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Columbus Blue Jackets: Buying Out Umberger the Last Resort |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
With the NHL season having concluded and a couple days passing since, the compliance buyout window is now open.
Teams can use their compliance buyouts until the June 30 deadline, and while buying out R.J. Umberger is an option for the team, it's a route Jarmo Kekalainen would prefer not to take.
As pointed out by McKenzie, the team hopes to trade Umberger, but given his big contract and decline in production (see below) a trade is probably unlikely unless a draft choice is sent with Umberger to Team X, or the Blue Jackets retain some salary.
Personally I don't think there will be much of a market for Umberger and ultimately believe Kekalainen will use a compliance buyout on him. I don't believe a trade can be made without the Blue Jackets packaging an asset with him, and at that point it'd probably be best to use a buyout on him, get his cap hit off the books and keep all their assets.
It'll be interesting to see how Kekalainen handles this, because one way or another they need to get him off the books. That'd give them a lot more financial flexibility this summer.
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