Kekalainen tasked with acquiring missing piece
The stated, long-term goal of Blue Jackets management is to build a team that can sustain a high level of competitiveness. They are well on their way. The Jackets have a nice team.
The short-term goal is to add a forward with gamebreaking talent and, to this end, it could be an important week for the Jackets. The NHL is convening for the expansion draft Wednesday in Las Vegas and the entry draft next weekend in Chicago. This sort of proximity of executives tends to warm the trade machinery. If things break well for the Jackets, they might be able to land someone who can stand up to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That is the primary task.
The Penguins played the most playoff games and won the Stanley Cup. It is not shocking, then, that they had the four leading playoff scorers: Evgeni Malkin (28 points), Sidney Crosby (27), Phil Kessel (23) and Jake Guentzel (21). Also, the Penguins’ goaltender, Matt Murray, had the best goals-against average (1.70).
The Nashville Predators, Western Conference champions, had the player with the best playoff plus-minus average (Filip Forsberg, plus-14). The Predators have a fine defense, a world-class goaltender and a Cup-winning coach. The Predators are a nice team. In fact, they are not unlike the Jackets, built from their net out and strong in their systems.
The Penguins are something else. Their success is best measured in the numbers listed above, and in the names etched on the Cup. They score and they win because they have Crosby, 29, Malkin, 30, and Kessel, 29, among others. They are not going away anytime soon.
This is a minor problem for the Predators, who are in a different conference. It is a major problem for the Jackets, who share a division with the Penguins and the Washington Capitals, who have won the past two Presidents’ Trophies.
The Capitals might have blown their last, best shot this spring. Other teams have surged in the East in recent years — Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, the New York Rangers. Still other teams are poised to surge in the near future — Toronto, Florida, maybe even Carolina. There are a lot of nice teams in the East. The Jackets are just another one of them — unless they can find a game-changing offensive stud, preferably one who plays the center position.
Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is not afraid to make bold moves. This is a man who traded Ryan Johansen for Seth Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is not afraid to make bold moves. This is a man who traded Ryan Johansen for Seth Jones, straight-up. He traded for Marian Gaborik, Scott Hartnell and Brandon Saad. He traded away James Wisniewski and Gaborik, and it appears he is about to buy out Hartnell. He hired coach John Tortorella at a time when other teams recoiled. Jones, straight-up. He traded for Marian Gaborik, Scott Hartnell and Brandon Saad. He traded away James Wisniewski and Gaborik, and it appears he is about to buy out Hartnell. He hired coach John Tortorella at a time when other teams recoiled.
Jarmo aspires, and right now he is aspiring amid a league simmering with intrigue.
Colorado has top-line center Matt Duchene and, maybe, captain Gabriel Landeskog on the block. Montreal is floating a talented forward, Alex Galchenyuk. New Jersey owns the rights to Ilya Kovalchuk, who is returning from the KHL. Kovalchuk is 34 years old, but, golly, can he shoot it.
The New York Islanders have yet to come to contract terms with John Tavares, who might want $10 million per. Tavares is one of the 10 best players in the league and he is probably looking forward to unrestricted free agency next year. A sign-andtrade seems unlikely for Columbus.
A trade freeze went into effect (for all teams other than Las Vegas) Saturday afternoon. It will be lifted Thursday morning, a day after the expansion draft in Vegas and a day before the entry draft in Chicago.
It’s going to be an interesting week. Once again, we’ll see what Kekalainen can do.