Columbus Blue Jackets may hang onto free agents past trade deadline

Don’t expect the Blue Jackets to go shopping for big-ticket rentals before the NHL’s trade deadline passes at 3 p.m. ET on March 6. Not in the traditional sense, anyway.

“The way I look at it right now, our UFAs are kind of like our rental players, unless something pops here in the next little bit,” Blue Jackets president/general manager Don Waddell said. “One phone call can change that a little bit, but to trade a guy right now for a second-round pick … we’ve got [eight] picks in this draft. We don’t need any more picks. It’s more important that we win games.”

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The Blue Jackets have six pending unrestricted free agents, including captain Boone Jenner. They also have loads of space beneath an NHL salary cap ceiling expected to jump from $95.5 million to $104 million in 2026-27.

That should leave plenty of room to re-sign any of the Jackets’ preferred UFAs while also reaching agreements with three key restricted free agents: center Adam Fantilli, forward Cole Sillinger and goalie Jet Greaves.

Topping the UFA list are Jenner, center Charlie Coyle, forward Mason Marchment and defenseman Erik Gudbranson. All four are 30 years old or older, and the Jackets also have veteran depth players like forward Danton Heinen and injured defenseman Brendan Smith as pending UFAs.

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Coming out of the NHL’s three-week pause for the 2026 Winter Olympics, the Jackets trail the New York Islanders by four points for third in the Metropolitan Division, a guaranteed playoff spot. Columbus trails the Boston Bruins by four points for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, another playoff ticket.

They also play those two teams right off the hop, starting with the Bruins on Feb. 26 at TD Garden in Boston before hosting the Islanders on Feb. 28 at Nationwide Arena. Those games, plus the three others before the trade deadline (March 2 at the New York Rangers, March 3 against the Nashville Predators and March 5 against the Florida Panthers), could determine what Waddell ultimately does.

Dropping all five and quickly dropping out of playoff contention could prompt a UFA sell-off to acquire picks and/or prospects with the future in mind. Staying in the playoff chase will likely keep the Jackets intact with the possibility of Waddell “working around the edges,” to add low-cost UFA depth rentals.

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That would mirror last season’s trade deadline in Columbus, when Waddell hung onto his pending UFAs while adding depth forwards Luke Kunin and Christian Fischer.

“If somebody says, ‘I’m going to give you ‘Player X or Y’ for this guy, and it’s somebody that’s going to help us, who we can control and helps us down the road, you’d have to look at it,” Waddell said. “There’s not too many of those out there, though, and with the high-end UFAs, we already have a bunch of them. So, I’m not going to pay a price (to add more).”

Expect to see a patient, almost quiet, approach to the deadline for the second straight year. Waddell said he’s contacted agents who represent the Blue Jackets’ UFAs and spoken to a couple of players over the break to gauge their interest in re-signing.

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Now comes the waiting period for the deadline to pass.

“We showed (patience) last year, when we went to the deadline and kept our guys,” Waddell said. “We ended up signing the guys we wanted to keep at the end of the year, so the March 6 trade deadline is not a deadline to keep your players or lose your players. Just because you keep them and they’re still UFAs doesn’t mean they’re all going to walk at the end of the year.”

Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at [email protected] and @BrianHedger.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets may hang onto free agents past trade deadline