Confirmed with Link: Boqvist waived for buyout purposes

[majormajor]

It's sad that he couldn't stay healthy and find more ways to improve.

I felt that he did improve a lot in the last couple years, but that was from being a striking negative (I was sure that he was not an NHL caliber player) to being worth a positive but somewhat lower amount than his $2.6m contract. It makes sense that he was bought out given how cheap the buyout is (we even get a cap bonus for it this year??).

And for a team that needed to improve defensively this is a subtraction you have to make.

 

[NotCommitted]

Always liked Boqvist, I guess more for the potential than what he actually brought... but if he can become a more robust individual he could still become a good d-man, he has some talent and had a good trajectory but just injured way too much. In a way he's kinda like the Roslovic of D-men though

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

They give up too many goals. How much of that is Elvis and how much is the defense is a fair question. Seems that Waddell is going to give the goalie one more year so he is focusing on the defense first.

 

[majormajor]

I'm thinking back to when Jarmo gave Boqvist that 3 year $2.6m per contract.

He was in my estimation not even NHL caliber at the time, so despite improving since then he still needs to be bought out.

Jarmo loved the smell of his own farts, if you know what I mean.

 

[tunnelvision]

Neither Bean nor Boqvist were long-term pieces of the defense at any point in time in my eyes so I'm completely fine with both leaving, it's just unfortunate we aren't getting anything in return.

 

[Napoli]

Kinda surprised to see no interest in terms of assets back.

I've always liked Boqvist, he certainly could run a PP better than Werenski.

I hope Waddell knows what's he's doing bc there's been some interesting moves so far.

 

[CBJx614]

I'm thinking back to when Jarmo gave Boqvist that 3 year $2.6m per contract.

He was in my estimation not even NHL caliber at the time, so despite improving since then he still needs to be bought out.

Jarmo loved the smell of his own farts, if you know what I mean.

Everyone was happy that DW was getting rid of Jarmos mess ups, which is good.


But the real test of a GM is how they handle their own mess ups. Obviously Jarmo wasn't the greatest, we'll see how well DW handles it in the future.

 

[Viqsi]

But the real test of a GM is how they handle their own mess ups.

This was where I always thought Howson shined.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Neither Bean nor Boqvist were long-term pieces of the defense at any point in time in my eyes so I'm completely fine with both leaving, it's just unfortunate we aren't getting anything in return.

they were two lottery tickets with draft pedigree who fit the cbj philosophy of wanting high-activation defensemen. bean, in particular, was a force in the AHL and a lot of that looked translatable.

talent evaluation wasn't necessarily the issue here – development (on top of injuries) and wonky roster building was.

guys like bean and boqvist need specific scenarios to succeed, and providing those scenarios gives them runway to round out their game and eventually outgrow that usage. but the roster construction + coaching staff philosophies were not conducive to that.

 

[NotCommitted]

I'm thinking back to when Jarmo gave Boqvist that 3 year $2.6m per contract.

He was in my estimation not even NHL caliber at the time, so despite improving since then he still needs to be bought out.

Jarmo loved the smell of his own farts, if you know what I mean.

IMO the biggest issue with Boqvist ended up being he played a total 76 games under that contract, ie. he was injured all the time. I don't think he was that bad when he was actually playing, but admittedly being roster worthy in Blue Jackets defense hasn't been a high bar to clear. Still, if he had been good for 60+ games both those seasons, I think he would've been able to stablize. If he can stay healthy I think he'll turn out OK. That's a big if though, maybe he needs to go gain some momentum somewhere else. I could see him being a star in some top level euro league with a 50-60 game schedule and lesser competition.

 

[majormajor]

they were two lottery tickets with draft pedigree who fit the cbj philosophy of wanting high-activation defensemen. bean, in particular, was a force in the AHL and a lot of that looked translatable.

talent evaluation wasn't necessarily the issue here – development (on top of injuries) and wonky roster building was.

guys like bean and boqvist need specific scenarios to succeed, and providing those scenarios gives them runway to round out their game and eventually outgrow that usage. but the roster construction + coaching staff philosophies were not conducive to that.

Talent evaluation was definitely an issue here. Adam Boqvist has one particular thing he's always been good at, jumping into seems and sniping. That's it. He lacks defensive awareness, severely lacks strength, and isn't a plus playmaker. He's not even a puckmover, in the sense that he'd be the last player I'd want hustling back on a dump in under pressure. Until this past season he wasn't fast enough to do it. Weak, slow, not smart.

I understand taking him as a throw-in in the Jones deal but the contract we gave him was uncalled for. He's going to have a hard time getting an NHL contract now and this is despite being much better than when we signed him two years ago!

Yes Boqvist would need specific situations to succeed, but take note that NHL clubs are not providing that to marginal D in this mold. This is not a Blue Jackets usage issue.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1810663821260046813

 

[Cyclones Rock]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1810663821260046813

Organizational depth signing for the Panthers.

But it will be really embarrassing if he ends up successfully QBing the SC Champion Panthers PP1 this season

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

Florida sure likes their Finns and Swedes. But it could be sneaky good for them, esp. as that seems like a cheap contract.

Edit: It's a one-way contract (they updated the Twitter) and $775k league minimum. Could be perfect for them.

 

[majormajor]

He's going to have a hard time getting an NHL contract now and this is despite being much better than when we signed him two years ago!

$775k? Incredible talent evaluation fail by Jarmo.

