Decision time nearing for Blue Jackets
A recent report says the Blue Jackets are mulling whether to buy out the final three years of Alexander Wennberg’s contract. This, only three years after Wennberg put up 59 points and looked like a top-six center, for which the Jackets have always been desperate. Now, Wennberg looks like an expensive No. 3.
While the Jackets don't want to eat any contract, they also have to consider every path to upgrade their roster during these strange times. Creativity is imperative in the COVID-19 era, which has strapped team finances and flattened the league’s salary cap. Most general managers are working off the floor, rather than the ceiling, of the cap. They're treading water.
More on Wennberg, and GM Jarmo Kekalainen’s general view of the Jackets' offseason, in a minute. First, let us pause to admire what has been a spirited, hotly contested and compelling playoffs.
In early August, it was posited in this space that shortened seasons produce great champions. History shows as much. When there are disruptions — strikes, lockouts, pandemics — the best teams with the best players and the best coaches are even more likely to separate themselves. Put another way: Upsetting times do not favor upsets; shortened seasons are purifiers, not asterisks.
From the 1918 Boston Red Sox to the 1972 Oakland A’s to the Washington Football Teams of 1982 and ‘87, the teams that have prevailed in shortened seasons have been stocked with Hall of Fame players and coaches/managers. History is again echoing.
The Tampa Bay Lightning can claim the Stanley Cup with a victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Final on Monday night. It is certainly possible the Stars can avoid elimination (as they did with a double-overtime victory Saturday night) and push the series to an ultimate Game 7. But that’s not the way to bet.
There are 32 players in league history who have scored 30-plus points in a playoff season. The Lightning have two of them in Nikita Kucherov (33 points) and Brayden Point (32). Rule of thumb: Teams with two 30-point playoff scorers — Wayne Gretzky/paul Coffey, Mario Lemieux/mark Recchi, Brian
Leetch/mark Messier, Evgeni Malkin/ Sidney Crosby, et al. — are bound to lift the Cup.
Four-plus months benefited the Lightning, who were fresh as they set out for redemption. The rest also helped the Stars. Joe Pavelski, 36, Corey Perry, 35, and Alexander Radulov, 34, play prominent roles in their forward ranks; they were better fit to get their ancient selves through eight weeks of wicked hockey. And wicked indeed were these playoffs — fast and furious and compelling to watch. It has been terrific television.
While we all missed the crowds and had to adjust to the bubbles, a worthy champion will be crowned this week. I picked Tampa Bay in August and, well, I’ll stick with that pick. This team is virtually flawless.
As Kekalainen said to me not too long ago, the Stars sort of remind him of his Blue Jackets — studded on defense, excellent goaltending, but with more offensive pop. Acquiring help up front is Kekalainen’s second order of business — after signing restricted free agents Pierre-luc Dubois and Josh Anderson. (Note: Dubois is the priority and Anderson appears destined for arbitration.)
Kekalainen on Sunday would not comment on the report in The Athletic, where the possibility of a Wennberg buyout was floated. Per the collective bargaining agreement, the Jackets could buy out Wennberg by giving him one-third of the remaining value this year — and it would cost the team twothirds to buy him out next year. That’s the nut of it.
Think of it this way: If Kekalainen can line up a major deal to acquire a top-six center, or an elite scoring winger, then he has to do something to clear cap space. Maybe he has to buy out Wennberg.
“Ownership remains supportive (of spending to improve), but we also realize we have to be careful where and how we spend until things return to normal,” Kekalainen said. “We’re like everyone else in any business that has been affected by COVID — and we’re definitely affected because we can’t have fans in the building. It’s a challenge we have to embrace.”
Things are beginning to heat up as the virtual draft (Oct. 6-7) and freeagent season (Oct. 9) approach. Kekalainen would prefer to have some resolution with a Dubois deal so he can have a firmer idea of the Jackets’ cap situation heading into the draft. My sense is Kekalainen wants to swing a substantial trade — if he has the cap space to maneuver.
Crank up the rumor mill. marace@dispatch.com