Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips February 26, 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02 The Columbus Dispatch: Trade-deadline wrapup: Blue Jackets in tough spot, must look to draft PAGE 04 The Columbus Dispatch: Early returns with Blue Jackets look promising for Stefan Matteau PAGE 06 The Columbus Dispatch: Wild 5, Blue Jackets 4 | The 3-2-1 breakdown Cleveland Monsters/Prospects NHL/Websites PAGE 10 Sportsnet.ca: Bill Daly: 'There's no easy fixes' for emergency backup situation PAGE 11 Sportsnet.ca: 31 Thoughts: Could Joe Thornton's next destination be Toronto? 1 The Columbus Dispatch: Trade-deadline wrapup: Blue Jackets in tough spot, must look to draft By Michael Arace – February 26, 2020 The NHL trade deadline went through Columbus like a gentle zephyr Monday. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, pressed with the weight of deadlines past, felt he could ill afford to make another sacrifice to substantially boost his roster. He largely stayed pat. Last year, Columbus was the tornadic center of deadline day. Kekalainen went “all in” on rentals and used picks and prospects to get center Matt Duchene, defenseman Adam McQuaid, left wing Ryan Dzingel and third-string goaltender Keith Kinkaid. Kekalainen took his shot. The Jackets swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs and pushed the Boston Bruins to six games. Then, six unrestricted free agents, including Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, exited Nationwide Arena. They just visit now. Kekalainen said he could afford to lose the prospects he gave up at the 2019 deadline. Why? Because he had Alexandre Texier, Emil Bemstrom and Liam Foudy, among others, in the pipeline. It’s not a terrible defense. This year, barely a breeze emanated from Columbus on deadline day. Kekalainen gave up on the Sonny Milano experiment and traded the former first-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for a bottom-six forward, Devin Shore. He also sent forward Markus Hannikainen, who has been playing in AHL Cleveland, to Arizona for a conditional seventh-round draft pick. Offensive help in the form of a top-six forward ― a center, if you dared to dream ― would have sent an electric charge through the fan base, not to mention the locker room. It was not to be. In the final assessment, Kekalainen said, “We did our best, and that's one thing that we always know, if we do our best we can look in the mirror and say that's all we could get accomplished and I'm fine with that. “I can assure you, though, that was our best effort to do whatever we could today that would make sense, not only in the short term, but for the long term as well. So, yeah, we're not happy with the injuries that we have, but that's something that's out of our control.” The Jackets lead the league with more than 370 man-games lost to injury ― which made finding significant offensive help nigh impossible. With three defensemen on the shelf, now was not the time to reach into the team’s deepest pool of positional talent to make a trade. Doing something for, say, J-G Pageau, then, was fantasy. What’s injured forward Josh Anderson’s value on the open market right now? Not much, apparently. What is more, Kekalainen could not afford to surrender any more draft picks to facilitate a substantial deadline-day deal. 2 Since 2018, he has given up one first-round pick, two second-round picks, a third-rounder, two fourths, a fifth and a sixth to swing deals at the deadline. This doesn’t even count the first-rounder he gave up (with William Karlsson) to the Vegas Golden Knights, to protect Anderson, Jack Johnson and Joonas Korpisalo in the 2017 expansion draft. Draft picks are commodities. They are annual replenishment to revolving rosters and losing them stunts growth. Think sixth- and seventh-rounders are throwaways? Vladislav Gavrikov was a sixth-round pick and Markus Nutivaara a seventh-rounder. Last year’s Dzingel rental was paid for with Anthony Duclair, who is having a terrific season for Ottawa, and two second-round picks. One or two of those second-round picks would have come in handy if the Jackets had their eyes on, say, Andreas Athanasiou (as was rumored) at the deadline. But Kekalainen didn’t have the picks to spare. Would the Jackets like to have that Dzingel deal back? Absolutely. Such are the risks on deadline day. Kekalainen had to play it safe this year. The Jackets have neither a second- nor a third-round pick in next draft. Still, that’s