NHL Trade Deadline Primer: The Columbus Blue Jackets could be a fascinating team to watch

They have declared themselves buyers, but what could that look like?

The NHL Trade Deadline is on March 7, so it is time to start taking a look at some players that could be on the move and some bigger picture trade deadline subjects. Today we focus on the Columbus Blue Jackets who could be one of the more fascinating teams over the next couple of weeks.

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When Jarmo Kekäläinen was the Columbus Blue Jackets general manager there was always an element of unpredictable chaos to them. It did not always go as planned, and it may not have worked, and it may have been toxic at times (looking at you, Mike Babcock) but they were definitely not boring. There was no greater example of this than the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline.

Let me set the situation for you, in case you have forgotten:

• They were on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture and desperate to not only make the playoffs for what would be a third consecutive season (something the franchise had never done prior to that), but also actually win a playoff round for the first time in franchise history.

• They had two major pending unrestricted free agents in forward Artemi Panarin and starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky who were the subject of trade rumors. Not only because the team was on the outside of the playoff picture, but also because pretty much everybody knew they were not likely to re-sign with the Blue Jackets.

• Despite this, the Blue Jackets not only kept both Panarin and Bobrovsky, they doubled-down on their commitment to trying to win that season by pushing all of their chips to the center of the table and aggressively bought. Nobody in the NHL bought more than them that season, adding pending free agents Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel.

• They ended up making the playoffs and not only won a playoff series for the first time ever, they ended up pulling off one of the most stunning upsets in recent playoff history when they swept a 65-win, record-setting Tampa Bay Lightning team in the first round.

• Then Panarin, Bobrovsky, Duchene and Dzingel all left in free agency anyway.

I mention all of this because the Blue Jackets are in kind of a similar situation right now.

They go into the 4 Nations Face-off break on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but just barely.

They have a couple of pending unrestricted free agents they could probably move, including defenseman Ivan Provorov.

They also have pretty much declared themselves as buyers.

The situations are not totally apples-to-apples, mostly because the 2019 team entered the season expecting to make the playoffs, while this team very much did not. That team was underachieving. This team is significantly overachieving and is ahead of schedule. But the spot in the standings and the desire to add are very much in the same ballpark. Depending on what the Blue Jackets decide to buy, I kind of like the approach. They might also be in a position to be one of the most fascinating teams in the league over the next month when it comes to trades.

Let’s talk about it.