 

[Aaaarrgghh]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1810663821260046813

They've got both Boqvist brothers then.

 

[JohnnyJacket13]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1810663821260046813

50 point season incoming if he stays healthy

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

50 point season incoming if he stays healthy

We’ve said the same here for 2-3 seasons and he hasn’t. We’re bitching in the Monahan thread about the Jackets always stocking the cupboards with broken china but we’re wondering here if Boquist can stay healthy?

 

[squashmaple]

We’ve said the same here for 2-3 seasons and he hasn’t. We’re bitching in the Monahan thread about the Jackets always stocking the cupboards with broken china but we’re wondering here if Boquist can stay healthy?

Florida under Zito has repeatedly taken "broken china" and made kintsugi. That's all people are referencing. Forsling was plucked from the scrap heap. OEL was bought out two teams ago.

 

[violaswallet]

Florida can afford to use him as a PP specialist: I expect to see him on the third pairing with Kulikov, playing like 16-17 minutes a game (like 4 on the PP). Sounds reasonable?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Florida can afford to use him as a PP specialist: I expect to see him on the third pairing with Kulikov, playing like 16-17 minutes a game (like 4 on the PP). Sounds reasonable?

That’s more minutes than he averaged here. You’ll probably want to really shelter him. But who knows, maybe among more structure and better teammates he’ll come into his own defensively. The upside is there

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Florida under Zito has repeatedly taken "broken china" and made kintsugi. That's all people are referencing. Forsling was plucked from the scrap heap. OEL was bought out two teams ago.

this is also why we need to re-frame the 'build through the draft' conversation.

you really just need a couple of cornerstone guys through the draft. the rest of the roster can (and should) be built elsewhere. the jackets roster is in an uncomfortable position where they have a dozen or so young guys who are ready to play in the NHL but not ready to be net positives in contributing roles.

young players take time to develop; florida's whole roster is built on the principle that you can just skip that step entirely by deprioritizing the draft. instead of waiting for guys like tippett and denisenko, florida went out and got verhaeghe and duclair off the scrap heap.

 

[squashmaple]

this is also why we need to re-frame the 'build through the draft' conversation.

you really just need a couple of cornerstone guys through the draft. the rest of the roster can (and should) be built elsewhere. the jackets roster is in an uncomfortable position where they have a dozen or so young guys who are ready to play in the NHL but not ready to be net positives in contributing roles.

young players take time to develop; florida's whole roster is built on the principle that you can just skip that step entirely by deprioritizing the draft. instead of waiting for guys like tippett and denisenko, florida went out and got verhaeghe and duclair off the scrap heap.

I think Jarmo maybe was thinking that, but got discouraged after Chychrun and then distracted by all the other fires.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Florida can afford to use him as a PP specialist: I expect to see him on the third pairing with Kulikov, playing like 16-17 minutes a game (like 4 on the PP). Sounds reasonable?

i'm skeptical that he'd do well with kulikov simply because neither guy is particularly good at zone exits, and boqvist is generally pretty awful in the d-zone and on retrievals in his own end.

conventional wisdom would say that a one-way offensive defenseman should be paired with a one-way defensive defenseman for the sake of balance, but boqvist's best hockey here came when he was paired with werenski. it was one of those things that felt weird on paper, but actually really worked.

the ideal partner for boqvist is going to be someone who is a two-way force who can cover for him defensively but also take some of the load off of him offensively. that screams gus forsling to me.

the caveat there is that if it's a tight game and florida needs actual shutdown minutes, i'd expect that boqvist would be stapled to the bench and they'd reunite the forsling-ekblad pair. but if you give him ~15 min at even strength with forsling and let him run PP1, he'll probably be a net positive.

 

[Long Live Lyle]

this is also why we need to re-frame the 'build through the draft' conversation.

you really just need a couple of cornerstone guys through the draft. the rest of the roster can (and should) be built elsewhere. the jackets roster is in an uncomfortable position where they have a dozen or so young guys who are ready to play in the NHL but not ready to be net positives in contributing roles.

young players take time to develop; florida's whole roster is built on the principle that you can just skip that step entirely by deprioritizing the draft. instead of waiting for guys like tippett and denisenko, florida went out and got verhaeghe and duclair off the scrap heap.

There are multiple ways to get there. Tampa (Stamkos, Hedman, Kucherov, Point, Vasilevskiy, Palat, Killorn, Cirelli… you can kinda throw Gourde in there too since he was undrafted and his first NHL contract was Tampa) was primarily draft-driven. Florida and (especially) Vegas were not. Colorado was a bit of a mix (a lot of key contributors were not Avs draftees, but arguably the 4 best/most important on the championship team were).

I will say a franchise like ours should probably try more closely for the Tampa/Colorado route, but definitely need to be good at both. Our 2019 team had a nice mix of draftees (Atkinson, PLD, Jenner, Savard, Anderson, Werenski, Bjorkstrand) and trades (Panarin, Bob, Foligno, Dubinsky, Jones, Duchene).

The one thing you’ll notice is lack of UFAs: our best in 2019 was probably Riley Nash? It’s more often than not gonna be difficult for us to build that way. Certainly a key move in free agency here or there is important, but the draft followed by wise trades is probably the best path to success for us. And obviously if you can get a guy cheap off waivers/that’s unsigned that turns into a key piece, great, but that’s often very, very hard to predict.