{"id":136136,"date":"2023-03-07T15:05:39","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T20:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=136136"},"modified":"2023-03-07T15:05:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T20:05:39","slug":"nhl-rumours-columbus-blue-jackets-forward-set-for-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/03\/07\/nhl-rumours-columbus-blue-jackets-forward-set-for-return\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Columbus Blue Jackets Forward Set for Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>srThe NHL trade deadline may be done, but we&#8217;ve got plenty of NHL rumours left over. All of trades have been made, but now we get into signings and other roster moves. The upcoming offseason offers a chance for players to return from overseas back into the league. One player in particular may return to the Columbus Blue Jackets after attending to personal matter. Today&#8217;s NHL rumours takes a look at a possible <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/texieal01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-06_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexandre Texier<\/a> return.<\/p>\n<p>All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Return<\/h2>\n<h3>Alexandre Texier Return Likely Next Season<\/h3>\n<p>Rumour: The Athletic&#8217;s Aaron Portzline talked to Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo <span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Kekalainen about the French forward&#8217;s future with the team. Kekalainen said that Texier has made a long-term commitment to the team and should be back for the 2023-24 campaign. The 23-year-old has been playing with the Swiss National League&#8217;s ZSC Lions this season. He was given special permission to play in Europe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefourthperiod.com\/mar-2023\/blue-jackets-expect-texier-back-next-season\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on the recommendation<\/a> NHL\/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ICYMI, The Athletic: Blue Jackets Sunday Gathering<br \/>1. GM Jarmo Kekalainen: &quot;We don\u2019t want to be the youngest team in the league much longer.\u201d<br \/>2. How a shifting market affected <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CBJ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CBJ<\/a> trade deadline<br \/>3. Snacks: Updates on Texier, Kuraly, Dillinger, Ceulemans<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8WULFKCYey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/8WULFKCYey<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/x7YyqmBkPT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/x7YyqmBkPT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Aportzline\/status\/1632732330379866114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 6, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Texier&#8217;s contract did not count against the salary cap and he was being paid by the Swiss club. <span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Kekalainen <\/span>added that the young forward is in a good place mentally and will address the media at the start of next season. ZSC Lions just started their playoffs this season.<\/p>\n<h3>What an Alexandre Texier Return Means<\/h3>\n<p>Columbus has struggled this season and fell way below expectations. Many thought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gaudrjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-06_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Johnny Gaudreau<\/a>&#8216;s addition would power Columbus to a playoff spot. However, that&#8217;s not worked out. The Jackets have stunk this season, but could get injection with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/01\/24\/connor-bedard-2023-nhl-draft-scouting-report\/\" target=\"_self\">Connor Bedard<\/a> coming if Columbus wins the lottery.<\/p>\n<p>Adding Texier would also help out. He only scored 11 goals in his last season in North America. However, he got 13 goals for the Zurich-based club in 46 games. Columbus is in a bad place now, but light may be at the end of the tunnel if it lands the top prize of Bedard. Texier would also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/12\/06\/alexandre-texier-growing-into-his-game\/\" target=\"_self\">be a welcomed boost<\/a> to the forward group.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>srThe NHL trade deadline may be done, but we&#8217;ve got plenty of NHL rumours left over. All of trades have been made, but now we get into signings and other roster moves. The upcoming offseason offers a chance for players to return from overseas back into the league. One player in particular may return to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":136137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4321,11,4547,4548],"tags":[1792,5982],"class_list":["post-136136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rumours","category-bluejackets","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-alexandre-texier","tag-columbus-blue-jackets-rumours"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}