Jeff Svoboda of Bluejackets.com: The Columbus Blue Jackets became a focus of the trade deadline before the season even began. That is because Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky become UFA’s on July 1. Kekalainen answers the question everyone is asking.
“They’re obviously two very talented players, two guys that have been a big part of our success, so that makes it a little bit more intriguing from the outside and people are curious to see how all of this is going to play out.
“But we will do what we need to do, do our best to convince them that they’d like to be part of our future for a long time as a Blue Jacket in Columbus, and if that doesn’t happen, then we’re going to have to make decisions.