Blue Jackets seek to protect young forwards in draft

In March, when the NHL’s general managers gathered in Boca Raton, Florida, Jarmo Kekalainen of the Blue Jackets and George McPhee of the Vegas Golden Knights took a break from the boardroom meetings to play tennis.

One can safely assume that, at some point — perhaps when Kekalainen and McPhee were at the net, digging out buried forehands — next month’s expansion draft was brought up in conversation.

The Blue Jackets have been talking to McPhee and the Golden Knights for months, trying to get a feel for what the Knights are thinking when they view the Jackets roster leading up to their come-to-life draft June 21.

“We’ve had some good talks with them,” Kekalainen said. “I’m sure every team in the league has touched base with them to see if they can get certainty, figure out what

they’re going to lose.”

Sources around the NHL have told The Dispatch in recent weeks that Vegas likely already has deals, or the framework of a deal, in place with a few clubs, possibly including the Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets’ list boils down to one major issue: Will left wing Scott Hartnell waive a no-movement clause in his contract that would require the team to protect him. If the Jackets have to protect Hartnell, they would almost certainly expose one of the following forwards: Josh Anderson, Matt Calvert or William Karlsson.

The conversation between Hartnell and the Blue Jackets has not yet happened, but it can’t wait much longer.

Here are reasons Hartnell would not waive his nomovement clause:

• As much as Hartnell seems like a Vegas kind of guy, he has come to love Columbus, is getting married this summer and wants to put down roots here.

• He’s 35 as of last month, and he wants to win a Stanley Cup before his career ends. Yes, he thinks it can happen here; it’ll take a few years, at least, in Vegas.

And the reasons he would waive the clause:

• An expansion team isn’t likely to pick a 35-year-old, big-ticket player, especially from a roster with younger, cheaper prospects.

• If the Blue Jackets lose Anderson because Hartnell won’t clear a spot, the club’s chances to remain an elite team will be damaged.

• The Blue Jackets may buy out the remaining two years on Hartnell’s contract if he doesn’t agree to waive. That’s how much they don’t want to lose Anderson.

Even if Hartnell agrees to waive the clause — the Blue Jackets may be assuming it will happen — they will likely try to steer Vegas away from Karlsson, the club’s thirdline center, and a player they believe has major offensive upside.

The Blue Jackets will offer draft picks and other commodities to entice Vegas to take a player who’s less damaging to the Jackets’ 2017-18 roster and beyond.

But it’s not like it was in 2000, when the Blue Jackets made a number of side deals.

For instance, the Blue Jackets agreed to a trade with Buffalo that brought defenseman Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, forward Matt Davidson and two fifth-round draft picks to the Jackets for them agreeing to take goaltender Dwayne Roloson from the Sabres. That allowed the Sabres to keep veteran Dominik Hasek, backup Marty Biron and two promising youngsters, Mika Noronen and Ryan Miller.

The Sabres steered the Blue Jackets toward taking left wing Geoff Sanderson, who became the Jackets’ first 30-goal scorer.

Key difference: The Blue Jackets were part of the same expansion draft as Minnesota, and existing teams were able to play the Blue Jackets and Wild off each other to find the best trades. Not so this time. As Kekalainen noted, without intending the joke: “Vegas holds all the cards.”