One trade the Blue Jackets would like to have back

June 23, 2011 is a day that fans of the Blue Jackets would like to forget. They made a big splash at the draft that day, acquiring center Jeff Carter from Philadelphia. He was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of their forward group but it didn’t work out like that at all.

Before even looking at what they gave up to get him, let’s look at Carter’s tenure with Columbus. It lasted all of 39 games where he picked up 11 goals and 10 assists, numbers that were considerably down from his time with the Flyers.

Some may want to attribute that to the fact that he simply didn’t want to be there. Philadelphia dealt Carter before his trade protection kicked in and he didn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t happy about it.

So, what did the Blue Jackets give up for those 39 unhappy games? A young winger and two draft picks. That doesn’t sound terrible until you look at who those players wound up being.

The young winger was Jakub Voracek who was coming off his entry-level deal and had already established himself as a capable top-six forward. The seventh overall pick in 2007 took his game to another level in Philadelphia as expected and has spent a large portion of his time since then as a fixture on their front line.

One of the two draft picks was the eighth overall selection in 2011. That was used on center Sean Couturier. While it took some time for the offensive side of his game to blossom, he has been an effective defensive pivot throughout his career. Heading into this season, he had back-to-back 76-point seasons and was on pace for another 70-point year before the pandemic hit. Couple that with his defensive skill set and you have a legitimate number one center which is what Columbus was trying to get when they added Carter. The other draft pick, a third-round selection, was used on Nick Cousins who has carved out a decent career thus far even though he has bounced around over the last few years.

(It wasn’t all good news for Philadelphia though. This move, coupled with the swap of Mike Richards to Los Angeles, gave them enough cap savings to pave the way for them to sign Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year contract.  He was bought out two years later and the Flyers are now paying him through the 2026-27 season to not play for them.)