Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips June 1-5, 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Forward Lukas Sedlak leaving Blue Jackets for two-year deal with KHL team PAGE 04: The Athletic: Lukas Sedlak leaves Blue Jackets to sign two-year deal in KHL PAGE 05: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets add Veini Vehvilainen as goalie option Cleveland Monsters/Prospects NHL/Websites PAGE 06: The Athletic: Dylan Cozens has the potential to be a top player forward in the NHL PAGE 09: Sportsnet.ca: NHL Scouting Combine primer: What will players go through in 2019? PAGE 13: Sportsnet.ca: Does Kaapo Kakko missing draft combine impact battle for first overall? PAGE 16: Sportsnet.ca: Coach’s Corner: Patrice Bergeron is ‘MVP’ of the Stanley Cup Playoffs PAGE 17: The Athletic: How prospects prepare for the NHL Draft Combine and what it’s like to take the dreaded VO2 Max test PAGE 21: The Athletic: Why Matthew Boldy could be a top-line forward in the NHL PAGE 24: The Athletic: Explaining the unexplainable behind Alex Turcotte, the 2019 NHL draft’s ‘somehow under the radar’ top prospect PAGE 29: Sportsnet.ca: Mooseheads’ Raphael Lavoie one of the NHL Draft’s ‘best prospects’ PAGE 31: The Athletic: What to expect by drafting defenseman Philip Broberg PAGE 34: The Athletic: Down Goes Brown: Want the NHL to just call the rulebook exactly as written? Be careful what you wish for PAGE 40: USA Today: Five helpful hints for would-be NHL traders during the Stanley Cup Final 1 Forward Lukas Sedlak leaving Blue Jackets for two-year deal with KHL team By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – May 31, 2019 He’s watched enough hockey. Now, it’s time for Lukas Sedlak to play it more often — which the 26-year-old forward hopes to do after signing a two-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League on Friday. “I started thinking about it after the season,” said Sedlak, who played the past three seasons with the Blue Jackets. “I talked to my agent (J.P. Barry of CAA Hockey). We kind of sat down and tried to explore all the options, because obviously the situation wasn’t great with the ice time (in Columbus) and stuff like that.” After playing 43 of the Blue Jackets’ first 59 games, Sedlak logged just four more the rest of the season. An influx of talent acquired before the Feb. 25 trade deadline, including forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, created a logjam. Sedlak, who missed the end of last season with a concussion, had to watch again as the Blue Jackets finished their season in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He kept his focus on the season until the Jackets lost to the Boston Bruins in the second round. A meeting with with Barry then set the wheels in motion for his move to a new league. “I said, ‘Hey, I just want to play and I don’t care that much what league or whatever,’ ” Sedlak said. “I want to play. I want to help a team on the ice. I don’t want to spend another playoffs in the stands, so we sat down and it’s come to this.” The opportunity to play more was the primary reason, along with a better earning potential in the KHL as a player with NHL experience. In the NHL, Sedlak is still considered a pending restricted free agent, one of eight RFAs who finished the season on the Jackets’ NHL roster and one of 13 in the organization. Other RFAs include defensemen Zach Werenski, Ryan Murray, Scott Harrington and Adam Clendening, goalie Joonas Korpisalo plus Hannikainen and left wing Eric Robinson. If the Blue Jackets want to retain any of their signing rights, including Sedlak’s, they must tender qualifying offers to each before July 1, the first day of free agency. Rather than waiting to see if the Jackets would tender a qualifying offer, which would be for $892,500, Sedlak chose a new path. Sedlak was drafted by Columbus in the sixth round of the 2011 draft and made his NHL debut in 2016-17 with seven goals and 13 points in 61 games. He also played two playoff games with the Blue Jackets that season, which turned out to be his only postseason action — after helping the Lake Erie/Cleveland Monsters win the 2016 Calder Cup in the American Hockey League. “It was hard, especially toward the end (this season),” Sedlak said. “We had lots of forwards, so that was really hard mentally (not playing). That was probably the toughest two months of my career so far.” It was also difficult making the leap to the KHL from the Blue Jackets, where he was one close with a number of teammates. 