Columbus Blue Jackets are not finished with trades

The Columbus Blue Jackets are not done making trades

The Fourth Period website is reporting that the Columbus Blue Jackets are not done dealing. This week, they came together with the Nashville Predators and dealt their club’s former first round selections, the Jackets’ forward Ryan Johansen and Predators’ defenseman Seth Jones. The Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen and the Preds’ General Manager David Poile were able to prove to the other 28 organizations that deals of top talent can be moved in the National Hockey League salary cap era.

Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong, for the Blue Jackets. They fired their head coach Todd Richards in October and replaced him with John Tortorella. The team has had a series of injured men and they are currently in the basement of the National Hockey League with possible aspirations of obtaining the 2016 NHL Entry Draft projected first overall pick, USA defenseman Auston Matthews.

There are several players that Kekalainen could still deal prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on February 29. It was a gamble dealing Johansen, but there’s a risk with every transaction in the league.

Recent history would seem to dictate that dealing veterans for prospects or draft picks would be the way to go. Last season, the Buffalo Sabres copied that idea and constantly dealt veterans for draft picks and it granted them the second overall selection in last summer’s draft, forward Jack Eichel.

However, this season the NHL has made plans to prevent teams from purposely tanking their season to ensure obtaining the first overall selection.

Kekalainen could throw caution into the wind, take a gamble and deal veterans for draft picks in the Entry Draft this summer in Buffalo, New York. However Kekalainen and President John Davidson decide to proceed, keeping this roster together does not appear to be the way to go.

They need to press the reset button and try again for next fall.