The Blue Jackets have some pieces they can move at the deadline
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic: You should expect that Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen will be active leading up to the March 21st trade deadline.
Forwards Max Domi and Jack Roslovic could be made available for the right price. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is once again in the rumor mill.
Forward Gustav Nyquist has a year left at $5.5 million and it may require them to retain some salary to increase the return.
The Blue Jackets have the salary cap space to work with. They already have two first-round picks. Will they be able to land another?
Does Mark Stone‘s injury present the Golden Knights with a golden opportunity?
Scott Maxwell of Daily Faceoff: Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone could miss an extended period of time with a back injury, one that previously had him out for 29 days earlier this year according to Frank Seravalli. Will this be an opportunity for Golden Knights to LTIR Mark Stone and his $9.5 million salary and almost leave them with enough space to activate Jack Eichel and Alec Martinez.
“The belief is, and again, we’ll see how the Golden Knights play this in the coming days, is that Stone is suffering from a degenerative back condition that may keep him out long term. Maybe until the playoffs? That’s the big question mark. And Stone, if his $9.5 million salary is moved to the long term injured reserve, that would open up enough space not just for the Vegas Golden Knights to activate Jack Eichel, but the other big part of the equation that hasn’t been talked about nearly as much is defenseman Alec Martinez, who continues to work his way back from a facial injury that he suffered earlier in the season.”
Sources are telling Seravalli that Martinez is very close. To activate both the Golden Knights will have to clear about $10.95 million. Seravalli continued.
“So instead of moving what teams assumed all along was potentially Reilly Smith or Evgenii Dadonov or maybe even a Jonathan Marchessault, they may not need to go down that path, and then could simply, at the point that Mark Stone gets healthy, if it’s in the playoffs, activate Mark Stone when there is no salary cap.”