Shocking turn of events for James Van Riemsdyk: he is signing elsewhere

National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston was first to report the news this afternoon. He added that this is a proper contract, not a professional tryout or PTO. This is noteworthy considering how many players we have seen sign PTOs in the past week or so. It is certainly that time of the season.

With that being said, the Blue Jackets are in sudden need of more forward depth after the tragic loss of Johnny Gaudreau last month. As such, it makes sense that they would agree to sign JVR to a proper deal. In fact, shortly after Johnston reported the news, the team made the announcement official.

Van Riemsdyk's cap hit comes in at 900 thousand dollars, just above league minimum. Last season he recorded 38 points in 71 games playing a fourth-line role for the Boston Bruins. In his career he is up to 1011 regular-season games played and has 311 career goals and 318 assists for 629 points.

With the addition of JVR, the Blue Jackets are now up to a team cap hit of just over 63 million dollars. They still need to spend an additional 2 million to reach the cap floor of 65 million dollars. At this point in the summer, their options are going to be limited, so it will be interesting to see how they get there.