COLUMBUS, Ohio — The hits just keep coming for the Blue Jackets.
After losing a plethora of star players to free agency and forced trades over the past two seasons, the Blue Jackets had hoped to stem the tide this summer by signing defenseman Seth Jones to a long-term contract extension.
But Jones has reportedly informed the Blue Jackets that he plans to pursue unrestricted free agency when he hits the market in 2022. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday that Jones has told the Blue Jackets “that he will not be re-signing.”
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Jones’ agent, Pat Brisson, declined to comment on what he called “private conversations” between Jones’ camp and the Blue Jackets. Jones did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen has denied multiple times within the past two weeks that he had any indication of Jones’ plans, but there were reports from within the club this week that bad news had been delivered.
This is a devastating blow for the organization.
The Blue Jackets were prepared to offer Jones, 26, what would have been almost certainly the largest contract in franchise history, and they likely would have named him the club’s next captain if he’d signed long term.
But none of it, apparently, was enough to convince the perennial Norris Trophy candidate to spend his prime years in Columbus.
Not only does it continue a slow march of talent away from the Blue Jackets organization — Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, Josh Anderson, Pierre-Luc Dubois, et al. have all left since the end of the 2019 playoffs — but it raises the worrying question of what further fallout this could create?
Do the Blue Jackets move to trade Jones this summer?
Kekalainen indicated to The Athletic earlier this month that he planned to keep Jones into next season — even without an extension in place — in the hope that Jones would somehow change his mind.
But much has changed with the Blue Jackets since Kekalainen made those comments.
John Davidson, who was fired by the New York Rangers late this season, was rehired by the Blue Jackets as the president of hockey operations, the same position he held with the Jackets from 2012 to 2019.
Davidson was here in 2019 when the Blue Jackets held on to Panarin and Bobrovsky in the final year of their contracts, but it was justified by the Blue Jackets’ “going for it” at the NHL trade deadline for the first time in franchise history.
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The Jackets swept Tampa Bay in the first round — the first playoff series win in franchise history — but Panarin and Bobrovsky left the following summer as unrestricted free agents, signing with the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers, respectively.
Davidson seemed to signal a slightly different approach in a conversation with The Athletic last weekend.
“When you deal with situations like this, they are what they are,” Davidson said. “No matter which way it goes, you have to respect the player’s wishes, what they want. If they stay, they stay. If they don’t, they go, and we try to do the best we can with what the (trade) return’s going to be … if that’s what it comes to.”
The Blue Jackets would likely get a major trade return for Jones, but his desire to be traded might also quash Kekalainen’s vow to “reload” and be a competitive club again in 2021-22. It could lead to an organizational overhaul, an old-school “rebuilding,” especially if Jones’ decision has aftershocks.
Does defenseman Zach Werenski, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer, want to stick around without his playing partner? Werenski signing a long-term deal into his UFA years was seen as uncertain even before this news.
Does a veteran player like Cam Atkinson, who turns 32 next month, want to remain in Columbus through a lengthy rebuild?
The Blue Jackets were already facing a daunting summer, with several momentous decisions to be made. Kekalainen has said that hiring a coach to replace John Tortorella was the No. 1 priority, but Jones’ decision has weighed on the minds of fans for many months now.
And it appears this summer — lifted earlier this month by the news of Davidson’s return — has now taken a horrible turn.
“It’s a situation (unrestricted free agency) you only get once in your lifetime,” Jones said during exit interviews with the media after the season. “Yeah, there’s a lot of pressure, and people are looking at you from all over, but I really have to take a step back and think about what I want.”
(Photo: Ben Jackson / NHLI via Getty Images)
