Analyst: Blue Jackets Have 3 Options On How To Spend $25M in Cap Space

The Columbus Blue Jackets have $24.8 million in salary cap space heading into the season, meaning that GM Don Waddell will be "making news" in the coming weeks, as noted by Sportsnet's Luke Fox.

Fox suggests there are three main roads that Waddell can travel in order to spend that money.

1. Trade for an impact forward.

This is something that the Blue Jackets have been rumored to be considering, particularly due to the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau.

2. Hit the waiver wire with a vengeance.

Teams around the league will be forced to get themselves cap-compliant before the season begins in just over two weeks. There are bound to be some potentially hidden jewels in the heap of names that will find their way to the wire by teams needing to rid themselves of some salary.

3. Take on a bad contract for a price in prospects.

Waddell can utilize all that cap space to take on a bad contract from a rival team, in return for being able to secure some nice prospect/draft pick capital. Similarly, says Fox, the Blue Jackets can act as "as a third-party broker" at the trade deadline, eating some of those bad contracts in return for young assets.

“We’re going to keep an open mind to it,” Waddell said this past week. “Because of the salary cap and where we’re at, we have room. If a player becomes available and it has a higher salary, we don’t have an issue with that, either, as long as it’s a player who fits how Dean wants the guys to play. We’re pretty open-minded about it.”

It will be an intriguing season to watch for Columbus, sadly brought on by the death of Johnny Hockey.

Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said that Johnny Gaudreau’s locker stall will be left intact and his jersey will be placed there for each game ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fEh9Mzzli2
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 18, 2024