They had a historic winning streak, one of the best regular seasons in the entire league, and the postseason was over before the Columbus Blue Jackets could ever dig in. The Penguins beat the Blue Jackets in five games, but the foundation has been laid in Columbus. Seth Jones and Zach Werenski are the backbone of a great defense, and some of the top prospects drafted by GM Jarmo Kekalainen have yet to play in the NHL.

This young team has a great future. Here are the priorities for their offseason:

1. Maneuver around expansion draft

Kekalainen’s biggest offseason challenge is finding a way to prevent Vegas from grabbing a useful player from his roster. The depth he has collected in Columbus mixed with no-movement clauses make things a little iffy for the Blue Jackets. Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell all have no-movement clauses that require them to be part of the Blue Jackets' protected list.

Hartnell is the toughest one to reconcile. Maybe he’ll waive it, but the team can’t risk losing a good, young skater because of these contracts.

The other challenge comes in goal. Sergei Bobrovsky has a no-movement clause and has to be protected, which is fine. He should win the Vezina, you want him around despite his postseason struggles. That exposes a good young goalie like Joonas Korpisalo. This is a smart, creative front office. It’ll be interesting to see how they maneuver this situation.

2. Clear some veteran salary

This kind of goes hand in hand with No. 1, but regardless of who is exposed or not exposed, the Blue Jackets would do well to get out of some of the big money up front in order to provide flexibility and opportunity for younger players. The Hartnell deal is the big one, but as much as we like Dubinsky as a player and competitor, $5.85 million through 2020-21 is a lot of dough for a guy who just turned 30 and scored 12 goals this season.

3. Talk contract with UFA Sam Gagner

This is going to have to wait until after the expansion draft, because there’s no sense signing him only to expose him or have to protect him, but Gagner has been a great fit in Columbus. He’s going to get a raise from the bargain basement $650,000 he was earning this season, but during a season in which he scored 18 goals and registered 50 points, he certainly earned it.

Restricted free agent Alexander Wennberg needs a new contract and is a candidate to sign a long-term deal, especially if Columbus can remove one of the veterans off the books.