The Columbus Blue Jackets announced the return of forward Alexandre Texier last evening, April 19.

Alexandre Texier, 24, has spent the last year in the Swiss league to be close to his family and to find his love of hockey again. He has one year remaining on his current contract with the Blue Jackets at $1.525M. His qualifying offer will begin at $1.75M.

Last season, Texier had 35 points in 46 games in Switzerland with the ZSC Lions.

The Grenoble, France native was a second round pick of the Blue Jackets in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. This was the Jackets' first pick in the draft after the expansion draft day deal with the Vegas Golden Knights.

This pick originally belonged to Tampa Bay, but they moved this pick with former NHLer Nikita Gusev to move Jason Garrison's contract out.

With the pick, Vegas acquired winger Keegan Kolesar from Columbus.

In 123 career NHL games all with Columbus, Texier has 49 points (22 goals, 27 assists) and 7 points in 18 playoff games (2 goals, 5 assists).

What does this mean for the winter depth?

Competition. Right now, the bottom six has more options to choose from for the next Columbus head coach. I don't see Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, Kent Johnson, and Kirill Marchenko coming off the top four winger slots, unless Johnson moves to center and captain Boone Jenner moves to wing.

The bottom six has Texier, Yegor Chinakov, Emil Bemstrom, and Liam Foudy jousting for the final spots. Eric Robinson and Mathieu Olivier may not be touched as they provide the toughness to the team. Robinson also makes the most money out of the players listed in the bottom six.

Here is how it may go down if they don't acquire another forward by trade or free agency

Gaudreau - Jenner - Laine
Johnson - Roslovic - Marchenko
Texier - Sillinger - Bemstrom
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

Gaudreau - Jenner - Laine
Johnson - Roslovic - Marchenko
Texier - Sillinger - Chinakov
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

Gaudreau - Jenner - Laine
Johnson - Roslovic - Marchenko
Foudy - Sillinger - Bemstrom
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

Gaudreau - Jenner - Laine
Johnson - Roslovic - Marchenko
Foudy - Sillinger - Chinakov
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

Gaudreau - Johnson - Laine
Jenner - Roslovic - Marchenko
Texier - Sillinger - Bemstrom
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

Gaudreau - Roslovic - Laine
Jenner - Johnson - Marchenko
Texier - Sillinger - Bemstrom
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

Gaudreau - Roslovic - Laine
Johnson - Jenner - Marchenko
Texier - Sillinger - Bemstrom
Robinson - Kuraly - Olivier

So many decisions, and now is the most time to make something of it.

What are your thoughts on the return of Alexandre Texier?

More to come...

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