A plague of injuries led to the Blue Jackets uncovering a hidden gem last season in defenseman Tim Berni.
Buried within the organizational depth chart, Berni was recalled from the Cleveland Monsters in late November and played his way into an everyday role on a depleted blue line. This season, he’s in training camp as a restricted free agent with a professional tryout offer.
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“At this point, I’m just trying to focus on playing,” Berni said. “There’s stuff that’s out of my control. I felt like I had a good year last year. I got a lot of opportunity, and now my agent’s talking with (the front office). It’s gone back and forth, but for me, I really wanted to come here. I still feel like I’m part of this organization, and I’m just trying to prove myself again. That’s all I can do right now.”
Berni, 23, had a goal and two assists in 59 games during his NHL debut season. The Blue Jackets tendered a one-year qualifying offer of $874,125 to retain his rights, a 5% raise from Berni’s base salary, but he declined. Now, a new NHL deal must be struck before Dec. 1 for Berni to play this season for the Blue Jackets, who have nearly all the leverage.
Berni wasn’t eligible to file for salary arbitration this summer and signing an offer sheet with another NHL team isn’t likely with a projected salary at less than $1 million per year. Interested teams could be enticed by potentially signing a young NHL defenseman for a low salary and no draft pick compensation at that salary range, but the Jackets could afford to match it.
So, Berni’s stuck in a holding pattern.
While awaiting the resolution of a contract, he’s out to prove that he’s worth keeping around during a training camp filled with talented defensemen. Even with an NHL contract, Berni could rank 10th or lower on the Jackets’ deep defensive depth chart.
Regardless, Berni built up a lot of confidence from his first NHL season.
“It certainly changed my perspective a little bit,” he said. “When you play against the best of the best, it makes you realize what you need to work on and what you’re good at. It gave me a confidence boost, I would say. As soon as you get a little taste of it, you obviously want to stay. That’s why everybody’s here, even guys that have played (for years). Nobody’s just going to quit.”
bhedger@dispatch.com
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets’ Tim Berni competes while awaiting deal
