NHL Rumors: Blue Jackets Have Surprising New Trade Candidate
Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff published his annual change-of-scenery trade candidate list Friday and placed Johnson first, identifying the 23-year-old as the most likely buy-low candidate in the offseason market.
Frank Seravalli's first trade board of the 2026 offseason also included Johnson's name, making this the second prominent hockey media figure in a week to raise the question publicly.
Columbus, for its part, has pushed back.
What the Season Looked Like
The fifth overall pick in the 2021 draft generated the highest individual scoring chance rate of his career at five-on-five this season by underlying metrics.
Everything else suggested the opposite.
Johnson was a healthy scratch on multiple occasions.
Kent Johnson a healthy scratch. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/ZeiSnpHAv5
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) February 28, 2026
By April, he was playing 11:11 per night, among the lowest ice time totals of any former top-five pick at his age on a team with playoff aspirations.
Head coach Rick Bowness, who took over midseason and oversaw a significant cultural reset in Columbus, said publicly he had watched tape of what Johnson was capable of offensively but had not seen it consistently enough in the games since his arrival.
"I showed him tape," Bowness told reporters in February after a healthy scratch. "I need to see that."
The coaching staff felt he was getting muscled off pucks too often, a physical development gap that has been the primary obstacle between the version of Johnson that exists in the mind of whoever drafted him and the version that has shown up in Columbus over parts of four NHL seasons.
He recorded just seven goals and 22 points over 76 games played this year.
What Daily Faceoff Said
"Johnson's breathtaking natural skill with the puck has never been in question, but the rest of his game has not caught up, to the point he's looking like the second coming of Sonny Milano, another Blue Jackets first-round bust," Larkin wrote.
The comparison to Milano, who was drafted with the 16th overall pick in 2014, never cracked the lineup in Columbus, and ultimately carved out a modest career elsewhere, is a comparison that front offices do not want held up to them.
Kent Johnson with a nasty shootout winner #CBJ pic.twitter.com/LBuKe4AXw4
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) January 7, 2023
The argument for acquiring Johnson is equally well-established.
He still generates elite individual puck skill.
He's just 23 years old, and his underlying scoring chance numbers at even strength were the best of his career this season despite the shrinking ice time.
A team willing to trust him in a role that maximizes what he does best, rather than asking him to develop his physical game in real time, could buy low on a former top-five pick at his absolute lowest organizational value.
Just last season, Johnson had the best season of his young career, recording 24 goals and 57 points over 68 games played.
What Columbus Actually Thinks
The Blue Jackets reportedly still value Johnson and believe his best is yet to come, and that the organization is not actively shopping him.
Also, unless Columbus is involved in a larger deal for a significant upgrade, Johnson is expected to remain a Blue Jacket heading into 2026-27.
Over his five-year career, Johnson has recorded 53 goals and 138 total points across 274 games played.
Photo Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
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