2021 NHL year in review: January

Swapping Young Stars: Pierre-Luc Dubois didn’t exactly hide his desire to leave Columbus while Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic were certainly amenable to leaving Winnipeg. In the end, the three were all swapped for each other with the Jets picking up a third-round pick along with Dubois. Columbus retained enough of Dubois’ salary to make it a match with Laine while Roslovic quickly signed a two-year, $3.8 million bridge deal after being acquired. Interestingly enough, it was Roslovic who had the best season of the three as he picked up 34 points in 48 games with his new team. This season, however, Dubois has gotten off to a particularly strong start, notching more points than Laine and Roslovic combined (although Laine has been limited to just 10 games due to an oblique injury).

Big Extensions: After a promising rookie season, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was quite impressed with John Marino and handed him a six-year, $24.4 million extension that bought out the remainder of his RFA-eligible years plus three UFA seasons. At the time, it looked like the deal had the potential to be a big bargain for Pittsburgh down the road if he was able to build on his rookie performance, although there was some risk considering how inexperienced he was. The early returns have been inconsistent as he took a bit of a step back last season although Marino has bounced back this season, logging 22 minutes a game while chipping in with 12 points in 30 games. That’s the type of performance that could make this a team-friendly deal in the near future.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets were able to lock up one of their top young talents, inking Oliver Bjorkstrand to a five-year, $27 million extension. He has become a reliable top-six piece for Columbus and has become fairly consistent in the scoring department, ranging between 0.32 and 0.4 goals per game (between 26 and 33 over an 82-game season) in each of the last four years. The contract more than doubled his average annual value at the time and bought out four seasons of unrestricted free agency eligibility.

Rutherford Resigns: Just weeks after signing Marino, Rutherford abruptly resigned as GM of the Penguins, citing personal reasons for why he decided to leave. He was at the helm of Pittsburgh since 2014 with the Penguins winning a pair of Stanley Cups during his tenure with them. Of course, this won’t be the last time that Rutherford finds himself in one of these Month in Review columns over the coming days with him now being in Vancouver. Patrik Allvin took over as interim GM and has been speculatively linked as a candidate to join Rutherford with the Canucks in the coming weeks.