{"id":6085,"date":"2026-07-02T20:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085"},"modified":"2026-07-02T20:36:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:36:39","slug":"blue-jackets-gm-don-waddell-reiterates-there-is-no-animosity-with-star-defenseman-zach-werenski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
FILE – Columbus Blue Jackets\u2019 Zach Werenski plays against the Los Angeles Kings during an NHL hockey game, March 9, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo\/Jay LaPrete, File)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Zach Werenski decided in less than an hour to reject a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Dallas Stars<\/a> .<\/p>

Read more Valdez helps Pirates beat Phillies 6-1 to split their four-game series<\/a><\/p>\n

It took a couple of days, however, for the star defenseman and his team to make sure they were on the same page moving forward.<\/p>\n

General manager Don Waddell and Werenski met Wednesday to clear the air and then both issued statements proclaiming all was well, with both sides focusing on the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Waddell said Thursday after the conclusion of Columbus\u2019 rookie development camp that Werenski\u2019s veto of a trade to Dallas was more about staying with the Blue Jackets than going to the Stars.<\/p>\n

The Norris Trophy winner<\/a> has two years remaining on his contract, including a full no-trade clause this year. That clause gets reduced to 10 teams on July 1, 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim and his family have been talking about and thinking about it (being traded) and now you get put where you have to make a decision,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cI thought they might think about it overnight but I got the answer back. It had to be right around an hour that he wants to be a Blue Jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple reports emerged before last week\u2019s NHL draft that Waddell was listening to offers, but things accelerated on Tuesday after Werenski rejected the Dallas deal.<\/p>\n

Waddell said Thursday that he has met multiple times with Werenski since the season ended, and that communication between the two sides was good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t miscommunication between me, him and his agent,\u201d Waddell told reporters. \u201cNothing against media, but when (the media) gets involved sometimes, there\u2019s a lot of speculation about what\u2019s going on. It was never a situation that we\u2019re on different pages by any means, as far as working against each other.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Former Olympian faces felony charge over alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism<\/a><\/p>\n

Rick Nash, the Blue Jackets\u2019 director of player development, and Werenski\u2019s agent, Judd Moldaver, also attended Wednesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

Werenski \u2014 the eighth overall pick by the Blue Jackets in the 2015 draft \u2014 won his first Norris Trophy this past season as the NHL\u2019s best defenseman. His 81 points, which included 22 goals, were second at the position.<\/p>\n

He tied the franchise record for assists (59) and joined Brian Leetch and Phil Housley as the only American-born defenseman in NHL history to post consecutive 80-point seasons.<\/p>\n

Werenski\u2019s goal is getting the Blue Jackets into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2020. Columbus has come painfully short the past two years, including going 3-9-1 down the stretch this past season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to worry about this year and put the best team on the ice we can and get back in the playoffs,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cWe\u2019ll just see how this year goes. Zach made it real clear to me and was very passionate when we met that he wants to be a Blue Jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Boone Jenner signing with Washington, Waddell did say there was a possibility that Werenski could be named the Blue Jackets\u2019 next captain, but that likely wouldn\u2019t be decided until around training camp in September.<\/p>\n

Werenski\u2019s intentions to stay in Columbus also takes one notable name off what already has been a busy offseason of stars on the move that has included Brady Tkachuk<\/a> and Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a> . Detroit\u2019s Dylan Larkin, who has the same agent as Werenski, also has made his trade demands known.<\/p>\n

Forward Kirill Marchenko, the Blue Jackets\u2019 leader in goals the past three seasons, also has two years remaining on his contract and has said he is unlikely to agree to an extension.<\/p>

Read more D.C. official tells Trump to build his arch somewhere else<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zach Werenski decided in less than an hour to reject a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Dallas Stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBlue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zach Werenski decided in less than an hour to reject a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Dallas Stars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T20:36:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f33ae4b433ae56ccbc8107ff70154f5e-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T20:36:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085\"},\"wordCount\":681,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085\",\"name\":\"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T20:36:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"FILE - Columbus Blue Jackets' Zach Werenski plays against the Los Angeles Kings during an NHL hockey game, March 9, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo\\\/Jay LaPrete, File)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6085#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"Zach Werenski decided in less than an hour to reject a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Dallas Stars","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-02T20:36:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1706,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f33ae4b433ae56ccbc8107ff70154f5e-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski","datePublished":"2026-07-02T20:36:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085"},"wordCount":681,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085","name":"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-02T20:36:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/94630124b61e2bd1aef805f67e78accd-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1706,"caption":"FILE - Columbus Blue Jackets' Zach Werenski plays against the Los Angeles Kings during an NHL hockey game, March 9, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo\/Jay LaPrete, File)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6085#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell reiterates there is no animosity with star defenseman Zach Werenski"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}