Interesting tidbits from today’s Jeff Marek show. Jeff had Don Waddell on to talk about his new role for CBJ.
Notes of interest:
- Waddell said they’re “open for business.”
- Regarding the roster heading into next season, “ Well, it's got to look different. You know, we're going to clean up. Like I said, we got some contracts and we got some issues we got to figure out.”
- He also said, “if we keep the pick (#4)”, and made mention that they don’t currently have a second round pick.
Large contracts of note:
Johnny Gaudreau (30): $9.75 x 5 (NMC)
Patrick Laine (26): $8.7m x 2 (M-NTC)
Damon Severson (29): $6.25 x 7 (NTC)
Elvis Merzlikins (30): $5.4m x 3 (M-NTC)
Cap situation:
CapFriendly projects CBJ to have ~$23m in cap space. Notable players to sign; Marchenko, Sillinger, K. Johnson, Chinakhov, Texier, A. Nylander.
I’m just spitballing but does a potential deal between the Sharks and Blue Jackets make sense?
#4
Laine
For
#14
#33
Or
#4
Severson (Grier should be familiar from NJD)
For
#14
#42
Clearing some cap space would allow Waddell to be active in FA to bring in a few of his old Hurricanes players. Grier can weaponize his cap space to make a big move up the draft while filling a temporary hole (top 6 RW or top 4 RD).
I’m just trying to think outside the box here.