The Columbus Blue Jackets have made their first trade of the 2023-24 season. No, it’s not a blockbuster that we might have expected shipping out a goalie or a defenseman, as had been rumored in recent weeks. It was longtime bottom-six grinder Eric Robinson who was a casualty of circumstance and traded to the Buffalo Sabres in return for a conditional seventh-round pick.
It shouldn’t be too surprising since Robinson is in the final year of his contract and was put on waivers to be demoted to the American Hockey League (AHL) earlier this season. The 28-year-old has found his ceiling as an elite NHL-level skater, with AHL hands and finishing ability, and an above-average work ethic that could make him invaluable in the right role with the right organization.
Robinson always struck me as the kind of guy who could really make a difference as a penalty-killing fourth-line winger on a deep, championship-contending team. However, those are the kinds of players that are sought after at the trade deadline by a team with an existing championship-contending core to bring their roster from good to great. It’s not normal for a team to start with players like Robinson and then add the contending core afterwards, as the Blue Jackets would be doing in keeping him, so this decision makes a lot of sense for the team and the player.
The logic behind the decision doesn’t make it any easier to move on from the organization’s third-longest tenured player, but it is the first of many necessary difficult decisions that the team needs to make as they hope to blossom from lowly caterpillar to majestic butterfly.
This Blue Jackets’ Core is Not Cutting It
Something I had written about in a recent ‘game takeaways’ piece was just how long the Blue Jackets have been dealing with monumental collapses. I looked back at their New Year’s Day game from 2022 when they held a four-goal lead over the Carolina Hurricanes and then allowed seven consecutive goals to lose catastrophically. I then compared it to their Dec. 5, 2023, loss to the Los Angeles Kings in which they blew a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 in overtime.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Blue Jackets’ 4-3 Loss to the Kings
There were a lot of similarities in those two games, including ten roster players who laced up their skates for Columbus in each of those losses. Ten players all with two more years of growth under a different coaching staff and so little has changed. Maybe it’s time to consider if these players are going to be able to cut it as a group in the world’s best hockey league.
I’m not saying all ten of those players should be immediately traded or that the Blue Jackets’ management should go nuclear with their roster. However, it does seem that they could remove some roadblocks for the up-and-coming younger players in their lineup or ship out one or two current roster players for other players that bring something new to the lineup.
In this situation, I’m reminded of the 2019 NBA championship-winning Toronto Raptors who tried and tried with a core led by perennial All-Stars Demar Derozan and Kyle Lowry. They took a hard look in the mirror and realized that their core simply didn’t have what it took to win a championship. So they traded a package that included their star Derozan to get the more elite Kawhi Leonard. Leonard put the Raptors over the top and was invaluable in a run to the championship in his only season in Toronto.
Hockey is a much different sport than basketball and the Blue Jackets are not the Raptors of that time, but the Leonard trade goes to show that sometimes the movement of one or two players can create a drastic result on a team as a whole. This Blue Jackets’ core has tried changing coaches and adding players to their lineup, now it’s time to consider addition by subtraction or substitution.
Which Blue Jacket Could Be Moved Next?
If the Blue Jackets are looking to trim the fat on their roster, as the Robinson trade may suggest, the next logical step is looking at the logjam on their blue line. I have a feeling that the call-up of Nick Blankenburg may put some pressure on the decision to trade one or two of Jake Bean, Andrew Peeke, or Adam Boqvist.
Aside from that, there are a couple of forwards with expiring contracts who could also be on the block. Jack Roslovic and Emil Bemstrom have always been lauded as having the potential to be difference-makers at the NHL level. While we have seen flashes of it from both of them, to different levels, each of them would probably benefit from a fresh start in a new organization.
There are a few options for the type of move made. Blue Jackets’ management could target picks and/or prospects in return for those assets continuing to look to the future. Or they could acquire futures, and then look to move those assets for another roster player who helps to bring something to their roster that they don’t already have on it. Be it championship experience, a top-six center, or someone who brings a different style of play than they already possess. It’s something that the Vancouver Canucks have performed a masterclass on in the past couple of seasons, in two-part trades to acquire Filip Hronek in exchange for Bo Horvat and Nikita Zadorov indirectly for Anthony Beauvillier.
There are a lot of options ahead for the Blue Jackets and more will become available as the trade deadline approaches. As long as Columbus has worked out a list of untouchable players for their five-year plan, they should consider rejigging their lineup surrounding those players and enabling them to succeed in any way they can. There may be a few hard decisions ahead, like the one to move on from Robinson, but they will be necessary as they continue to strive for playoff contention.