Item No. 1: Let it grow
When general manager Don Waddell was hired by the Blue Jackets last May, there were three significant young players who needed new contracts. Center Cole Sillinger and wingers Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko — that’s two first-round picks and a second-round pick, respectively — were all restricted free agents.
Waddell didn’t know these players other than what he could see on a stat sheet or what he’d gleaned during scouting trips or through scouting reports with his previous club, the Carolina Hurricanes. It was made clear to agents that long-term deals were out of the question.
Now, almost a year later, Waddell has seen the Blue Jackets’ nucleus of young talent up close. He’s seen how they operate on the ice and off the ice, how they interact with teammates and how they perform at their worst and their best, in good times and tough times.
How the Blue Jackets handle contract negotiations with their young players may begin to look different as soon as this summer.
Over the course of 24 seasons, the list of Blue Jackets draft picks who signed contracts that carry them from their entry-level deals into unrestricted free agency is surprisingly short: Rick Nash and Alexander Wennberg.
There are two players — Seth Jones and Brandon Saad — who were acquired in trades while in their ELC years and were signed to deals that carried them to UFA status, but this organization has always preferred “bridge” deals that expire while the player remains an RFA.
Waddell isn’t going to start handing out eight-year contracts like parade candy, but he will not hesitate, he said, going long-term — including the NHL’s longest term, eight years — with players he sees as foundational parts of the organization.
“Every individual is different,” Waddell said. “But, 100 percent, if we’ve got a 21- or 22-year-old guy, and you can get him for eight years, you’re getting him through the prime of his career, and you don’t have to worry about it again until they’re 30 or 31 years old.
“It’s all projection. You’re not going to get one of these young guys for $4 million a year for eight years, that’s for sure. You’re going to pay more off the start and hope that by the end of the contract it evens out for both sides.”
In Carolina, Waddell signed Andrei Svechnikov to an eight-year contract in 2021 after his ELC expired. Last summer, before he joined the Blue Jackets, he laid the ground work for Seth Jarvis’ eight-year extension with the Hurricanes that was signed in August.
“The challenge, obviously, is finding that (salary and term) number that both sides can agree on,” Waddell said. “But (in Carolina), we determined that we wanted to lock those guys (and Sebastian Aho) up for eight years. I’m not afraid of doing it, that’s for sure.”
Waddell figures to have a busy summer on all fronts, but there are contracts with some of the Blue Jackets’ top young players that could be revealing.
Dmitri Voronkov is a restricted free agent this summer. Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov won’t be RFAs until after next season, but they’re eligible to sign extensions when the NHL’s new year begins on July 1.
Waddell was certainly intrigued by the Blue Jackets’ young talent when he started interviewing with the team after the Hurricanes were bounced from the playoffs after last season.
“Our first meeting, I was asking them, ‘Where are we at with this roster?'” Waddell said. “Are we rebuilding? Retooling? I sure didn’t think we needed to rebuild, and that this point in my career, I wasn’t looking for that, either.
“This is a close group of players. They’re very much a team. I think if we do the right thing from a contract standpoint that we’ll be able to sign the guys long-term that we want to sign long-term. It doesn’t make sense for all the guys to get one, but there are a bunch of guys here I would have no trouble locking up long term.”
The Blue Jackets are hoping to make significant changes on the blue line for next season, and there could be changes among the goaltenders, too. (More on that in the coming weeks.)
But the forward group is now in the hands of the Blue Jackets’ young players. Three of those players signed deals last summer, with Waddell new on the job.
Marchenko signed a three-year deal worth $3.85 million per season. Sillinger signed a two-year deal worth $2.25 per season. Kent Johnson signed a three-year deal worth $1.8 million. All three of those deals look club-friendly after the seasons those players have had.
The next wave of contracts will hit this summer.
“We have a nucleus of young guys that we just have to keep together,” Waddell said. “The key this summer is … it’s not a heavy free-agent list, as you know, but we have to add the right guys around the edges here.”
