Young blueliner Adam Boqvist has reached a new deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. News of the deal broke early Wednesday evening from The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.
#CBJ have signed pending RFA D Adam Boqvist to a 3-year, $7.8 million contract extension. He’ll make $2M in 2022-23, $2.6M in 2023-24 and $3.2M in 2024-25.
The 23-year-old Boqvist, who had 11 goals this season, will be an RFA when this contract expires.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 6, 2022
Adam Boqvist Extended
Boqvist was originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks eighth overall in 2018, between Quinn Hughes and Vitali Kravtsov. He joined the London Knights of the OHL for 2018-19 before turning pro with Chicago for 41 games in 2019-20.
The 21-year-old right-side defenseman has a new, three-year deal with a modest $2.6 million cap hit. Boqvist was brought to the Blue Jackets in an absolute blockbuster in July of 2021. Along with the 12th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Chicago’s second-round pick that year, and a first-round selection in 2022, Chicago got Seth Jones, Columbus’ 2021 first and their 2022 sixth-round pick. It was kind of a big deal.
What This Means
In his first season with Columbus, Boqvist scored 11 times and had 22 points in just 52 games. All are career highs, and more is expected of him over the next three seasons. He still needs to earn the trust of his coach on the defensive side of the puck if he wants more ice time. He’s still used as a third-pair defenseman despite his offensive abilities.
Three of Adam Boqvist’s goals – and three assists – were scored on the power-play, where he should be a staple. He is behind Zach Werenski but is rounding into form anchoring the second unit. With a little luck, his miserable injury history in 2021-22 won’t repeat itself. With increased ice time his boxcars are only going to improve.
His most common defensive partner in 2021-22 was Vladislav Gavrikov, and perhaps they can continue to improve together. It seems likely that the team wants Boqvist to be more than a power-play specialist. Having the much larger and more physical Gavrikov is a natural way to do that.
If Columbus wants to build to the playoffs this year, having Boqvist in the fold is a solid first step.
The Athletic: #CBJ sign pending restricted free agent D Adam Boqvist to a three-year contact extensionhttps://t.co/jpzMeR99pa pic.twitter.com/jHXzN6xMif
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 6, 2022
