Despite Injuries, Blue Jackets Won't Hit Trade Market

The Columbus Blue Jackets have multiple holes in their lineup due to injury, but they aren't seeking to address them via the trade market.

Oct 17, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; The Columbus Blue Jackets are introduced before the game against the Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena on Thursday. Mandatory Credit: Samantha Madar/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images / Samantha Madar/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

The Columbus Blue Jackets have been absolutely rattled by injuries to begin the season. The season began with several promising young players like recent third-overall pick Cayden Lindstrom and last year's second-round pick Gavin Brindley sidelined. Then it was starting goalie Elvis Merzlikins missing some time.

Things have gotten worse for the Blue Jackets as captain Boone Jenner underwent surgery and was followed by defenseman Erik Gudbranson who also underwent surgery. Both players could miss the entire season, and if they return it won't be until March or later.

For a lot of teams, this many injuries would facilitate a trade to fill their lineup. But the Blue Jackets are in the beginning stages of a full rebuild and new general manager Don Waddell isn't interested in hemorrhaging any parts of the future for immediate improvements. He spoke with Marco D'Amico of RG.org recently and said so himself.

“One player isn’t going to make a huge difference here because we know where we’re at as an organization right now," Waddell said. "I can’t go spend a second-round pick to get a player because I need that position filled for the rest of the year. It just doesn’t make sense for a young team. We gotta manage our assets well. Now, saying that if it’s a young player, we like that we can go for more than one year and build with, then that’s something different."

For the Jackets, the goal of this season is to surprise some folks while also giving their young players the space to improve. That might look ugly for the next few months as they will likely stumble towards a lottery draft pick in 2025, but that's the point. Waddell wants to invest slowly and solidly into a foundation that can sustain a winning five years to a decade in Columbus.

“We want to make sure we manage our assets and, frankly, give a lot of the young players more ice time,” Waddell said. “Frankly, what we’ve seen with (Adam) Fantilli, (Kent) Johnson, (Cole) Sillinger, (Kirill) Marchenko, (Yegor) Chinakhov, four games into it, none of them have disappointed us to this point.”

With Gudbranson out for the long-term, the Jackets have another opportunity opened for a young player to earn more ice-time. Waddell has made it clear no outside help is coming, so the Blue Jackets will have to see which of their prospects are ready to make the jump to the NHL.

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