- May 21, 2026
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The dominoes continue to fall relating to the NHL futures of many of the stars of the American team that captured Olympic gold in Milano-Cortina in February.
Dylan Larkin requested a trade away from the Detroit Red Wings. Brady Tkachuk got moved from the Ottawa Senators to the Florida Panthers. Superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets seems increasingly likely to be dealt this offseason.
Could Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski be the next U.S. Olympian to move from a less competitive NHL team to a top-tier Stanley Cup contender?
According to a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, it is within the realm of possibility, as the star player and Blue Jackets front office will meet to discuss his future after this weekend’s NHL Draft.
“There’s been a lot of noise around Werenski, who has two years remaining on his current contract with the Blue Jackets,” Friedman wrote. “At a time where trade requests, both public and private, and the fallout from them, have dominated the NHL’s news cycle, speculation intensified that Werenski might be next to declare his intentions for the future. While that has not occurred to this point, Werenski’s importance to the Blue Jackets is enormous, and they have to get a handle on where things stand.”
Werenski won the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL for the 2025-26 season. His 81 points in 75 games led the Blue Jackets by a margin of 14, and he has not appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the bubble postseason of 2020 in Toronto.
Werenski is set to enter the fifth season of a six-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $9.583 million, meaning he will be eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1, 2027. The Michigan native has spent his entire career in Columbus after the team selected him with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
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Dylan Larkin requested a trade away from the Detroit Red Wings. Brady Tkachuk got moved from the Ottawa Senators to the Florida Panthers. Superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets seems increasingly likely to be dealt this offseason.
Could Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski be the next U.S. Olympian to move from a less competitive NHL team to a top-tier Stanley Cup contender?
According to a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, it is within the realm of possibility, as the star player and Blue Jackets front office will meet to discuss his future after this weekend’s NHL Draft.
“There’s been a lot of noise around Werenski, who has two years remaining on his current contract with the Blue Jackets,” Friedman wrote. “At a time where trade requests, both public and private, and the fallout from them, have dominated the NHL’s news cycle, speculation intensified that Werenski might be next to declare his intentions for the future. While that has not occurred to this point, Werenski’s importance to the Blue Jackets is enormous, and they have to get a handle on where things stand.”
Werenski won the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL for the 2025-26 season. His 81 points in 75 games led the Blue Jackets by a margin of 14, and he has not appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the bubble postseason of 2020 in Toronto.
Werenski is set to enter the fifth season of a six-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $9.583 million, meaning he will be eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1, 2027. The Michigan native has spent his entire career in Columbus after the team selected him with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Continue reading...