The biggest prize of the NHL summer is still sitting there, and it comes with a question every contender has to answer: how much is too much for Zach Werenski?
At 28, the Norris Trophy winner is the kind of defender teams almost never get the chance to chase while he’s still in his prime. That’s why the possibility of a split between Werenski and the Columbus Blue Jackets has turned into one of the league’s most intriguing storylines.
The timing only makes it more interesting. The NHL has been in a spending frenzy over the last week or so, with clubs reacting to a major jump in the salary cap and using that flexibility aggressively. Leo Carlsson’s $18-milllion AAV offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, Bowen Byram’s $75-million extension with the Chicago Blackhawks, and Ivan Demidov’s $73-million extension in Montreal all point to the same thing: teams are spending big, and they’re doing it fast.
Still, not everyone has jumped in. Some teams have held onto both cap space and trade assets, and that restraint makes sense when the market offers so few defenders like Werenski. Players with this kind of impact, this kind of age, and this kind of contract don’t come along often.
And the contract matters. Werenski has two years left at a $9.5-million AAV cap hit, a number that looks especially appealing in a market where Jacob Trouba just signed a new deal with San Jose carrying an $8.3-million per-year cap charge. The comparison is stark when you look at the quality gap, but the rising cap has made those numbers feel closer on paper than they do on the ice.
Werenski has been a blue-chip player since he entered the league in 2016-17, but his offense has climbed to another level over the past couple of seasons. Over the last two years, he’s been at the top of the NHL in even-strength scoring among defenders, and in all situations he trails only Cale Makar in Colorado.
That scoring surge has pushed him into the league’s top tier, but the offensive numbers only tell part of the story. Werenski was already a dominant two-way defender before this latest jump.
Even on Columbus teams that have often lacked talent, the Blue Jackets have been far better with him on the ice. With the exception of his sophomore season and an injury-shortened 2022-23, the on-ice and off-ice splits with Werenski have been extraordinary.
In plain terms, Columbus looks like a playoff team when he’s out there and a draft lottery team when he isn’t.
That kind of impact matters because it travels. One of the clearest signs of an elite defender is the ability to raise the level of the players around him no matter the setting, and Werenski has done exactly that.
Over the past three seasons, his most common defensive partners have been Dante Fabbro and Damon Severson - solid NHL players, but not exactly the kind of names you expect to anchor a first pair. Werenski has made those combinations work anyway.
That’s why the trade chatter has gotten so loud. Contenders are weighing how much future value they’d be willing to send Columbus in what could become a massive deal. The track record is clean, he’s still on the right side of 30, and he’s under contract for two more years at a number that should only look better as the cap keeps climbing.
If Columbus and Werenski really are headed for a breakup, the Blue Jackets are in a strong position to drive the price. The report also notes that his preferred destinations may be Tampa Bay or Toronto. But until something actually gets done, no one should be ruled out.
He’s a game changer, and every front office in the league knows it.
In Other News...
Flyers Nearly Landed The Franchise Scorer Fans Have Been Begging For
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Instead, the market never opened the way the Flyers hoped, and the club moved on to another aggressive route by making an offer sheet to Leo Carlsson. It is another reminder that management, including assistant general manager Brent Flahr, is willing to be bold when it believes the payoff could be franchise-altering, even if the bigger prize slips away before the bidding ever really begins. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Are Stuck In A Franchise Shaping Wait With Anaheim
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There are still four days left for Anaheim to decide whether to match, which keeps the Flyers in limbo while the Ducks sort through their own business. Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras have already filed for arbitration, adding another layer of offseason pressure for Anaheim, and for the Flyers the whole situation remains tied to a franchise-defining outcome that could shape how aggressively they can keep pushing this summer. [Read more 🡒]
Matvei Michkov Looks Determined To Change The Flyers Conversation
Matvei Michkovs second season in Philadelphia was a reminder that even elite talent can get knocked off course when health and preparation are disrupted. An injury limited the way he could train last summer, and the result was a tougher year than the Flyers expected from a player who arrived with so much offensive promise.
This offseason, Michkov has gone back to work in Perm, Russia, leaning into weightlifting and on-ice sessions as he tries to reset for the year ahead. He is also slated to take part in the NHL-KHL Match of the Year charity game, another sign that he is staying active and pushing toward a cleaner, more complete preparation for the next Flyers season. [Read more 🡒]