Jarmo Kekalainen is indirectly tapping the brakes on trade speculation revolving around Colorado forward Matt Duchene and his Columbus Blue Jackets.
While he'd like to add a high-end player at the center position, Kekalainen isn't prepared to break the bank to get it done this summer.
"We have until the (trade) deadline next spring," Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Dispatch. "We're always trying to improve our team, but we've always said we're not going to go crazy and mortgage the future to try and get a short-term fix.
"We feel like our window is just starting to crack open. We're a young team. We don't see any reason to try and go crazy. We don't want to be kicking ourselves two or three years from now."
The Blue Jackets are reported to be in the mix for Duchene's services, along with Nashville and Boston.
Kekalainen already made a big move by trading Brandon Saad for Artemi Panarin, and only two players over 30 remain on the roster following the buyout of Scott Hartnell: Brandon Dubinsky (31) and Jack Johnson (30).
Columbus also finished sixth in scoring last season and fourth in the overall standings.
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