On Saturday, the Columbus Blue Jackets took care of a 6-foot-5, 227-pound piece of business. That business was signing Dmitri Voronkov to a very reasonable bridge deal for 2 years at $4.175 million per-season contract. The Big Boss is back.
The team also brought back Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro to long-term deals. But you already knew that.
So where do that stand with the rest of their RFAs? Let's take a look.
Mikael Pyyhtiä - Pyyhtiä was given his Qualifying Offer back in May so that he could play in the IIHF World Championships. Pyyhtiä's last contract was for 3 years, $2,692,500 with a cap hit of $897,500 per season. Pyyhtiä should probably get a raise to around a million per season. He played 47 games for the Blue Jackets last season. If, for some reason, Pyyhtiä doesn't make Columbus out of camp, he should be one of the first forwards called up.
Daemon Hunt - Hunt received a Qualifying Offer last week, so expect him back this season. Hunt's previous contract was for 3 years, $2,484,999 with a cap hit of $828,333 per season. Hunt spent all of last season playing in the AHL for Cleveland after the trade from Minnesota. Expect Hunt to be one of the first defensemen recalled should the CBJ need to.
Don Waddell still has some holes to fill in Columbus and Cleveland as they only have 41 of 50 rosters spots filled. Cleveland probably needs to add two more forwards to fill out the front end. Meanwhile, on the defense, Cleveland has 7 players under contract, so expect a few more there as well.
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