Blue Jackets sign former USHL goalie Pheonix Copley for depth

Columbus moved quickly on the first day of NHL free agency, signing Pheonix Copley to a one-year contract for the 2026-27 season with an $850,000 cap hit. The deal is a depth play on its face, with Cleveland Monsters depth the likeliest landing spot, but it also puts a former USHL goalie back in the NHL picture at age 34.

Copley’s route to that contract runs straight through junior hockey. He played for both the Tri-City Storm and the Des Moines Buccaneers, and Michigan Tech’s roster bio says he started the 2011-12 season with Tri-City before finishing it with Des Moines. That same bio lists a .909 save percentage and a 3.09 goals-against average in 25 games for the Buccaneers, numbers that marked him as a high-volume goaltender with enough stability to keep climbing.

The broader record from that Des Moines season backs up the workload. One hockey database lists Copley’s 2011-12 line with the Buccaneers as 20 games, 1,163 minutes, 60 goals against, a 3.09 GAA and a .909 save percentage. For USHL followers, that is the kind of resume that still resonates: a goalie handling heavy minutes, staying in games, and showing enough consistency to earn the next rung. Copley also had an earlier NAHL season with the Corpus Christi IceRays, but the USHL was the stage that put him on the college-pro track.

Michigan Tech said Copley spent two seasons in Houghton and finished with an 18-28-7 record, a 2.82 goals-against average, a .906 save percentage and four shutouts in 54 appearances from 2012-14. He turned pro with the Washington Capitals on March 20, 2014, and the Blue Jackets said he later won the Harry Holmes Memorial Award in 2020-21 as part of the AHL’s best goaltending duo. Columbus also said he has posted a .900 save percentage or better in each of his past four American Hockey League seasons, including .913 in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.

That is why this signing matters beyond routine free agency. Columbus gets an inexpensive veteran with NHL and AHL mileage, and the USHL gets another direct example of a repeatable goalie path: junior opportunity, college development, pro seasoning, then NHL depth. For Tri-City and Des Moines, Copley is a reminder that the league still builds players who can survive the grind all the way to a summer contract in Columbus.