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The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to battle for their playoff lives in the Eastern Conference — and that has made a potential decision on the future of pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Ivan Provorov even more difficult.
While the Russian was considered a top trade chip coming into the 2024-25 season, that's no longer the case considering how well the team has performed.
The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun provided an update on the situation on Wednesday, with just nine days to go until the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.
“These next few games before the deadline are massive for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they decide what to do with top-four blueliner Ivan Provorov, the 28-year-old pending UFA who is second on the team in ice time at more than 23 minutes a night,” wrote the hockey insider.
“The sides exchanged offers last month and weren’t close in their positions, and my understanding is they haven’t circled back yet. The Blue Jackets are torn, to be sure. They’ve got a team that is legitimately in a playoff race, an incredible story given preseason tragedy. So on the one hand, if you’re GM Don Waddell you would hate to take away from the roster. But on the flip side, if Provorov remains unsigned, can you really let him walk out the door July 1 and get nothing in return? Is that good asset management for a team still building?”
It's an extremely difficult decision for Waddell and the front office, but the way Columbus' season is going, it would probably make sense to hold onto the veteran defenseman and try to re-sign him.
“It’s really going to come down to how the team fares over the next 3-4 games before the deadline but also the quality of trade offers coming at Columbus,” finished LeBrun. “If there’s a first-round pick on the table, can you really pass that up? All around, a really tough call.”
Blue Jackets could very well be a playoff team in mid-April
The decision is even more difficult considering the Blue Jackets are getting healthy at the perfect time. With captain Boone Jenner back in the lineup, along with top forward scorer Kirill Marchenko, this is looking like a club that could still be in a playoff spot when the regular-season concludes in the middle of April.
After a seriously impressive 6-4 win over one of the top teams in the Western Conference in the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, the Jackets are now 28-22-8 and occupying the second wildcard berth in the Eastern Conference.
As of Wednesday, Columbus is just six points back of the New Jersey Devils for third place in the Metropolitan Division — with a game in hand. The team has won two games in a row coming out of the 13-day 4 Nations Face-Off break.
Although that came on the heels of four consecutive losses, the Jackets are still right in the thick of the playoff race. With 24 games left in the season, there's a ton of hope in Ohio that this roster can remain competitive right until the end.
Of course, that makes a potential decision on Provorov's future that much more challenging. While there is a route for the organization to trade the veteran and still make the playoffs, he has been a key piece of the puzzle in 2024-25.
It'll be intriguing to see how the next couple of games go, and whether the team can string together a few more wins to convince management to buy, rather than sell, ahead of the deadline.
