3 Columbus Blue Jackets Unrestricted Free Agents That Should Be Re-Signed – The Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

The 2025-26 season is officially over, as the Columbus Blue Jackets will be at home to watch the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. This team, management, and fanbase are hungrier than ever to try and get back into the playoffs, and following the comments of head coach Rick Bowness, the culture has to change for this team to get back in the playoffs.

Bowness, in his final postgame press conference of the season, talked about how disappointed he was in his team and how frustrated it made him that the team didn’t have a hatred for losing. He discussed how the best players in the world often hate losing more than they enjoy winning, and that is what separates good teams from bad teams.

Bowness also discussed how leadership is not handed out with a “C” or an “A,” but leadership is when you are someone who doesn’t allow people to fall out of line, you hold your teammates accountable, and you step up in the biggest moments. The current Blue Jackets leadership may be on its way out, and if they aren’t, some shake-ups are certainly coming.

So, who are the three biggest free agents they need to re-sign and bring back for the 2026-27 season to finally end their streak and get back into the playoffs?

Charlie Coyle

The biggest priority signing for the Blue Jackets this offseason needs to be the guy who was the best two-way forward they had all season, Charlie Coyle. Though he won’t get any recognition amongst the league, he was certainly having a season to make a case for the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the league.

Coyle was not only playing great, but he was centering a line that, at many times this season, was the best line the Blue Jackets were deploying. Coyle and Mathieu Olivier formed one of the most physical forechecks in hockey. With the addition of Cole Sillinger on the other side, he added an element of offense, but even still more forechecking and physicality.

Coyle understands his role on this team as well as anyone, and because of this, he often does something behind the scenes that may not show up in the box score but is freeing up one of his teammates and allowing them to play in open ice.

He will have a market where a lot of teams will have interest in his talents. He is only 34 years old and will probably have a contract somewhere in the range of $3 million or more for a few years. This is the first time in his career that he has missed the playoffs, and it is something he doesn’t want to get used to. If the Blue Jackets are going to be stuck in a rebuild, Coyle likely won’t stay in Columbus.

He is too much of a piece of the leadership and too much of a fit in Columbus for the Blue Jackets to let him walk and go somewhere else. This has to be priority number one in the offseason to bring him back.

Danton Heinen

This one might come as a shock to some people that Danton Heinen could be such a priority signing for the Blue Jackets, but the various roles he played and the constant urgency he plays make for a relentless pursuit and a great forechecker.

Heinen, just 30 years old, can be a gritty puck-mover on the fourth line, or he can play top-line minutes and be a disruptive forward in front of the net. He played a variety of roles for the Blue Jackets, but his ability to stay in the lineup and play in various spots showed Bowness’ belief in him.

The Blue Jackets have a lot of depth at the forward position, but they are in a position to lose a lot of guys who aren’t as valuable an asset in so many different functions of the game. Heinen could be a penalty killer, a middle-six forward, and he could even be an asset on the power play if need be.

“This trade provides us with additional draft capital over the next two years and a good two-way player in Danton Heinen that will add to our organizational depth at the forward position.”

-Don Waddell on making the trade. #CBJ

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) December 29, 2025

If they tried to bring back Heinen, the price shouldn’t be too unbearable. Think somewhere in the range of $2.5 million per year to bring him back, and Heinen gives you some salary cap flexibility, knowing he plays a plug-and-play role on any forward line. However, there will be some teams that may really value his two-way game and outbid Columbus for him.

It may be safest to return to the Blue Jackets and play for a coach who strongly values his play style and his ability to make any line be so synchronous through the neutral zone. The Blue Jackets underutilized him quite a bit after they parted ways with Yegor Chinakhov to land Heinen, but he quickly earned his keep and became a big piece down the stretch.

Mason Marchment

The last key free agent the Blue Jackets will need to work hard to retain will be Mason Marchment. Marchment was a key piece to the top forward line in the second half of the season. He came out of the gates hot as anyone, scoring three goals in his first two games with the club following a mid-season trade, and then scored a hat trick with them just nine games into his Columbus stint.

He became a fan favorite for the way he would be a pest around the crease and get under opposing players’ skin. He was exactly the type of player the city could rally around, and is exactly the identity Columbus wants to have moving forward amongst their best players.

On the board at Nationwide!

Mason Marchment tips the puck in to give the #CBJ a 1-0 lead in the first period. pic.twitter.com/bX98LNR6gV

— CBJ Radio (@cbjradio) April 12, 2026

What the Blue Jackets choose to do will lay the message of how close they truly are or who they value in their system over other players. Bowness and general manager Don Waddell will have some tough choices to make, including what exactly the price they are willing to put on veterans like Coyle, Heinen, and Marchment is.

The identity and the culture of the team need a shift, according to Bowness, and how they attack that, and who they plan to sign in free agency or bring back, will be a major tell of the cards they want to roll out next season.

Look out for all the free agents coming out of Columbus and the restricted free agents they will look to re-sign as well. Some key pieces of the Blue Jackets are due to shift this offseason, and the identity will be rewritten. Now we get to wait and see how it will all shake out.