The Columbus Blue Jackets have turned a familiar face into their emergency safety net.
Reid Robertson, already on the club’s staff as Travel & Logistics Manager, has been designated as the team’s emergency backup goalie for the 2026-27 season, according to GM Don Waddell. Under the new rules in the upcoming CBA, every team has to name an EBUG that fits specific requirements. That’s a shift from the old setup, when a local amateur could be waiting in the building, like in the David Ayers situation.
Robertson checks all the boxes for Columbus. He’s a former goalie, he’s 6-foot-6, and he’s done this before.
Back in May 2022, the New York Rangers called on Robertson as their emergency option for Game 1 of a playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He never got into the game, which is usually how this job goes.
He’s also already been useful in less dramatic ways. In 2024, on a back-to-back, he suited up and helped the Montreal Canadiens at an optional morning skate.
Anthony Martineau noted at the time that it was an unusual morning, with a member of the Blue Jackets’ hockey operations department lending a hand to the Canadiens as a goalie for the session involving extras. Martineau also pointed out that Robertson played in the UCHC college division from 2019 to 2022.
The new EBUG rules are tighter than the old ones. A designated goalie cannot have played a game on a standard player contract, cannot have appeared in more than 80 professional games, and cannot have played pro hockey in the previous three seasons. Robertson fits because he’s a former college goalie and is still part of the Blue Jackets’ front office.
If disaster ever strikes and Jet Greaves plus his backup - Elvis Merzlikins or Pheonix Copley - both become unavailable on a given night, Robertson would be the one summoned, at home or on the road. It’s a job built on waiting, and Columbus already knows it has the right man waiting.
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Werenski also framed his commitment in the kind of terms that matter most to a fan base still waiting for a breakthrough. He talked about wanting to win a Stanley Cup with Columbus, even after a stretch of struggles, and his tone suggested a player who sees the road ahead as worth sticking with. For the Blue Jackets, that alone helps quiet a conversation that had started to feel a lot bigger than one player. [Read more 🡒]