The Columbus Blue Jackets added a pair of depth pieces on one-year deals, bringing in goaltender Pheonix Copley and forward Riley Bezeau at $850,000 cap hits apiece.
Copley arrives as a familiar NHL hand with plenty of mileage behind him. The 34-year-old has appeared in 78 games across 10 seasons, and while most of that work has come in a backup role, his career line still includes a 44-17-8 record, three shutouts and a .898 save percentage.
His top NHL stretch came in 2022-23, when he went 24-6-3 with one shutout. Since then, his NHL chances have been limited, with only 10 starts over the last three seasons combined.
Most of Copley’s recent work has come in the AHL, where he posted a 21-11-1 record with the Ontario Reign last year. Over 11 AHL seasons, he has piled up a 169-104-40 record with 18 shutouts in 312 games. The expectation is that he’ll spend 2026-27 with the Cleveland Monsters, while Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves remain in place with the NHL club.
Bezeau is coming off his fourth AHL season and brings a different kind of edge. In 24 games with the Monsters, the 24-year-old scored five goals and seven points, but the physical side of his game stood out just as much with 74 penalty minutes.
He added another goal and 39 PIM in the 2025-26 Calder Cup playoffs. Signed originally as an undrafted free agent, Bezeau has totaled 15 goals and 27 points with 244 penalty minutes in 131 AHL games over five years, and he has not yet reached the NHL.
He is likely to remain in the AHL for the upcoming season.
Columbus still has room to keep working this offseason, sitting on $23 million in current cap space. A move involving defenseman Zach Werenski would create even more flexibility, though nothing is currently close on that front.
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