Blue Jackets’ competition for Duchene is dwindling
The market opened at noon Saturday. Nashville moved quickly. The Predators traded veteran Colin Wilson, who plays both center and wing, to the Colorado Avalanche for a fourth-round draft pick. The Predators also dipped into the market and signed free-agent center Nick Bonino, who had a hand in delivering two Stanley Cups to Pittsburgh.
The thoughts were flying. The Jackets had some interest in Bonino. I don’t know how much, but they probably kicked the tires after they lost third-line center William Karlsson to Vegas in the expansion draft. Bonino is an upgrade on Wilson.
Bonino leveraged his success into the best contract
he will get in his career. His deal with the Predators carries a $4.1 million annual cap hit for four years. It makes sense for the Predators — from the standpoint of need and from the perspective of their salary cap — after they shipped Wilson to Colorado. It works.
Later in the afternoon, Joe Thornton
— the marquee center in this free-agent class — accepted a one-year deal to remain in San Jose. Thornton, 38, sacrificed term and took a hit in the pocketbook. He has made a lot of money and he wants to finish his career with the Sharks. Good on him. Bonino goes off the board. Thornton goes off the board. Put it together and the thoughts are flying:
The market for centers became centered on Colorado, and on Matt Duchene. He is a No. 1 center, he has been on the block for months and the Blue Jackets have long been interested.
Nashville was one of just a few teams — maybe, among the last of two teams — making a pitch for Duchene. Maybe the Wilson deal sprang from these talks, but, whatever. For all practical purposes, the Predators dropped out of the Duchene derby. They signed Bonino to bolster their center position from the bottom up, and, in the process, they gave their No. 1, Ryan Johansen, a vote of confidence. It makes sense. Ask Jonathan Toews whether Joey is up to the task.
It was a fair bet Nashville was done for the day, and the market for centers, which was thin at the start, had dwindled.
Duchene was still out there. It is possible the Predators will re-engage with Colorado. Johansen, a restricted free agent, is asking for $8.5 million per. Yowza. The Predators could ship this negotiation headache to Colorado in a package for Duchene. They could also make a Joey-less deal with the Avs and let Joey and his agent stew.
But I don’t see that happening. Johansen has arbitration rights if he wants to use them. The Predators just made it to the Stanley Cup finals, and they don’t want to carve their team up as a negotiating ploy. They don’t want to give up on Joey, either. Ask Toews.
Probably, Nashville was out of it. That left this scene, as my esteemed colleague Aaron Portzline posted on Twitter: “This might be the best CBJ-Avs stare-down since Adam Foote’s plane warmed on the tarmac.”
It was like two cowboys, one looking much like Yul Brynner, standing in a dusty street in the middle of a deserted town.
One had to guess that Colorado general manager Joe Sakic was asking a king’s ransom and that Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen was doing the math, trying to figure exactly how much he was willing to give for a top-line center who, while in his prime, is coming off a substandard season playing for the worst team in the league.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the Penguins were at the end of a 10-day span in which they lost goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, defensemen Ron Hainsey and Trevor Daley and forwards Chris Kunitz and Bonino. And in Washington, defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk and Karl Alzner took the freeagent route out of town.