- Columbus signs defenseman Colton White to a two-year, two-way contract
- White earns $850K at the NHL level in year one and $900K in year two
- Read below for what the 29-year-old blueliner brings to the Jackets
The Blue Jackets added a familiar type of player to their back end on Monday.
Columbus signed defenseman Colton White to a two-year, two-way deal, the team announced. PuckPedia filled in the numbers a little later. White will make $850,000 at the NHL level next season and $900,000 the year after, with a $300,000 salary if he spends time in the AHL.
That last figure matters, because the minors are where White has spent most of his career. He earned $275,000 with the AHL’s Utica Comets last season, so this is a small raise and a two-year runway with a new organization.
White is 29 and has bounced around a bit. Outside of a two-year stretch in the Ducks system, he has been a New Jersey guy going back to Binghamton in 2017-18. Injuries on the Devils blue line opened a door for him last season, and he grabbed the chance to play 23 NHL games.
White finished with four assists, a plus-2 rating and just over 12 minutes a night. Across his career he has 14 assists in 107 NHL games. In the AHL, he has piled up 21 goals and 98 points in 345 contests.
None of this shakes up the top of the Columbus depth chart. White is insurance, a veteran who can slide in when injuries hit and hold his own in the minors when they don’t.
The bigger swings are still out there for GM Don Waddell, and the Blue Jackets trade buzz keeps hanging over their summer. Signing White just hands the Jackets one more option on the blue line while they chase something larger.
