The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed former University of Denver defenseman Boston Buckberger to a two-year, Entry Level contract starting in the 2026-27 season, club President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell announced tonight.<\/p>\n
Buckberger, 22, played three seasons at Denver and registered 24-62-86, 67 penalty minutes and a cumulative +94 plus\/minus rating in 128 contests from 2023-26. He helped the Pioneers win the 2024 and 2026 NCAA championships and was selected to the Frozen Four All-Tournament team this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoston Buckberger is a smart, skilled defenseman who can play in all situations and has a championship pedigree,\u201d said Waddell. \u201cHe was among the top scoring defensemen in college hockey this year and a big part of Denver\u2019s championship team. We are very excited that he is now part of the Blue Jackets organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-0, 190-pound blueliner recorded 10-19-29, 18 penalty minutes and a +32 plus\/minus rating in 43 appearances in his junior campaign in 2025-26. He ranked second among all NCAA players in plus\/minus rating and finished sixth-T among blueliners in goals and ninth-T in points. He set up the game-winning goal that propelled Denver to a 2-1 victory over the University of Wisconsin in the championship game at the 2026 Frozen Four on April 11.<\/p>\n
Buckberger, who participated in the Blue Jackets\u2019 development camp in July 2025, set a career high in points and finished fifth-T among all NCAA players in plus\/minus rating and eighth-T among blueliners in scoring in his sophomore campaign in 2024-25 with 9-21-30, 22 penalty minutes a +30 in 41 games. He posted 5-22-27 and 27 PIM in 44 contests with the Pioneers in his freshman season in 2023-24.<\/p>\n
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native was named to the United States Hockey League\u2019s Third All-Star Team in 2022-23 after posting 9-36-45 in 62 appearances with the Lincoln Stars. He also helped the Brooks Bandits win the 2021-22 Alberta Junior Hockey League championship with 13-18-31 in 59 contests.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets return to action on Tuesday against the Washington Capitals. Game time from Nationwide Arena is 7 p.m. ET with live coverage nationally on ESPN. The game will also be heard on the Blue Jackets Radio Network, including Sports Radio 97.1 The Fan in Columbus, and online at BlueJackets.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed former University of Denver defenseman Boston Buckberger to a two-year, Entry Level…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-582807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}