It’s time for another round of NHL rumours. We’re approaching the March 7 trade deadline and there’s plenty of uncertainty in the air. General managers have to make some decisions regarding potential unrestricted free agents. This could especially be a problem for a team that’s in contention. Do they risk having a player walk for nothing by hanging onto them? Or do they think of the future and make a trade?<\/p>\n
One team that may have a tough choice to make is the Columbus Blue Jackets.<\/a> This edition of NHL rumours deals with a defenceman that team has to decide on.<\/p>\n All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.<\/p>\n Rumour: In Pierre LeBrun’s latest for The Athletic, he speculates on the future<\/a> of Blue Jackets defender Ivan Provorov<\/a>. The blueliner is a UFA at the end of the season and the team needs to figure out what to do with him.<\/em><\/p>\n Analysis:<\/em> Many thought Provorov would be destined<\/a> to be traded at the deadline. Columbus wasn’t thought of as a team contending for a Stanley Cup Playoff spot. However, the Blue Jackets have been playing well and are in the mix for the post-season.<\/p>\n Provorov is a veteran, puck-moving defenceman that probably would fetch a decent return. However, Blue Jackets General Manager<\/a> Don Waddell<\/a> may want to hang onto the Russian defender if the team wants to go for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n LeBrun also mentioned that Provorov is open to sign a contract extension. The insider said that Provorov’s camp and Columbus had talks and agreed to talk again soon. This is a possible good sign for Blue Jackets fans that want to keep the blueliner.<\/p>\n It was also mentioned by LeBrun that there’s mutual interest in getting a deal done. This seems to be a positive development.<\/p>\n However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the talks. LeBrun mentioned that its likely Provorov will likely seek a maximum eight-year contract this summer.<\/p>\n One wonders if Waddell would be comfortable making that sort of commitment. Provorov just turned 28 years old last week and a maximum deal would take him deep into his 30s. It may be a risk to give that sort of term to a defenceman that will see his contract end when he’s 36.<\/p>\n The Blue Jackets may also have to worry about Provorov getting a raise. We’ve seen the veteran take up plenty of ice time and he’s only behind Zach Werenski<\/a> in that category. It seems like a given that Provorov will be seeking a raise from the current $6.75 million in salary that he’s making.<\/p>\n We’ve seen Columbus be able to spend some money<\/a> in recent months. However, there’s still plenty for them to look forward to when it comes to future deals. Contract extensions for Adam Fantilli<\/a> and other talented youngsters need to be planned for. Provorov should plan for a massive raise, but Waddell also has to think about the future when it comes to other contracts.<\/p>\n Main photo by: Danny Wild-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s time for another round of NHL rumours. We’re approaching the March 7 trade deadline and there’s plenty of uncertainty in the air. General managers have to make some decisions regarding potential unrestricted free agents. This could especially be a problem for a team that’s in contention. Do they risk having a player walk for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":461360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[11],"tags":[5982,3255,601],"class_list":["post-461358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluejackets","tag-columbus-blue-jackets-rumours","tag-don-waddell","tag-ivan-provorov"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461358","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=461358"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461398,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461358\/revisions\/461398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n
Columbus Blue Jackets Uncertain on Veteran Defenceman<\/h3>\n
What It Means<\/h4>\n