Josh Anderson, who remains unsigned eight days before the Columbus Blue Jackets begin their regular season, has requested a trade from the NHL club, although the club says that has not been conveyed to them.
After the original publication, Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen reached out.
“This trade request is news to me,” he said. “And we are not looking to trade Josh Anderson.”
This might be an issue of semantics… that the idea of a sign-and-trade was broached, but it’s clear a difficult negotiation has taken its toll.
Anderson is a restricted free agent. On Tuesday, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported the team and player were “as little as $150,000 per year (apart) on a three-year contract — but both sides are standing firm on principle.”
An improving player who took a big step last season, Anderson was expected to be an important piece in the team’s plans for 2017-18. The Blue Jackets worked hard to avoid exposing him in the NHL Expansion Draft and it’s believed they rejected Colorado’s requests to include him in any Matt Duchene trade.
Anderson’s agent, Darren Ferris, said via text he would not comment.
Ferris has said he would send Anderson to Switzerland to practise with a team there while he waits for a new contract, but, at this time, I don’t know if that’s going to happen. If the Blue Jackets do decide to make a move, there would be a lot of interest. Teams like what Anderson brings.
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