Blue Jackets Projected to Lose Key UFA

The Columbus Blue Jackets have some notable free agents on the docket this offseason, and it sounds like they want to bring most of them back.

From captain Boone Jenner to newcomers this season in Charlie Coyle and Mason Marchment, to defenseman Erik Gudbranson, they'll have some decisions to make.

But according to insider Elliotte Friedman, speaking on NHL Morning Skate on NHL Network Radio on SiriusXM, he projects the Jackets will likely lose at least one of those UFAs—whether they want to or not.

I think it's going to be a challenge for Columbus to re-sign Coyle because I think the interest for him is going to be out there. Centers are hard to find.

In addition to playing a much-in-demand position, Coyle will also be a huge beneficiary of the fact that so many notable pending UFAs have re-upped with their incumbent teams, leaving this year's crop of impact forwards razor-thin.

Putting aside Alex Ovechkin, who will either retire or return to Washington, Coyle might be trailing only Alex Tuch on the UFA forwards list — and Tuch is no guarantee to hit July 1 either.

Will Charlie Coyle have a 'blank check' to write his next contract?

Given the market, the centermen supply and demand, plus the fact that Coyle had an excellent season with 20 goals and 58 points, the 34-year-old might be able to write his own check, in a sense.

In fact, that's what Aaron Portzline suggested in The Athletic this week, writing that he is "an immensely important contract for the Blue Jackets, such that Coyle could be seen as having a blank check to set his terms."

But listening to the player's exit interview comments, one has to wonder exactly what he thinks about his future:

“Could I see myself here? 100%. There are going to be some decisions, and we’ll see how things shake out. There are a lot of unknowns with what’s going on right now," Coyle said. "I have to see what’s going there, talk with my family, my people on my time and figure out what’s next. But I really, really enjoyed my time here."

A little bit of past tense there at the end, maybe?