Joonas Korpisalo 's focus was divided last season.
After the Blue Jackets signed goalie Elvis Merzlikins to a five-year contract extension , Korpisalo couldn't help but think of his own status as a pending free agent . He also had a hip injury that required surgery in the spring , a lack of interested teams on the trade market, a looming deadline to meet his unserved Finnish military obligation — right around the time Russia invaded Ukraine — plus a wedding to plan with his fiancée.
Combined with returning to the backup role, it's no wonder Korpisalo's numbers bottomed out in 2021-22 with a 7-11-0 record, 4.15 goals-against average and .877 save percentage.
"I was thinking more and it kind of hurt me," said Korpisalo, who has returned from surgery free of pain this season and looks more like the goalie he was three years ago while setting an NHL record with 85 saves in a five-overtime playoff game . "That was a lesson learned."
Other than getting married while recovering from surgery this past summer in Helsinki, not a lot has changed for Korpisalo. He's still a possible trade target as a pending free agent with an economical one-year contract worth just $1.3 million, and his military obligation was merely delayed by the injury.
Merzlikins has also added a layer to the Blue Jackets' goaltending situation with a rough start to the first year of his new contract, which carries an annual cap charge of $5.4 million.
Merzlikins and Korpisalo are 28, but the Finn would be easiest to move despite a 4.16 GAA going into a game Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens . Korpisalo is a solid, proven NHL netminder when healthy and playing behind a good defense. That, combined with a low cap number as a pending free agent, should make his return value satisfactory for a trade.
Merzlikins, on the other hand, would be more difficult to deal with his current struggles and four more years of a significantly higher cap charge.
"It's just fun to play," Korpisalo said. "I've met with (my agent), but we talked about anything other than hockey. Right now, I'm just playing hockey again and having fun. That's all that it is. All the other stuff happens when it happens. My thing is to worry about my game and being my best out there."
Kent Johnson is off to a good start in his rookie season, and the Blue Jackets' fifth overall pick in the 2021 NHL draft appears to be pushing for a bigger role.
That doesn't mean he's in line for a promotion, though.
Johnson, who had four goals and nine points in 13 games before facing Montreal on Wednesday, is being used by coach Brad Larsen on the left wing of the third line — including the Jackets' 5-3 victory last Sunday over the Florida Panthers at Nationwide Arena. He's also getting time with the top power-play group amid a slew of injuries , but that doesn't mean he'll center a line or earn a top-six forward role soon.
"I'll keep saying that word, 'patience,' " Larsen said. "We talk about him every day, and I get it. He's a special player. He's got a long career ahead of him, all right? So, as of right now, he's best suited to play wing."
Larsen's assessment is based on matchups he feels Johnson isn't ready to handle while playing center or even wing for a top-six line.
"Every time you move up a line, that's … '(Connor) Verhaeghe, (Aleksander) Barkov," Larsen said, listing off top Panthers forwards. "That's (Matthew) Tkachuk and (Sam) Bennett. So, (Johnson's) a guy that we have to be really patient with. He's got a lot of promise. He is a good hockey player, but just understand it's going to take some time here. And that's OK."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo more focused