2 “It was my dream to play in the NHL, so I’ve been really fortunate I could play for three years,” Sedlak said. “It’s going to be remembered, always, as a good time in my mind. Hopefully one day, when I retire, I’m going to look back and when I remember all the memories of the guys, it’s going to be great because we had such a special group of guys.” 3 Lukas Sedlak leaves Blue Jackets to sign two-year deal in KHL By Aaron Portzline, The Athletic – June 1, 2019 COLUMBUS, Ohio — His isn’t the biggest name on the roster, but add center Lukas Sedlak to the list of Blue Jackets players who won’t be back with the club next season. Sedlak has signed a two-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk in Russia’s KHL, ending a six-year run of play in North America — the first three with the Blue Jackets’ minor-league clubs and the last three in the NHL. News of the deal was first reported by the KHL club on its website. Sedlak’s agent, J.P. Barry, confirmed the signing to The Athletic on Friday. Sedlak was set to become a restricted free agent July 1, but he would almost certainly have been extended a qualifying offer allowing the Jackets to keep his rights. Based on his $850,000 salary in 2018- 19, his qualifying offer would have been $892,500, a 5 percent raise. Still, a roster spot with the Blue Jackets was far from a sure thing. Sedlak, a fourth-line forward, dressed in only 47 games with the Blue Jackets in 2018-19 — the fewest he’s played in three seasons in Columbus — and he was a healthy scratch in all 10 Stanley Cup playoff games. The Blue Jackets could easily lose forwards Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel via unrestricted free agency beginning July 1, but there is a swell of prospect forwards ready to push for playing time in 2019-20. Sedlak could easily have been the odd man out next season, depending on how the fourth line was structured. Sedlak, 26, totaled 15-12-27 and 56 penalty minutes in 162 games with the Blue Jackets. He played a significant role in the AHL Cleveland’s Calder Cup win in 2016, totaling 9-7-16 in 17 playoff games. With Sedlak out of the picture, the Blue Jackets now have 12 restricted free agents, some of whom project to play for AHL Cleveland: forwards Eric Robinson, Markus Hannikainen, Sonny Milano, Sam Vigneault, Ryan MacInnis and Justin Scott, defensemen Zach Werenski, Ryan Murray, Scott Harrington, Adam Clendening and Doyle Somerby, and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. There are also eight unrestricted free agents: forwards Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Mark Letestu, defenseman Adam McQuaid, and goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky, Keith Kinkaid and Jean- Francois Berube. 4 Blue Jackets add Veini Vehvilainen as goalie option By Brian Hedger, The Columbus Dispatch – June 5, 2019 Add another name to the list of goalie prospects looking to play for the Blue Jackets next season. After signing a two-year entry-level contract Tuesday, Finnish rookie Veini Vehvilainen, 22, became the latest to join a stable of internal options looking to potentially replace Sergei Bobrovsky, who is expected to find a new team via unrestricted free agency. Signing a veteran in free agency is an option, but the Jackets’ management seems content to give its own goalies a serious look. That group includes Vehvilainen, who was drafted by the Jackets last year (sixth round, 173rd overall). He’s undersized by modern goalie standards, listed at 6 feet 1 and 183 pounds, but Vehvilainen has dominated Finland’s top professional league the past two seasons. After leading Karpat to a championship in 2018, he nearly pulled off a repeat performance this season. Over the past two seasons, Vehvilainen has posted a combined 40-13-13 record with a 1.72 goals- against average, .929 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 73 regular-season games. He had a 22-10 record in the playoffs with a 1.52 GAA and .936 save percentage. In September, Vehvilainen will join Elvis Merzlikins, Joonas Korpisalo, Daniil Tarasov, Matiss Kivlenieks plus any veterans the Blue Jackets might add in free agency. Merzlikins and Korpisalo are 25 and will likely lead the race going into camp. Tarasov, 20, could be ticketed for the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League or head back for another year in Russia, where he dominated for Toros Neftekamsk in Russia’s second-highest level. Korpisalo has played four seasons with the Blue Jackets, including the past three as Bobrovsky’s backup, and has the most NHL experience of the bunch. He needs a new contract, though, as a pending restricted free agent.