where the action is going to be ― at the dra the last weekend in June. Kekalainen has a cache of young assets and a ton of cap space. Hopefully, he’ll have a plan. He usually does. 3 The Columbus Dispatch: Early returns with Blue Jackets look promising for Stefan Matteau By Brian Hedger – February 26, 2020 Eight years is a long time for a hockey player. In a sport that moves rapidly ― within games and seasons ― a lot can happen in eight years. And a lot has happened with Stefan Matteau since the New Jersey Devils drafted him 29th overall eight years ago. For one thing, he doesn’t hear nearly as many “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” references as he used to with the Devils, the team that his father, Stephane, famously defeated with a Game 7 double-overtime goal for the New York Rangers in the 1994 Eastern Conference final. “I heard a lot of it there, but it’s kind of settled down,” said Matteau, who’s now a Blue Jackets forward on his fourth NHL team in a career that includes 361 games and 146 points (69 goals) in the American Hockey League. “It’s so cool what he did and the run they had. It’s obviously a huge part of Rangers history, so it’s pretty sweet.” It’s also part of Stefan’s history, since he was barely 3 months old when his dad finally got that puck past Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, a hall of famer. “It wasn’t special (as a kid),” said Matteau, 26. “It was just my father and he's just in the house and that was my dad, but turning pro ... that gave me so much more appreciation for it.” That’s because of his own hockey career, which can be described as turbulent. Mateau has been at it eight years, mostly slugging away in the AHL while developing in increments. He said he feels like he’s ready to carve out a role in the NHL. “The last couple years, my mental game has gotten a lot better and my consistency has gotten a lot better,” said Matteau, who has gotten brief stints with the Devils, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights and now Columbus. “I’m obviously older now, and I’ve never felt more ready than I am now. So it’s all working out. I’ve just got to keep doing everything I can to stick.” He’s certainly off to a good start. After signing a two-year, two-way NHL/AHL deal with the Blue Jackets last week, Matteau has two goals, one assist and three points in his first four games. He has good size at 6 feet 2, 208 pounds, and is a versatile winger capable of playing center in a pinch. It took a slew of Blue Jackets injuries for Matteau to get this chance, after signing an AHL-only contract with the Cleveland Monsters last summer, but “Matteau, Matteau, Matteau!” has made it to Columbus. “There was not too much going on in the summer, and I didn’t have any contracts,” said Matteau, who led the Monsters with 12 goals and added 16 assists for 28 points. “The (AHL) deal with the NHL 4 opportunity showed up and we thought it was a good idea and a good fit. So I was betting on myself, big time, this year. I was just looking for any opportunity and just stayed focused.” The bet has paid off, thus far. He’s back in the NHL, at least for the time being, and couldn’t be more motivated to stay this time. “I came (into the NHL) early, and looking back I don’t think I was ready or even deserved it at that point,” said Matteau, who made his NHL debut in 2012-13 at age 18 with the Devils. “I hadn’t really proven anything. And then, once you’re out (of the league), you’re kind of ‘out,’ right? It’s hard to crawl back in.” Getting back to the top made that crawl worth it. Now, it’s up to Matteau to stay. Solid debut Devin Shore made his Blue Jackets debut Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center, skating at center of the third line in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Shore met the team in Minnesota and suited up a day after being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Sonny Milano. He played 12:23, was credited with two hits and assisted on Emil Bemstrom’s goal 1:55 into the third period. That assist wasn’t credited until Wednesday, but it counts just the same. 5 The Columbus Dispatch: Wild 5, Blue Jackets 4 | The 3-2-1 breakdown By Brian Hedger – February 26, 2020 ST. PAUL, Minn. – They had a number of excuses at their fingertips. Dinged up? The Blue Jackets are actually beyond dinged up, going into their 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center with 10 lineup regulars out, most for months or weeks.