Josh Anderson, who remains unsigned eight days before the Columbus Blue Jackets begin their regular season, has requested a trade from the NHL club, although the club says that has not been conveyed to them.
After the original publication, Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen reached out.
“This trade request is news to me,” he said. “And we are not looking to trade Josh Anderson.”
This might be an issue of semantics… that the idea of a sign-and-trade was broached, but it’s clear a difficult negotiation has taken its toll.
Anderson is a restricted free agent. On Tuesday, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported the team and player were “as little as $150,000 per year (apart) on a three-year contract — but both sides are standing firm on principle.”