Zach Werenski just killed the summer's biggest trade rumor, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are stuck holding the pieces.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Dallas Stars had a package built around Thomas Harley and Mavrik Bourque ready to go for Werenski.
The deal never happened. He said no.
The price was MASSIVE
Elliotte Friedman believes Thomas Harley AND Mavrik Bourque would've been part of the Stars' trade package for Zach Werenski if Werenski hadn't vetoed the deal.
That's the kind of trade rumor that makes you sit up straight, then makes you wonder what Columbus is actually building toward.
Werenski carries a cap hit of $9,583,333, the fifth-highest among defensemen in the league right now and the 23rd-highest cap hit overall.
He's not some rental hoping for a bigger role on a contender. He's the guy Columbus is paying like a franchise cornerstone, whether the record shows it or not.
The Stars, meanwhile, are not a team that needed to gamble. Dallas sits 50-20-12, third overall in the league with 112 points.
Blue jackets sit 18th while their franchise defenseman says no
The Blue Jackets are 40-30-12, 92 points, 18th overall, and stuck on a two-game skid after dropping their last matchup to Washington.
Rick Bowness has had this team since January and the Blue Jackets have still gone 2-7-1 over their last 10 games.
So why would a player on a club trending the wrong way turn down a shot at joining the third-best team in hockey?
Maybe he believes in what Don Waddell is building. Maybe he just likes his role. The report does not say, and neither does Werenski.
Handing over Harley and Bourque would have been like emptying the whole toolbox before the job is even finished, a price Dallas was still willing to pay.
Jim Nill and Glen Gulutzan's group has ridden a five-game winning streak into this stretch, going 7-2-1 over its last 10, proof they were built to win now.
That's exactly why the asking price got that high in the first place.
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Werenski stays put for now, but a $9.5 million defenseman who almost got moved does not become a story that quietly fades by August.
Should Zach Werenski have taken the deal and joined a Stanley Cup contender in Dallas?
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Connor Hellebuyck blockbuster: the Jets' asking price has finally been revealed
