usual, there's never a shortage of drama in Columbus.
What's Next - Columbus will play the Carolina Hurricanes next Tuesday in the season finale.
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Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.