It’s usually not a good sign when your star goalie who’s a pending unrestricted free agent puts his condo up for sale less than a week after your team gets eliminated from the post-season.
That’s where the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves at the moment, though, because Sergei Bobrovsky is looking for a new home (literally) and on July 1 he’ll be free to sign with a new team when the four-year, $29.7 million contract he inked in 2015 officially expires.
Blue Jackets beat reporter Aaron Portzline confirmed Friday that Bobrovsky’s 19th-floor condo was put on the market and listed at a cool $2.95-million.
The property, which is a six-minute walk from Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus, “features four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, and over 5,400 square feet of custom-designed luxury living space,” according to The Raines Group.
Yep. That sure sounds like the condo of an NHL star.
It hasn’t been confirmed that Bobrovsky has in fact played his final game with the Blue Jackets – heck, it’s possible his next salary cap hit exceeds his current $7.425-million hit and he’s only selling his current place in order to upgrade his abode – but general manager Jarmo Kekalainen might have to do some creative accounting in order to facilitate a deal because cap space could become an issue.
In addition to the two-time Vezina Trophy winner, Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel are also pending UFAs while a handful of restricted free agents, including Zach Werenski, need new deals.
“I think it’s important moving forward that we have guys who are proud to be Blue Jackets, proud to be living in Columbus and loving it here,” Kekalainen told reporters in Ohio earlier this week. “It’s really important that they bleed blue or whatever you want to call it. … Guys who want to be here are going to be here and the guys who don’t want to be here — good luck.”
The Blue Jackets are coming off their most successful season ever, with the franchise earning its first playoff series victory, and now it looks like the team is entering what could be its most complicated off-season ever.
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