The Columbus Blue Jackets have added another name to their blue line mix, bringing in defenseman Carson Soucy on a professional tryout agreement this afternoon.
Soucy arrives after a season split between New York’s two teams. He opened last year with the Rangers, appearing in 46 games before being traded in late January to the Islanders for a 2026 third-round pick. On Long Island, he played 30 more games and finished the season with 12 points in 76 games overall, handling his usual shutdown work.
That kind of profile has usually made Soucy an easy fit around the league: a sturdy bottom-pair defenseman, useful on the penalty kill, the sort of player teams have been willing to add for real assets at the deadline. So his current spot on a tryout is a little surprising.
AFP Analytics had projected him for a two-year deal worth around $2.15MM. But the market has been tougher on left-shot defensemen, and Soucy’s handedness may have worked against him.
Mike Reilly landed a two-way deal in Carolina earlier this week, while the right side saw veterans Erik Gudbranson and Zach Bogosian get one-year extensions, and Radko Gudas and Vincent Desharnais secure deals with notable term.
In Columbus, Soucy will be trying to carve out a role in a group that already has some veteran traffic. Gudbranson’s leadership gives him a firm hold on a roster spot at 34, while Jake Christiansen looks like the clearest direct competitor.
Christiansen, 27 and a pending UFA at $975k, played 40 games last season after appearing in 68 the year before. The Blue Jackets also finished with the NHL’s 28th-ranked penalty kill, so there’s clearly a need for help in that area.
Even so, with seven adequate NHL options already on hand, there isn’t an obvious clean path just yet.
Soucy’s career has been built on steady work and physical play. Minnesota took him in the fifth round of the 2013 draft, and he spent 2017-21 with the Wild as a bottom-pair defender who never quite became an everyday fixture, topping out at 55 games in 2019-20. Seattle picked him in the 2021 expansion draft, and that’s where his offense briefly spiked: ten goals and 21 points in the Kraken’s inaugural season.
He took on a bigger workload from there, skating about 17 minutes a night and dressing in 78 games in 2022-23 as a sixth defender and an early back-end building block for Seattle, often alongside Will Borgen. Known as an above-average penalty killer and shot-blocker, Soucy hit free agency three years ago and signed a three-year, $3.25MM deal with Vancouver. Two seasons ago he logged the heaviest ice time of his career at 18:22, but with things going sideways in Vancouver he was later dealt to the Rangers for a third-round pick, reuniting with Borgen and coming within one game of 100 for the Canucks.
He then landed with the Islanders ten months later, where he served mostly as depth while Alexander Romanov was out. He played third-pair minutes at 15:27 and, somewhat surprisingly, started 54.2% of his five-on-five shifts in the offensive zone.
Soucy will have a chance to show what he can still bring in Columbus soon, with the Blue Jackets opening the preseason against Detroit in eight days.
In Other News...
Adam Fantilli Contract Talks Are Still Hanging Over Blue Jackets Camp
Chris Kreiders next stop is Montreal after his contract with the Ducks was terminated, and Mark Stone is locked in with Vegas on a new two-year extension, but in Columbus the focus remains much closer to home. Adam Fantilli and the Blue Jackets are still working through a contract agreement, and the talks have become one of the quiet but significant storylines hanging over the start of camp.
The hope around the organization is that something gets done before players report, keeping the spotlight where the Blue Jackets want it as training camp approaches. For now, Fantilli remains in the middle of negotiations, and the situation is still open enough to leave a familiar late-summer tension around a young core piece the club would prefer to have settled soon. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Have Real Reasons To Believe This Season Could Be Different
There are real reasons to think this Blue Jackets season can look different from the last one, and it starts with a healthier sense of stability around the core. Zach Werenski is back in the spotlight after a Norris Trophy season, Kent Johnson and Dmitri Voronkov are both positioned to rebound from uneven years, and the team should get an early chance to build momentum with a home-heavy opening stretch.
The biggest change may be in net, where Jet Greaves is expected to take on a major role and give Columbus a clearer picture of its goaltending situation. Add in Rick Bowness returning for a full season behind the bench, and the Blue Jackets suddenly have a structure they did not always have a year ago, even if the early weeks will go a long way toward showing how much of that promise translates once the schedule settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Face Growing Adam Fantilli Pressure Before Camp
Don Waddell had sounded hopeful this summer that Adam Fantilli could be locked up before training camp, but the Blue Jackets still do not have an extension in place for their young center as camp draws closer. Columbus wants to keep building around one of its most important pieces, yet the restricted free agent situation has lingered longer than the club likely expected, especially with the rest of the roster already being squeezed by a tight salary-cap picture.
Fantillis side is believed to be aiming for a contract in the range of the deals signed by Leo Carlsson and Connor Bedard, two players drafted ahead of him in 2023, which only raises the stakes for Columbus. The Blue Jackets would prefer to get this done before camp opens, and a resolution still appears likely at some point, but the gap between where the team wants to land and where Fantilli's camp sees his value has kept the process from moving quickly. [Read more 🡒]