Hartnell convinced Columbus has winning foundation
COLUMBUS -- Going into a busy week that ends with the 2014 NHL Draft on this weekend at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was able to scratch one item off the to-do list Monday.
'The request was out there so it was something we needed to get done,' Kekalainen said. 'We'll be able to do the next step from here now that it's resolved.'
While Umberger had asked to leave, Hartnell had to be convinced to come to Columbus; the veteran forward waived a no-trade clause to facilitate the trade.
'Without his permission this wasn't going to happen,' Kekalainen said. 'I had a long conversation with him about this trade. He had a lot of questions, but the only real hard question that he asked me is he wanted to know if we were committed to winning. That's his only concern wherever he was going to go.
'He said, 'I want to win. I'm 32 years old. I've made a lot of money. I want to win.' He really wanted me to talk about the team and where we're heading and how I felt about the future. The question was do we think, and I think we can win, are we going to be better in the future?'
In the end, Kekalainen was able to allay Hartnell's concerns.
'I think we got a good player and a player who will make us better,' he said. 'That makes me very happy.'
FANTASY SPIN
With the Umberger issue off his plate, Kekalainen can focus on the draft, which will be held Friday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS) and Saturday (10 a.m. ET, NHLN-US, NHLN-CA). The Blue Jackets have the 16th pick in the first round; two in the second round (Nos. 38 and 47); two in the third (Nos. 63 and 77) and one each in the fourth (No. 107) and seventh (No. 197).
Kekalainen also is working to re-sign several restricted free agents, chiefly center Ryan Johansen, their leading scorer in 2013-14. There also are unrestricted free agents such as center Derek MacKenzie and forward Jack Skille who likely will receive offers.
'We have our plan set, but this allows us to take that next step in our thinking,' Kekalainen said of the Umberger trade. 'We know where we're at now. Before, we had a player who didn't want to play here and requested a trade. Until it was completed we had his salary on the sideline and couldn't take the next step.
'One of the needs we needed to fill, whether through free agency or trade, was a player who could play in our top six, our top two lines, and Scott Hartnell fills that need for us.'
Hartnell, 32, had 20 goals and 52 points in 2013-14, his seventh in Philadelphia. He scored at least 20 goals in five of those seven seasons. He has 250 goals and 537 points along with 1,452 penalty minutes in 953 games since debuting with the Nashville Predators in 2000-01.
Umberger, who played three seasons at Ohio State University in Columbus before turning pro, had 120 goals and 250 points in 445 games for the Blue Jackets since being acquired from Philadelphia before the 2008-09 season. He has 169 goals, 366 points and 278 penalty minutes in 673 NHL games.
He has three seasons left on his contract and will cost $4.6 million against the Flyers' salary cap.
Hartnell completed the first year of a six-year, $28.5 million contract, which carries an average annual value of $4.75 million through the 2018-19 season.
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