The Blue Jackets are happy to have the two veterans, who will help lengthen the team’s lineup by bringing a combined 944 games of NHL experience to the table. They’re similar players as well, hard-working, character guys who can kill penalties, deliver hits and turn in a dependable effort.
“We’ve been real pleased with our depth of the entire organization this year – we've talked about that a few times – but (it’s nice) to add guys that have played in the National Hockey League a long time,” head coach Dean Evason said. “It’s not that the guys in Cleveland haven’t done a fantastic job when they’ve been called up into situations, but we do (add) players that have played in the NHL. To have that experience certainly is positive.”
Added from San Jose for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft, Kunin slotted into the team’s third line with Justin Danforth and Yegor Chinakhov at Saturday’s practice. The 2016 first-round pick has played 422 NHL games with the Wild, Predators and Sharks, notching 11 goals, 18 points and 163 hits – tied for 24th in the league this year at the deadline – this season in 63 games while wearing an “A” for the Sharks.
Evason coached Kunin when the center/wing first broke into the league with Minnesota and is quite familiar with a player who has 73 goals and 142 points in his NHL career.
“I’ve had him before,” Evason said. “I know his game. I know what he brings. He brings physicality, he brings an intensity level, he brings a leadership quality that’s a fantastic factor to bring into your locker room. He will play the game hard every night. He’ll fit in wonderful with this group.”
Kunin was at the U.S. program at the same time as Zach Werenski and played in the Nashville organization with Blue Jackets Dante Fabbro and Mathieu Olivier, so he said he knows what to expect now that he’s in Columbus.
“It’s definitely a team I had circled and I wanted to be a part of, so I feel very lucky and fortunate that it happened like that,” Kunin said. “It’s the way they play. I’m close with Fabs and I talked to Z and Matty O, and obviously with how close of a group of this is and the buy-in of the group, you hear just how special this room is. I’m very excited to be a part of that.”
Fischer, 27, was added off waivers from the Red Wings and should bring size (6-2, 212), energy and personality to the table. A nine-year veteran known with Arizona and Detroit for his affable nature in the locker room, he’s skated in 522 career games with 62 goals and 137 points while topping 100 hits six times. So far this season, he had a goal, six assists and 89 hits in 45 games with the Red Wings but said he struggled to find a role with the team after a midseason coaching switch.
As a result, he’s happy for a fresh start in Columbus, and he alternated in with the team's fourth line Saturday morning.
“I’ve had the most frustrating year of my career up to this point,” Fischer said. “With the coaching change in Detroit in December, it just never really fell my way after that. It’s pretty cool to come to a competitive team. Not too many times do you get to jump in the standings when you get traded. I think that’s a really cool scenario.
“Playing against them, you know how these guys play, and I think that’s right up my alley. I think that’s the coolest thing is to play my game, this whole team plays a similar way, and I want to do that.”
And while Fischer gets a chance to join an old friend in Columbus in Kunin, he said he already feels like he has a bunch of new ones given his welcome to the Blue Jackets.
“Once I got traded here, almost every single guy sends you a text to welcome you to the team,” he said. “I think little things like that go a long way. It makes you want to compete harder on the ice and work together. If you have to block that shot with your face, you got to do it because every other guy would, too.
“Like I said, it goes a long way. I would assume that’s a big reason why they’re having so much success on the ice is how well they get along down here, obviously led by (captain Boone Jenner) and Z. It’s pretty cool to be a part of.”
