There will be no compliance buyouts coming to anyone on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Jarmo Kekalainen, the Blue Jackets general manager who was hired for the job in February, confirmed that to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.
#CBJ GM Jarmo Kekalainen confirms there will be no contract buyouts.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 21, 2013
The Blue Jackets are coming off a decent 2012-2013 regular season, in which they fought from the bottom of the Western Conference standings to within one point of earning a post-season berth for the second time in franchise history.
Kekalainen’s main concern, however, is re-signing goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who took home the Vezina Trophy as the league’s stop puck stopper.
Bobrovsky is being pursued by the KHL, and is a restricted free agent this summer. He is at the end of a three-year, $2.7 million entry level contract with the Blue Jackets.
“We’ll look at all the different options — short-term, long-term, arbitration … who knows?,” said Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson earlier this month.
“We think we’ll get him signed.”