When Sean Kuraly signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the summer of 2021, it was a feel-good story that a player who grew up in Central Ohio was choosing to come home. He also was going to provide much-needed center depth, and over the last three seasons he has met expectations. Through five seasons in Boston, Kuraly had a career high of 8 goals. He has eclipsed that each year in Columbus.
The downside to Kuraly is a common complaint about the Larsen/Vincent era: he was relied on too much. His average time on ice in Boston was 13:09 per game, but he averaged over 15 minutes a game in his first two seasons with the Jackets. That extra two minutes featured diminishing returns. His offense improved here, but still wasn’t worth the amount of offensive shifts he received.
Fortunately, things returned to normal under Vincent, with Kuraly averaging 13:44. The arrival of Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov and the improvement of Cole Sillinger meant there was no longer a vacuum for Kuraly to fill. He could settle in to that fourth line role.
2023-24 Stats
Games: 62
Goals: 9
Assists: 9
Points: 18
Plus/Minus: -5
PIM: 40
5v5 Corsi%: 47.5
5v5 Fenwick%: 46.8
Off Zone Start %: 33.8
Contract
Kuraly has one year remaining on his four-year contract, with a cap hit and salary of $2.5 million. He also has a 10 team no trade list. The question is, does he have a future in Columbus? He turns 32 in January, and there are young centers coming up the pipeline who could play a bottom 6 role soon. His cap hit isn’t terrible, but it’s possible to find cheaper depth centers.
I’m all for keeping Kuraly on a hometown discount. He’s a useful depth player and a good locker room presence. However, if Don Waddell doesn’t see him as a future piece, then Kuraly could fetch a decent return at the deadline. Every contending team looks to add a player like him for the playoff push. When the Bruins reached the Cup Final in 2019, Kuraly had 10 points in 20 games.
High Point
In Anaheim in February, Kuraly had his only multi-goal game of the season. The first goal extended the lead to 4-0 at the beginning of the second period. After an Anaheim comeback, Kuraly added an insurance goal just 49 seconds after Yegor Chinakhov scored the go-ahead goal.
I was there, and as excruciating as the second period was, the rest of the game was really fun!
Low Point
Kuraly missed the most games of his career, with 20 games split over two injuries. The first was a freak injury in December, where he took a stick handle to the gut, and missed three weeks with an abdominal bruise. Then in March he missed another four weeks with a lower body injury.
Report Card
B
This grade is more based on “filling his depth role sufficiently” rather than “one of the better forwards on the team.” He was the best penalty-killing forward, at least.