We are approaching August, which is typically the quiet part of the NHL schedule. The Blue Jackets, however, simply can’t be normal. There are still several storylines to follow, in this new open thread:
Waiting on Adamo
The Jackets were able to avoid arbitration with Jet Greaves (3 years x $5M AAV) and Cole Sillinger (3 years x $4.625M AAV) and that leaves Adam Fantilli as the last unsigned restricted free agent. Unfortunately for Don Waddell, the market price for a young center has skyrocketed. Typically teams could get a discount on RFA players, as they have less leverage. But now the offer sheet (or the threat thereof) has become more common and the leverage has tilted in favor of these young players.
Philadelphia started this with an offer sheet of $18M AAV (5 years) to Leo Carlsson, which was matched by Anaheim. Chicago acted quickly to get Connor Bedard signed for 5 x $15M AAV. San Jose got business done with Macklin Celebrini a year early by locking him in for 5 x $18.8M, which kicks in next season (for what it’s worth, Celebrini and Fantilli are both represented by Pat Brisson).
Fantilli is not necessarily at the level of a Celebrini or Bedard, but his production has been similar to Carlsson. As a result, he can push for an AAV of at least $12M. Then the question becomes, does the player or the team prefer a short or long term deal?
Also tricky for the Jackets is that there is only $14M of cap space remaining for this season. Waddell certainly envisioned having a little more wiggle room for in-season trades, but now Fantilli can fairly ask for nearly that entire $14M. And what about next season? Because…
Marchenko With Us?
While the Jackets apparently patched things up with Zach Werenski, the Kirill Marchenko trade request still looms. Or, at least, the reporting that he will not re-sign here when his contract expires next summer. Waddell has said Marchenko will be a Jacket this season, and reports have been consistent that teams have asked about Marchenko (even before the public request) and were turned down. It’s not surprising that teams want this player, and also not surprising that the Jackets would prefer to keep him and build around him.
With this new market, however, Marchenko could also ask for a similar cap hit to Fantilli. Next year the cap is going up about $10M and the $5M Elvis Merzlikins cap hit comes off the books. But if Marchenko gets most of that, how do you resign at least two of Denton Mateychuk, Kent Johnson, and Dmitri Voronkov? And how do you add additional pieces to make the team better?
Some of the depth contracts on this team are looking worse now. It limits Waddell’s flexibility, so he’ll have to get creative.
Penny Wise and Pound Foolish
Effects of this spending spree are being felt in other departments of the club. With the collapse of the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network, the CBJ TV broadcasts are going in-house this year, with the NHL taking over production. Carolina, Minnesota, and St. Louis find themselves in the same situation. Without a network paying the club for the rights, that means less direct revenue from that side of things; just whatever ads they are during the games.
That part wasn’t unexpected news, but what was unexpected was the news that the TV broadcast will be simulcast on the radio, and longtime radio voice Bob McElligott’s contract was allowed to expire. Again, I understand the economics of the situation. The McConnell family, to their credit, have always been willing to spend to the cap for a good team. Even with a rising cap, this still seems to be the case. They’re passive, yes, but nothing in their history suggested they were cheap. This changes that.
I know radio broadcasts almost certainly don’t bring in much audience anymore (if they ever did for a hockey team that started in 2000). Bobby Mac meant so much more to this club and this city, however. He hosted the Inside Edge weekly radio show on 97.1. He recorded a mailbag podcast where he took questions from listeners and social media followers. Even if you approached him somewhere out in public, he would always take the time for a fan. Over the last 17 years, can you name a bigger advocate for this team?
This feels like a slap in the face of the Fifth Line, many of whom can credit Bobby Mac, in part, for their fandom. I think the presentation of the NHL-produced TV broadcasts will be better than it was under FanDuel Sports, but overall the fans will be getting much less content from the team broadcasters. That’s a big loss.