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Blue Jackets in no hurry to re-sign Gaborik

MarianGaborik

Marian Gaborik is getting ready to enter the last season of his five-year, $37.5 million contract, but the Blue Jackets aren’t scrambling to lock him up.

“We want to get more familiar with him, get to know him better,” Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen told the Columbus Dispatch. “Sure, we’re thinking about it already, but we’re going to let it go into the season, hope to see him score a lot of goals for us and then talk about getting him extended.”

The Blue Jackets made a big splash by acquiring Gaborik in April, but he’s coming off of a rough season where he scored 12 goals and 27 points in 47 games. The 31-year-old forward’s tenure with the New York Rangers was a mixed bag of impressive highs and frustrating lows.

Now the Columbus Blue Jackets are hoping Gaborik can be an offensive leader on a team that’s fighting to make the playoffs and earn their first postseason win as a franchise. If Gaborik impresses early on and it looks like he’ll be a big help towards that goal, then Kekalainen is likely to offer him a sizable contract extension.

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Jackets ‘not sure’ about making offer to leading scorer Prospal