Zach Werenski released a statement about his future but do not read too much into it

Zach Werenski put all trade speculation to rest with a statement that says he's committed to Columbus, but a slow start may quickly change his mind.

All the hoopla over the past week or so has been whether or not Zach Werenski is actually going to get traded. After reportedly wanting out of Columbus, he rejected a trade to Dallas that would have seen Thomas Harley head to the Blue Jackets, and then all attention turned to the Maple Leafs and Lightning as the two frontrunners.

Toronto could offer anything from a package centred around Matthew Knies to one that has both Easton Cowan and Ben Danford involved not to mention a handful of premium draft picks meanwhile Tampa has pieces like JJ Moser, Connor Geekie and Sam O'Reilly who they could part with to help rebuild Columbus.

Zach Werenski shuts the door on trade rumours with a public commitment to Columbus

For now though, nothing has materialized and it sounds like from a new development we may be waiting a while until a deal comes around again.

Both Columbus GM Don Waddell and Werenski put out separate statements regarding the trade speculation, with Werenski fully committing to the Blue Jackets for the remainder of his deal:

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Werenski reiterated that while he had discussions with Waddell, those were meant to stay private and the trade speculation went from just potential worst-case scenarios into a full-blown firestorm of rumours and hearsay.

This all seemed to stem from the numerous rumours we heard about American players wishing to move to more competitive teams or perhaps play with more familiar faces. We saw Brady Tkachuk go to Florida to play with his brother meanwhile Dylan Larkin requested a trade a while back and it's been rumoured he wants to play in Minnesota with Quinn Hughes.

But Werenski hasn't been innocent either, as he was reported to only be interested in Toronto and it makes you wonder whether it's less of a commitment from Werenski and more the fact that both parties couldn't come to a deal, and now all of a sudden it's only Columbus in mind? Something isn't adding up.

A July statement is meaningless if Columbus struggles out the gate

Though if you read a little bit between the lines, Werenski didn't exactly state that he was here for the long-haul, just here for now. He's only got two years left and the Blue Jackets have already lost a key piece of their lineup in Boone Jenner, and the team right now doesn't exactly scream playoff contender.

Taking a look at the Metropolitan Division, a lot of teams improved. Both the Rangers and Devils made some savvy moves, and the Capitals have been on a spending spree and just added Jenner to the fold along with Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch.

So what does Columbus have to show for it? They have signed a 34-year old Pheonix Copley, Owen Sillinger, Riley Bezeau and their one 'splash' which was Ryan Lomberg. Otherwise it's unspectacular and you wonder how Columbus is going to withstand the revamped Metro.

So what happens if the team gets off to a rough start and isn't able to catch up? Will they somehow find the pieces to acquire someone at the deadline without sacrificing their future or lineup? What if Werenski's top-tier effort is rewarded with a lack of help elsewhere?

You'd start to question why he would stick around. Sure, there's some points for being noble and sticking with it but this isn't Jordan Staal in Carolina where you're a perpetual contender who just missed out for years.

Columbus hasn't won a playoff round since 2018-19, and Werenski has only appeared in 29 postseason games and 13 points. He hasn't been given nearly enough time to show what he can do in a lengthy run, and it's hard to see them being able to this season.

Though things can certainly surprise us and we could be looking at Werenski leading the Blue Jackets in a Cinderella-esque run in the playoffs.

But odds are he doesn't, and it'll be another year of him wondering if sticking around is really worth it if it'll never lead to anything.

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