2026-27 Blue Jackets Roster Projection 1.0: Life Without Their UFA’s – The Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

The 2025-26 season might be over for the Columbus Blue Jackets. But it is never too early to look ahead to 2026-27.

Upon first glance, woah. How different might the Blue Jackets look next season? The answer is going to depend on a couple of important decisions by GM Don Waddell and his staff.

Welcome to our first edition of Blue Jackets Roster Projection for the 2026-27 season. For the sixth consecutive season, the team found themselves short of the threshold needed to make the playoffs. Although they improved their point total from a season ago, so did 19 other teams. The question they must ask themselves now is where do they go from here?

Make no mistake. The Blue Jackets want to make the playoffs. Not only that, there is a real argument that they need to make the playoffs soon. At this time next season, Zach Werenski will be entering the final year of his current contract.

The Blue Jackets face a lot of questions this offseason. It will be the busiest for Waddell since he took over as President and General Manager. Not only does he have to decide what are fair contracts for his RFA’s, he will need to decide if the team wants to bring their four major UFA’s back. And if so, how far are they willing to go to make that happen?

The Blue Jackets face a real possibility of starting the 2026-27 season without Charlie Coyle, Mason Marchment, Boone Jenner and Erik Gudbranson. All four played key roles in 2025-26. Their absences should they happen will create new opportunities for someone.

Today, we are going to imagine what the Blue Jackets could look like if all four of them move on to new teams. This exercise will allow you to see what that looks like from an internal perspective as well as the areas of focus the team should look to add via trade or free agency.

Forwards in Flux

While you won’t see the UFA’s projected until they’re signed, we will project the RFA’s as the Blue Jackets maintain their rights. Starting with the forwards, there are 10 players under contract for next season or are RFA’s who had a significant role last season.

• Sean Monahan, Conor Garland, Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, Mathieu Olivier, Miles Wood, Cole Sillinger, Kent Johnson, Isac Lundestrom, Adam Fantilli.

Right away, you can see what the absence of Coyle would mean. He had a tremendous 2025-26 season. As the top free-agent center available, he will have no shortage of suitors. Not only can he pick where he wants to go, he can pick a place that has a chance to win a Stanley Cup.

With it being Coyle’s last chance to cash in, the most expected outcome here is for him to explore all his options before making a decision. He has said he could see himself staying with the Blue Jackets. He admitted loving working with coach Rick Bowness. So a path for him to remain a Blue Jacket remains in tact. But it will not be easy.

The question from a Blue Jackets perspective as with all negotiations is term and money. Are they in a position to go with a longer term, 3-4 years and in the $7-$8 million range? That’s what it might take to have a chance to re-sign Coyle.

Losing Coyle would be a massive blow to the Blue Jackets. Along with Sillinger and Olivier, they were one of the most effective lines in the NHL last season. While the team has center depth, they wouldn’t be able to fully replace everything Coyle did.

If the Blue Jackets don’t add another center, you could see them go Fantilli, Monahan, Sillinger and Lundestrom as a potential 1-4 down the middle. Sillinger played the wing most of last season so it’s possible he could do that again depending on what they do to address the wing. Could a player like Voronkov find himself in the middle?

Using just the 10 players we mentioned above, here’s how they could potentially lineup.

• Kent Johnson – Adam Fantilli – Kirill Marchenko
• Dmitri Voronkov – Sean Monahan – Conor Garland
• ??? – Cole Sillinger – Mathieu Olivier
• Miles Wood – Isac Lundestrom – ???

The Blue Jackets could elect to put Voronkov in the bottom-six leaving a top-six opening. Regardless, the team should be looking to add both top and bottom-six wingers. With Marchenko, Garland and Olivier handling the right, one would suspect they’d target someone who can effectively play the left side. As for the bottom-six role, a number of internal candidates could look to fill that position. Maybe someone like newcomer Joshua Eernisse could fill that role? Some believe he may be in the NHL sooner rather than later.

Then considering how Voronkov and Johnson were used last season, the above setup is far from settled. Until there is clarity on the status of the UFA’s and if any trades happen, what the forwards will look like is anyone’s guess at this point. But it is clear another top-six winger is very much needed given the trouble they had scoring goals at the end. That’s especially true if Marchment leaves in free agency.

Defensive Change Needed?

The Blue Jackets have seven defensemen under contract for next season or are RFA’s who played significant and varying roles. But yet, you’ll see right away what would happen if Gudbranson isn’t back.

• Zach Werenski, Ivan Provorov, Damon Severson, Dante Fabbro, Egor Zamula, Jake Christiansen, Denton Mateychuk.

The Blue Jackets have a lot of puck movers on their blue line. While that’s not generally a bad thing, not having enough true shutdown defenders is a bad thing. Not having Gudbranson back would hurt them in that area.

Here is what the defense might look like if no moves are made. One must wonder if a player-for-player trade could help to get a different skill set on the team.

• Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
• Ivan Provorov – Denton Mateychuk
• Jake Christiansen/Egor Zamula – Dante Fabbro

The one potential wildcard is Corson Ceulemans. He’s made strides in his development in the AHL the last couple of seasons. While he wouldn’t fill the need for a shutdown defender, he could find himself with a chance to get some games with the Blue Jackets soon.

The other name to watch internally is newly-signed Boston Buckberger. He signed an entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets. While he likely starts with Cleveland, he could have a chance at some NHL time depending on how quickly he adapts to the pros. He’s coming off consecutive National Championships at the University of Denver.

The Blue Jackets did a better job under Bowness in limiting their goals against. But in the playoffs against tougher competition, they must be able to have the ability to shut other teams down. Especially if they lose Gudbranson, it’s reasonable to expect the team to find outside help to address this need.

A Newcomer in Net?

Jet Greaves is coming off a good season. Elvis Merzlikins has one more year left on his deal and still wants to be a number-one goalie. But is there a wildcard we need to be considering?

Recall last offseason that Waddell said he believes goaltender Sergei Ivanov could be coming to North America this season. If that is the case, we could be looking at what potential life would look like after Merzlikins.

Short of a buyout (at this time, there’s nothing out there to believe the Blue Jackets are considering it), Merzlikins will be back. Greaves outplayed him and earned most of the important starts down the stretch.

Why the Ivanov situation must be watched is because of his performance in the KHL. He finished the regular season with SKA St. Peterburg with a .928 save percentage in 29 games. In his two playoff appearances, he posted a .938 save percentage.

Ivan Fedotov is a pending UFA after this season. All indications appear for him to be moving on once the Monsters season is over. That would leave a spot for Ivanov to come over, get used to the smaller ice in North America and see how soon he could compete for the net in Columbus.

Unless something unexpected happens, this appears to be a situation of the team running it back in net. But keep your eye on Ivanov. He’ll become one of the more interesting stories of 2026-27 once he makes the decision to come over.