Blue Jackets Sunday Gathering: Expect newcomer Charlie Coyle to play a big role

New York Times

17 hours ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Below is a collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Charlie Coyle's last season with the Minnesota Wild was Dean Evason's first season as a Wild assistant coach. Coyle was sent to Boston at the NHL trade deadline that season (2018-19), while Evason was elevated two seasons later to head coach in Minnesota.
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But Coyle made a mark on Evason.
The Blue Jackets were hoping to upgrade their forwards this offseason, and GM Don Waddell took a big step in that direction with a trade on Friday that brought Coyle and Miles Wood from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for prospect winger Gavin Brindley and two draft picks.
Coyle is a right-handed center who will likely anchor the Blue Jackets' third line, making Cole Sillinger a likely candidate to move to the wing. Wood will be a fourth-line regular, tasked with forechecking, finishing checks and playing hard every game.
'We got better,' Evason said. 'Oh, we got better.'
Coyle figures to play a prominent role, both on and off the ice. Evason remembered that much from their time together with the Wild.
'We all know him as a player. We all know what he became in Boston and what he's settled into as a pretty fantastic career,' Evason said. 'What stands out to me is what an incredible human being he is. Just a quality, quality guy who will fit fantastically into our room.
'You combine that with his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), the strength, the fact that he's a right shot, his faceoff ability, the penalty killer he is, his ability as a two-way versatile player … yeah, I'm pretty happy.'
Coyle, 33, has been one of the NHL's most consistent players during his career. This upcoming season in Columbus, he's likely to play his 1,000 game (he's at 950), score his 200th goal (189), get his 300th assist (296) and his 500th point (485).
If you've followed the Blue Jackets since their origin in 2000, you know what a struggle the center ice position has been. But it's never been stronger than today, with Sean Monahan and 20-year-old Adam Fantilli entrenched in the middle of the top two lines.
Both Sillinger and Coyle are strong third-line centers, but, as Evason noted, Boone Jenner, Dmitri Voronkov, Justin Danforth and others can play in the middle, too.
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'Everybody thinks you have to build from the goalie out, and I get that,' Evason said. 'But I would say the center ice position is the hardest to fill, and we've had that since I've been here. We've moved centers to the wall while other teams are trying to find enough centers.
'It's exciting that we have that versatility. If you're asking right now where I have Coyle on the magnet board (in the coaches office), it's in the middle.'
The Blue Jackets were 27th in face-offs last season (47.8 percent), but the long injury absences of Jenner and Monahan led to that struggle. With Coyle joining those two, and with an improving Fantilli, the Blue Jackets should start with the puck more next season.
Coyle should also help them on the penalty kill, which was hot and cold all season, finishing 22nd in the NHL (77 percent).
The Blue Jackets may not be done reshaping their forwards, either.
Waddell has said he wants to acquire a top-six winger, either by trade or free agency. If Toronto's Mitch Marner smiles in Columbus' general direction — and isn't already halfway to Vegas — the Blue Jackets would make a major offer. Winnipeg's Nikolaj Ehlers is expected to hit the market, too.
First, Waddell has to decide what to do with his own unrestricted free-agent forwards, and you can correctly assume that the acquisition of Coyle and Wood will mean some of those UFAs are moving along.
Danforth, James van Riemsdyk, Sean Kuraly, Luke Kunin, Chistian Fischer, and Kevin Labanc are all pending UFAs as of Tuesday.
The Blue Jackets were deep into talks with the New York Islanders for defenseman Noah Dobson, but the price tag — both in what they'd have to give the Islanders and in what they'd have to pay Dobson — was too high to justify, Waddell said.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Anaheim Ducks traded John Gibson to the Detroit Red Wings, taking perhaps the top available goaltender off the trade market. A team source told The Athletic that the Blue Jackets were not involved in the trade discussions for Gibson.
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So where do the Blue Jackets turn now for upgrades? And, perhaps just as important, what do the next 48 hours hold for Waddell's plans to push the franchise further out of its rebuilding process.
First to the defense …
The Blue Jackets may now have to press hard to sign pending unrestricted free agents Ivan Provorov and/or Dante Fabbro, who may have picked up some leverage as the draft has now passed and the clock ticks closer to the start of free agency on Tuesday.
Unless Waddell can swing a trade — is Calgary's Rasmus Andersson the best option? — or knows he can land a right-side, top-four defender via free agency, Provorov and/or Fabbro may be the Blue Jackets' best bet. Fabbro worked well with Zach Werenski and Provorov, playing his off side, looked good at times next to rookie Denton Mateychuk.
Now to goaltending …
The Blue Jackets said goodbye to Daniil Tarasov last week, trading him to the Florida Panthers for a fifth-round draft pick. But what about Elvis Merzlikins?
Waddell has said all along that Merzlikins could return next season, and the free-agent market for goaltenders doesn't provide a lot of options. Jake Allen will likely be the most sought-after target, while others like Vitek Vanecek, Ilya Samsonov, and Alex Lyon are available.
The buyout window closes Monday, so if the Blue Jackets have plans to buy out the final two years on Merzlikins' contract, they'd have to be certain that they could land a replacement for Merzlikins via trade or via free agency.
The NHL's attempt at a decentralized draft this weekend — while well intended — turned out to be the best argument for going back to the typical format, where the entire league, draft-eligible players, fans and media take over one host city.
The awkward interviews between club executives and drafted players; the lack of easy, organic conversations among GMs, which often spurs trades; the slow pace of the proceedings, especially during the second and third rounds on Saturday.
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The only person who seemed to like it is Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, who acknowledged such in an interview with NHL Network. Otherwise, it seemed overwhelmingly true that most favor a return to the annual convention-style format.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is always an easy target, but you can't blame him on this one. He responded to what his member clubs requested, and the vote was 26-6 two years ago when this decision was made.
NHL clubs were bothered by the tight turn-around from the end of the draft to the start of free agency, especially when travel woes two years ago getting out of Nashville severely hampered a few clubs' post-draft preparation and set-up back in their home offices.
Waddell was one of the 26 'yes' votes, he said. But he'd vote differently now, he said.
'I'm not embarrassed about how I voted,' Waddell said. 'Last year we were in Vegas on a Saturday for the draft and free agency started on a Monday. The preparation for free agency was a little tight. A year before, we were in Nashville … and everybody was scrambling to get home a day before free agency. That's when it was on everybody's mind.
'I voted to decentralize. I was one of the 26 people. As we got to the GM meetings this year, in March, the next conversation we had … it would have been almost completely the opposite. We looked at the calendar, too, and next year the draft is on the 26th and 27th of June. So you can travel back and still have 3-4 days to get ready.'
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