Jackets will have busy offseason

Trading four veterans completed Jarmo Kekalainen’s “to do” list before last week’s deadline, but the Blue Jackets’ general manager still has a lot on his plate.

Most pressing is the NHL draft June 28-29, but the July 1 start of free agency also looms large.

One of the league’s youngest teams received a nice return of draft picks for sending defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, 27, and goalie Joonas Korpisalo, 28, to the Los Angeles Kings, but there’s now a hole on the blue line.

Gavrikov is entering his prime, lefthanded and slotted nicely into the left side of the Blue Jackets’ second defense pairing before a slew of injuries struck. Kekalainen’s scouting staff has procured an impressive list of promising defense prospects and young NHL players, but none have Gavrikov’s size or experience (258 games).

Rookies Tim Berni, 23, and Nick Blankenburg, 24, are getting extended looks while Zach Werenski and Jake Bean recover from shoulder surgeries, but those two plus Bean have logged 59 fewer games combined (199) than Gavrikov.

Kekalainen expects top prospect David Jiricek, a righty, to play a fulltime NHL role next season and also mentioned highly-regarded prospects Stanislav Svozil, 20, and Denton Mateychuk, 18, as potential replacements for Gavrikov. Jircek’s two-game Blue Jackets debut in October is the only NHL experience for any of the three.

Werenski and Erik Gudbranson are the only Columbus defensemen with more than 200 NHL games to their credit, and the former has missed most of this season. It won’t be a surprise if the Blue Jackets add an experienced defenseman or two via free agency or trade. They could also use another center, which is probably why Columbus was linked in pre-deadline speculation to Philadelphia Flyers center Kevin Hayes, who was Johnny Gaudreau’s roommate at Boston College.