With Free Agency opening up Wednesday at noon, the Blue Jackets have two main positional needs: Defense and Center. With about $17 million in cap space according to CapFriendly, the Jackets could be poised to make a splash, even with Patrick Laine (expect around $9M) and others (Emil Bemstrom, Nick Blankenburg, and Trey Fix-Wolansky; expect less than $3M total) to resign. Let’s look at how they could add some talent to the back end.
John Klingberg, Dallas Stars
At 29 years old, John Klingberg is on the younger end as free agents go. He also is by far the most effective offensively, putting up 47 points in 74 games last year, almost double the next highest UFA D available.