Eklund: Will The Jackets NOT move Provorov Now? Habs talking trade?

Unless teams like Columbus, Calgary, Montreal, etc...go on a long losing skid and are suddenly 10 points out then the answer is simple. NONE of these teams will be sellers. Selling Provorov to Montreal when you are both vying for the same playoff spot is nonsense.

Similarly, unless teams like Pitt, Philly, Detroit, NYI suddenly win 8 of 10 then they aren't going to be buyers. The West is even easier. The 8 teams out of a playoff spot today have little chance of getting back into it. Those are your 8 sellers. All the others will look to add depth.

This really isn't as complicated as it seems!

Provorov is not RH and he only plays the left side

Nothing will happen until after the 4 nations cup.

Provorov Actually is a left shot but plays on the right.

Jackets never indicated they would trade him, just the talking heads took it for granted. I strongly believe he will be extended.

This isn’t Waddle’s first rodeo.

I believe after never being willing to play the right side in Philly, he has finally warmed to the idea in Cbus.

Waddell has already had preliminary discussions with Provorov's agent. I assume it's to see what the ballpark is for term and $$ on a contract extension. If it's not close to what Waddell wants to do, Provorov's gone. His contract is 6 yr x $6.7MM AAV - and he'll want a raise. He's a top-4 D, so maybe GMDW will offer 6 yr x $7.5MM ?? I'd like 5 yrs better, but go to 6.

The problem is what to do with Severson ?? He's locked in for 6 more years x $6.2MM and it's already an old contract. Can you get someone to take that ? With $$ retention, and sweeteners in picks and prospects ??
Plus Z is set for 3 more years x $9.5MM.
That'd be three top-4 D(Severson will drop out of a top-4 rank quickly) tied to long-ish term contracts.

After the above 3 we have Dante Fabbro - who I expect GMDW to extend for a couple of seasons, a D prospect (Mateychuk) who is pretty much NHL ready; 2-3 others who are probably decent 5-7 D, and 3-4 who still need 1-3 seasons of marinating in AHL or lower.

Bottom line - I like Provorov, most of the time - he's younger, and he has fewer brain farts than Severson -, and I think he's worth keeping, even at term.

I'm disregarding Gudbranson and Jack Johnson. I don't think they'll be in Columbus next season.