Blue Jackets modify former first-round pick's recall

The Blue Jackets are down to two post-trade deadline recalls after they covered Brendan Gaunce’s emergency recall into a standard one Sunday, per a team release. The club also assigned winger Trey Fix-Wolansky to AHL Cleveland.

Gaunce, 29, has been in the majors since an emergency summons on March 12 in the wake of depth forward Justin Danforth exiting the lineup due to a suspected concussion and a brief illness sidelining Kirill Marchenko. 

The 6-foot-2, 217-pound center has played in all seven Blue Jackets games since, recording a goal and a -2 rating while averaging 12:19 per game.

The 2012 first-round pick is on his third NHL organization, ending up with Columbus in 2021 after stints with the Canucks, Bruins and the Swedish Hockey League’s Vaxjo Lakers HC. 

He hasn’t been overtly impressive in major-league minutes while with the Blue Jackets, posting 7-5–12 in 50 games over the last three seasons with a -3 rating while averaging under 10 minutes per contest. 

Keeping him around allows younger prospects like Fix-Wolansky to play out the stretch run of the minor league campaign with Cleveland and log high-end minutes.

Gaunce, who remains third on Cleveland in scoring with 19-20–39 in 46 games, is in the back half of a two-year, $1.525M extension signed in June 2022. 

He carries a cap hit of $762.5K but earns a slightly higher base salary of $775K in the NHL due to the league minimum increasing by $25K last offseason.

Fix-Wolansky was the first post-deadline standard recall for the CBJ, coming up to the majors on March 8 after lighting up the minors at over a point-per-game pace (23-31–54 in 51 GP). 

The 5-foot-8 winger could not convert that success to the majors, however, posting one assist in eight games with a -2 rating. His only other NHL appearance this season came during a brief recall in November, and he was held without a point in a loss to the Coyotes.

The 24-year-old will return to spark Cleveland as they jockey for playoff positioning in the AHL’s North Division, in which they sit second with a 35-21-3-3 record. He’s appeared in NHL games in three straight seasons, a solid feat for the 2018 seventh-round pick.

Fix-Wolansky is in the first season of a two-year, $1.55M extension he inked shortly before reaching restricted free agency last summer. He earns a $350K salary while in the minors but is guaranteed at least $425K in salary this year.