The Columbus Blue Jackets keep circling the rumor mill, but Aaron Portzline sees very different realities when it comes to Kent Johnson and Elvis Merzlikins.
Portzline, speaking on the Blue Line Blast Podcast with Jim Biringer and Matthew Blittner, said the Blue Jackets are “scared to death to trade Kent Johnson” because of the upside they still believe is in the player. At the same time, he made clear that Merzlikins is in a different lane entirely.
Johnson, Portzline said, remains “the most skilled player on the team, not even close,” even with Zach Werenski on the roster. But the concern is consistency. Portzline pointed to Johnson’s uneven early career, saying he has been “an on-again, off-again player,” and that he “can’t have that right, so he’s got to get beyond that.”
He also described Johnson as “a light player” who “seemed to lose whatever physical progress he’d made the year before.” According to Portzline, Johnson was “light on pucks” and “got rag-dolled constantly” last season. The talent is obvious, but Portzline said the off-ice commitment and competitiveness have to rise, too.
Merzlikins, meanwhile, is a much more straightforward discussion. Portzline said he is “not going to have his contract bought out, and confirmed that yesterday (Monday).” He added that there may be a trade market now, even if there wasn’t one before, and noted that the cap landscape could make teams “a little bit more aggressive.”
The goaltending picture is where Portzline sees a real opportunity for Columbus to change things. He said Jet Greaves is viewed as a “50-to-55-start goalie,” while the Blue Jackets would be better off with someone handling “25-, 27-, or 30-game” duty and posting a save percentage “around .900.” Merzlikins, he said, “has not been close to that for four years now.”
Portzline also suggested that a shake-up in net could help change the atmosphere inside the room. If Columbus wants to change the culture, he said, one way is by “holding them to a higher standard.” Another is by “really upsetting what the room is like, changing the dynamic in the room.”
That’s why he said the captain leaving could be part of it, and why the goalie situation may be part of it too: “changing up that end of the dressing room, giving them a different look coming into the season, I think, is really important.”
The Blue Jackets have heard their names attached to Kirill Marchenko, Zach Werenski, Kent Johnson and now Merzlikins, and the offseason already feels loaded with decisions. For Columbus, the task is simple to say and harder to execute: Don Waddell has to figure out what best serves the team and the players, all while sorting through a roster with a lot of moving parts.
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