Jarmo Kekalainen’s quest to replace all that he has lost has begun with the signing of Gustav Nyquist.
Nyquist has inked a four-year, $22 million deal with an annual average value of $5.5 million.
Nyquist is the first move in what will likely be many for Kekalainen as he looks to restock the cupboards after
Kekalainen has his work cut out for him this summer.
With Artemi Panarin heading to the New York Rangers, Sergei Bobrovsky jumping ship to the Florida Panthers and Matt Duchene off to the Predators, the Blue Jackets have lost their top center, top scorer and top goalie.
The list of lost assets is quite lengthy, actually:
If you're scoring at home, here is what #CBJ has lost assets wise.
— Mark Scheig (@markscheig) July 1, 2019
Artemi Panarin (pending)
Sergei Bobrovsky
Matt Duchene
Ryan Dzingel
Adam McQuaid
Keith Kincaid
Vitaly Abramov
Jonathan Davidsson
Anthony Duclair
2019 First Rounder
2019 4th/7th
2020 2nd
2021 2nd
Much work has to be done in Columbus.
[ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker]
Not to be lost in this is the fact that the San Jose Sharks have lost a good chunk of their forward contingent, as well.
Joe Pavelski is off to Dallas and Joonas Donskoi is heading to the Colorado Avalanche, moves the Sharks could do little about after giving Erik Karlsson a king’s ransom and signing Timo Meier (to what actually seems to be a very good deal).
—
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck.