
COLUMBUS, Ohio — After five seasons with the Boston Bruins, Sean Kuraly is coming home.
The gritty bottom-six center, known for his clutch performances in big games, has signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Blue Jackets on the opening day of free agency. Kuraly, who grew up in Dublin, a suburb of Columbus, will have a $2.5 million salary cap hit.
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“I’ve played against this team the last few years, and I’ve got a ton of respect for the guys on this team, the way this team plays,” Kuraly told The Athletic. “I believe in what’s going on here. I believe in management. I believe in the direction. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have considered signing here. It’s just a plus that it’s in my hometown.”
Kuraly joins fellow central Ohioan Jack Roslovic in the Blue Jackets’ lineup, which has been overhauled by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen in recent days through massive trades and now free agency.
The Blue Jackets also made a flurry of in-house moves on Wednesday. Signing forwards Boone Jenner and Eric Robinson to contract extensions and announcing that winger Patrik Laine has accepted his qualifying offer.
Jenner signed a four-year extension worth $15 million, keeping him under contract through the 2025-26 season. Robinson signed a two-year extension worth $3.2 million, keeping him around through 2023-24.
Laine will make $7.5 million this coming season under a one-year deal, and he’ll be a restricted free agent one last time next summer. As presently constructed, only winger Jakub Voracek ($8.25 million) will draw a bigger salary than Laine.
Kekalainen is also expected to pursue a right-side defenseman via free agency, but an energetic, gritty center was said to be the immediate focus, and the club’s interest in Kuraly was a poorly kept secret around the league.
The Blue Jackets can certainly use Kuraly on the ice. They’ve been perilously thin at center since trading Pierre-Luc Dubois to Winnipeg early last season, and they’ve lost a bunch of seasoned penalty killers dating back to last season’s trade deadline.
“He’s a great two-way center who’s a proven winner, has been on a very good team the past few years and been a big part of it,” Kekalainen said. “Him being a Columbus boy, that’s a bonus. But we believe he’s going to bring a strong two-way presence to our lineup. A guy who can take faceoffs, kill penalties and play the heavy matchups, as well.”
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In 270 NHL games, Kuraly has 24 goals, 44 assists and 68 points, with a career-best six goals and 23 points during the 2018-19 season. In 54 career playoff games, he has nine goals and 19 career playoff points, including four game-winning goals.
During the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against St. Louis, Kuraly had the game-winning goal in two of the three Bruins’ wins. Boston beat Columbus in six games in the second round that year.
“I look back to 2019, and we came one win away from the Stanley Cup,” Kuraly said. “But that series against Columbus was the hardest series we played. No question. Top to bottom, from the oldest of vets to the youngest of guys … it was a six-game series, but it was the skin of our teeth.
“I want to be on a team like that. I don’t want to play for a team that just falls apart or rolls over when it gets tough. I think the organization is ready to get back to where they were (in 2019).”
The Blue Jackets can use Kuraly in the dressing room, too, which has been gutted of veteran players over the last several months. Defensemen Seth Jones and David Savard, and forwards Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno, have all been traded since late April.
Kuraly was a respected member of the Bruins, a club that is loaded with revered veteran players such as Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. Kuraly should have a more prominent voice in Columbus.
“I’ve talked to all those guys the last couple of days,” Kuraly said. “I just said thank you to all of those guys. I’ve learned so much. They’re amazing players and great people.
“But what I take from them … is their practice habits. They practice so hard every single day. They didn’t care if it was against a kid that was just called up (from the minors) or a guy who’s been here for eight years, they went hard. Every drill is just ‘I win. That’s what I do,’ and this is in practice. You go so hard on the ice and then you get off the ice and have a great time hanging out with each other.”
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With the Bruins, Kuraly played exclusively in the bottom six, only seldomly moving up to the third line. Still, he was an important player for Boston, leaned on by coach Bruce Cassidy in high-pressure situations.
Over the last four years, only Marchand (270) and Pastrnak (266) played in more games than Kuraly (262). Marchand and Bergeron are also the only two players with more short-handed minutes than Kuraly, and only Bergeron took more defensive-zone faceoffs.
The Blue Jackets have been abysmal on the faceoff dot in recent seasons. Last season, they were 30th in the 31-team league at 45.3 percent.
Kuraly gives the Blue Jackets a second forward, along with Jenner, who can take important draws. He was sixth in the NHL last season (among players with 200-plus draws) with a 58.3 success rate on defensive-zone faceoffs; Jenner was 15th at 55 percent.
“My role with Columbus is mostly up to me, up to how I play,” Kuraly said. “I’ll bring what I bring, and they’ll decide how it best helps the team. It’s all up for grabs.
“I know where I fit in Boston. Is that where I fit here? Quite possibly. Maybe likely. But I don’t want to limit myself and I don’t want to come in over (expectations). I’m ready to play what they need me to play.”
Kekalainen added: “You always want guys who push for a bigger role, but he has shown that he plays the same way, with the same type of character and competitiveness no matter what. Whichever role he’s in, he’s a team-first guy with a lot of character.
“Those were the things we value a lot. We’ll let his play decide what role he fills with our team. If he wants and can push for a bigger role here, that’s great.”
Kuraly said he’s a low-maintenance guy when it comes to sweater numbers, too. Good thing. The No. 52 he wore in Boston is currently occupied in Columbus by Emil Bemstrom.
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“The last thing I want to do is come into the organization and start stealing numbers,” Kuraly said. “It’ll talk to the equipment guys, Jamie (Healy) and Timmy (Leroy). It’s never been a big concern for me, though, really.
“In Boston, they threw No. 52 at me on my first day and I never changed. I’ll have a number; that’s all that matters.
The Blue Jackets also signed defenseman Gavin Bayreuther to a two-year contact just a week after losing his rights when he was claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. The Kraken never signed Bayreuther, so the Blue Jackets brought him back. His contract for 2021-22 is a two-way deal. The 2022-23 portion of the contract is a one-way NHL deal.
(Top photo of Sean Kuraly: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
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