Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets represent a very interesting trade partner for the Colorado Avalanche. The two teams do like to tango. Plus, they have a couple of players who are rumored to be on their way out — Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Both players have been linked in trade rumors to the Avs.
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get both in a trade for Tyson Barrie?
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Before we examine what that could look like, let’s see about the Jackets’ need for Barrie. They already have some good pieces on defense in Seth Jones, Markus Nutivaara, and Zach Werenski in particular. They’ve got good defensive prospects, too. That’s the point — they love to have a stellar defense.
They’ve got a hold of third in the Metropolitan Division. They’re fine with scoring, being a +7 goals differential. However, they’re #27 in the NHL for power play with a 15.1% conversion rate.
So, I don’t think they’d overpay for Barrie, but they’d be interested.
Would they risk a deep playoff run without Bobrovsky? That’s a tough sell. They may well want one of our goalies, Semyon Varlamov, back in the trade. Now I’m just getting fanciful, right? Well, why not — that’s what this all is.
Both Panarin and Bobrovsky are pending UFAs, so we want some substance back for Barrie and Varlamov. Boone Jenner is having an off year (9 goals, 12 assists), but he’s had 30+ point seasons three times before and came close his rookie year with 29.
Better yet, Pierre-Luc Dubois. The 20-year-old sophomore is at 45 points (18 goals, 27 assists) in 49 games. Hey, yeah, that’s a good player, but we’re also giving you an elite offensive defensemen, which don’t exactly grow on trees. He’s currently got more points than Seth Jones…
Columbus is draft poor this year — just three picks — and missing at least one the following year. I don’t think we’re going to pry any of those away. So, I’d like to see a couple prospects coming back our way — none of them really stand out to me, so let Joe Sakic and Jarmo Kekäläinen hash it out.
So:
Ok, ok. Let’s get more realistic.