What's On Don Waddell's Agenda For This Summer?

Don Waddell has a lot of work to do this summer. 

Countless fans and media think he's just going to come in and make sweeping changes on day 1. From the front office to the ice to the coaching staff, but is that even feasible at this point? He'll definitely have a compressed schedule to work with as camp is only a few short months away. How is he going to evaluate the entire organization from top to bottom in such a short time? 

Waddell inherits a team that has 11 RFAs and 7 UFAs. Some of the RFAs are Jet Greaves, Kent Johnson, Jake Bean, Yegor Chinakhov, Kirill Marchenko, and Cole Sillinger. The UFAs of note are Carson Meyer, Brendan Gaunce, and Nick Blankenburg. Blankenburg is free to sign anywhere, but some Columbus fans hope the team gives him an offer. This is an important summer on the player personnel front. 

Having this many free agents is going to be the bulk of the work for the newly appointed Waddell. AGM Josh Flynn does a lot of the contract negotiations, or at least he did. Does Waddell keep Flynn in place to help with those contracts? Or is Flynn a casualty of new leadership? Would this be a change Waddell NEEDS to make right now, or can it wait? Waddell is going to want to shape the front office to his liking, so when does that start?

Pascal Vincent was thrown into the fire last season just days before the season started, and never really seemed to get a grip on the team. He has one year left on his two-year contract and people are wondering if Waddell keeps him or not. Should Waddell keep him for his last season and evaluate him? Or cut him loose and find yet ANOTHER head coach? There are other openings in the NHL with guys like Jay Woodcroft, Dean Evason, Todd McLellan, and David Hakstol sitting at home wondering if they're going to be hired this summer. Could this be the chance for the Jackets to get a more experienced head coach? 

Is Waddell going to keep the General Manager position? Or will he hire a GM to lighten his workload? He held a dual role in Carolina and did it well, so I see no reason why he would relinquish that UNLESS someone comes along with loads of experience in the General Manager position. Rumors are floating around about him considering a guy like Ken Holland for the job. Many CBJ fans are conflicted about Holland. He's been around the block and won Stanley Cups, but in the salary cap era, he hasn't been as successful. Some people will point out that when you have two of the best players in the world on your team, one making $12.5 million a year, and one who will probably make just as much as that next summer, it's hard to build a team around with little money to spend. His detractors though point to one contract as being a backbreaker, Darnell Nurse. He makes $9.25 million and has never had over 43 points in his career. When he was signed to this current deal, his career high was just 41 points, and that was three years before he signed this massive contract. Take away that bloated contract, and Edmonton could very well have pushed for a Cup already. 

I have said from the start, that it wouldn't shock me if Waddell did the bare minimum in this first year aside from signing his players, the draft, and free agency. The summer of 2025 is going to be the big summer for the Columbus Blue Jackets. By then, Waddell is going to have a firm grasp on everything surrounding this franchise and should know exactly what this team is about. 

There's no doubt that the newly anointed President of Hockey Ops and General Manager has his work cut out for him in year one, but the question remains, will he make big moves immediately or just sit back and wait? Will the fans be patient with him? Or will they not be happy if he does nothing of note in year one?

His press conference is today at 1 P.M., so maybe we will get a bit of clarity then. 

What do you think? Please share your thoughts on our forum.

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