NHL Rumors: Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Vancouver Canucks

Three Columbus Blue Jackets pending UFAs could head to market

Mark Scheig: It may be looking like the Columbus Blue Jackets’ pending UFA forwards Boone Jenner and Mason Marchment, and defenseman Erik Gudbranson go to free agency on July 1st.

Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell is at the World Championships, but he did say that talks with their free agents will pick up at some point, and they could re-sign one or more of them. But after the re-signing of Charlie Coyle, the chances of Jenner, Marchment, and Gudbranson going to free agency are greater.

Will Manny Malhotra be the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, and could they draft his son at No. 3?

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman, on if Manny Malhotra will be the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, and how would that impact their potential first-round pick, as Malhotra’s son Caleb could be on their radar with the No. 3 pick?

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Friedman: “They move pretty quickly on (Adam) Foote. You know, one of the challenges about getting to know the Canuckss for office now is, there’s not a lot of resume to look at and say, ‘This is how they act,’ but their first decision is pretty fast. They could make this decision fast, too.

NHL News: Canucks, Golden Knights, Offer Sheet Compensation, and the Kraken

I mean, like, to me, we talked about the familiarity. There’s nobody they know better. If he’s ready to coach in the NHL, then nobody knows it more than the three of those guys.

I’ll tell you something else too. The other answer to me that I thought today was really telling was they were asked about Caleb Malhotra. And you know, I’ll say this: there are teams out there who think that he’s a very serious candidate to be drafted by Vancouver. That this isn’t, you know, just lip service. Like they believe it’s real that if he’s there, he’s, he’s, he legitimately could be drafted by the Canucks.

And when Ryan Johnson was asked about it, and it was a really good question, he didn’t say, ‘you know we’ve got to talk to Manny about it and see how he feels.’ He said, ‘I’m not worried about that.’ I thought that was an interesting answer.

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