Blue Jackets to slide final year of Alexandre Texier's contract

Texier did not play in the NHL at all during the 2022-23 season, citing personal reasons. He played 46 games for Zurich SC in the Swiss-A league, scoring 13 goals and 35 points. 

He had former NHLers Lucas Wallmark, Juho Lammikko, Mikko Lehtonen, Sven Andrighetto, and former Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan alongside him in Zurich this year.

The French native had an unlikely path to the NHL. He was drafted out of Grenoble, a hockey team from France. He didn’t put up great numbers there but the Blue Jackets obviously saw something in him, enough to select him in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft.

He played the following two seasons in the Finnish SM-Liiga for KalPa Kuopio, scoring 22 and 41 points, respectively. From 2019-22, Texier played most almost exclusively in Columbus. Over that span, he scored 22 goals and 49 points in 123 NHL games.

Texier is a young, skilled winger who still has to work on his game to cement himself as a top-six winger in the NHL. When he returns to the Blue Jackets, he’ll find himself joining a largely unfamiliar team. 

Many of the best players on the 2021-22 Blue Jackets have moved on to other teams, including Gustav Nyquist, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Vladislav Gavrikov, Max Domi, and Joonas Korpisalo. However, his main linemates from the 2021-22 season, Eric Robinson and Sean Kuraly are still members of the Blue Jackets organization.

“Alexandre is an outstanding, young player, who is an important part of our team” Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen commented. “We are excited that he will be rejoining the club as expected next season. His well-being has been our sole priority and we couldn’t be happier that he is ready to resume what is a very promising NHL career at this time.”