When it comes to the team’s own free agents, Waddell remains confident that signing the restricted free agents will be done in due time and doesn’t expect any potential offer sheets to trouble the Blue Jackets.
On the UFA front, Waddell is also content to wait to see how things shake out after saying at the end of the season there was mutual interest between the team and the trio of Jenner, Gudbranson and Marchment. A year ago, the Blue Jackets signed defensemen Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro – both set to hit the open market – in the hours leading up to July 1, and it could be a similar process this summer.
“I’ve talked to all the agents and I know where they’re at and they know where I’m at,” Waddell said. “There’s a difference, of course, which you always expect. I don’t know how it’s going to play out in the next couple weeks. If you remember, we signed Provorov and Fabbro the night before July 1, so when reality sets in for both sides, it takes two sides to make a deal.”
There’s also the fact that perhaps the biggest potential improvement for the Blue Jackets will come from within given how the team has built around draft picks in recent seasons.
And as Waddell hinted earlier, next year also could bring infusion of talent from the AHL. Such prospects as Luca Del Bel Belluz, Mikael Pyyhtiä, Jack Williams, Guillaume Richard and Corson Ceulemans were key pieces of a Cleveland team that came within one game of the AHL’s final four this year, and Waddell was a keen observer of the team’s playoff run. He left that group believing there are players already in the system who can be contributors right now.
“Playoff hockey is hard,” Waddell said. “I don’t care what level you’re playing at. When you get in the playoffs, it’s hard hockey, and we had some guys that really took a step forward – some of the young guys, and it was real encouraging. We had meetings today where there’s probably at least three guys right now that should be competing for jobs on our team. Now, whether we have that many spots open, we’ll at least feel like we have guys that are going to play games next year in the NHL.”
It’s all part of what Waddell calls a jigsaw puzzle, especially as he has to balance the upcoming season with the salary cap and the team’s long-term planning. Still, the GM remains confident that with cap space, an attractive first-round pick and a prospect pool he likes, he can make something happen to improve the Blue Jackets going into 2026-27.
“Our goal is to be better than we were last year, and our goal is to get into the playoffs for sure,” Waddell said. “Anything that gets proposed to us, we’ll take a hard look at it, and whatever we propose to somebody else, the same.
“I truly believe we’ll be able to do something. I’m not sure what that will be just yet, but I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to do something.”
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