Blue Jackets Place Emil Andrae, Danton Heinen On Waivers

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Columbus Blue Jackets have placed defenseman Emil Andrae and forward Danton Heinen on waivers. Columbus would free up $2.225MM in cap space by reassigning both to the Cleveland Monsters in the AHL.

The Blue Jackets acquired Andrae one day before the first game of the 2026-27 season, in the blockbuster trade that sent Kirill Marchenko to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Matthew Knies to Columbus. However, the Maple Leafs had only acquired Andrae from the Philadelphia Flyers a few months earlier in a separate trade.

It was clear relatively early last season that the Flyers were willing to move Andrae. He quickly became a frequent reassignment/recall option, causing frustration. He finished the year with two goals and 13 points in 61 games with a +15 rating, averaging 15:20 of ice time per game. Ready for a fresh start, Andrae signed a two-year, $3.1MM ($1.55MM AAV) contract with the Maple Leafs.

Unfortunately, that two-year deal led to his departure from the Maple Leafs. Because of the NHL’s tagging rules, Toronto initially couldn’t complete the trade with Columbus because they were projected to exceed next season’s salary cap. To help facilitate the deal, the Blue Jackets took on the contracts of Andrae and forward Steven Lorentz, each signed through the 2027-28 campaign.

Those same tagging rules will disqualify the Maple Leafs from claiming Andrae, despite their need on the blue line. According to PuckPedia, Toronto would need to clear roughly $900K of a one-way cap hit in the 2027-28 campaign if they want to be eligible to claim him. That’s unlikely to happen in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets are also clearing Heinen from the active roster. The 11-year veteran re-signed with Columbus this past offseason on a one-year, $1MM contract. He has gone scoreless through his first 10 contests of the 2026-27 campaign with a -2 rating, averaging 10:10 of ice time per game.