Michael Arace of the Dispatch: Artemi Panarin when asked about his process of deciding on whether he wants to stay or leave via free agency.
“I feel empty right now. I can’t think about that.”
Sergei Bobrovsky when asked about his pending free agent status.
“I want to have a good rest right now, settle all the things down and then sit at the table and weigh all opportunities, all the offers, all of the things. Talk to my people and decide. Because it’s a big decision for me, a lifetime decision. I don’t want to rush through things. I want to be smart.”
Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen was asked about how he’d try to convince his free agents to stay.
“I don’t know how you can convince. We have a good team in a great city, we have great ownership. … That should convince anybody to want to stay. I mean, we have a winning team and I think we can really build on something here and if that’s not enough then I don’t know what is.
“It’s never been about money. … We’re going to have that type of player on our team, that want to be here, that want to be Blue Jackets and are proud to be in Columbus.”
Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: The Columbus Blue Jackets would be okay with having to give up next year’s first-round draft pick if they are able to re-sign forward Matt Duchene to a long-term deal.
The Blue Jackets gave up a ton of future assets to take a run at this year.
They need to figure out their future assuming that Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin will walk in free agency. They will gain a lot salary cap space if they lose most of their free agents, but it will be hard to replace those players.
