He has two years remaining on a six-year, $57.5 million contract he signed July 29, 2021.

He will be eligible to sign a new contract with the Blue Jackets on July 1, 2027.

“I mean, I think we’re going to be in a good spot this year where people aren’t questioning what’s going to happen (with me) because I believe we’re a playoff team,” Werenski said. “But I can’t extend until next summer anyways, so I guess it’ll always be out there until an extension is signed and I’m ready for that. Hopefully when I’m eligible one gets done, but until then I’m just focused on playing in Columbus and helping this team get to the playoffs, where I think we should be.”

Werenski talked about how he got past the tumultuous time earlier in the offseason when reports surfaced claiming he was unhappy about the state of the Blue Jackets, the team having missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs six straight seasons, and that he would not sign a contract extension when he becomes eligible to do so next summer.

There were reports indicating that he asked for a trade, and the Blue Jackets even had a deal worked out to send Werenski to the Dallas Stars on June 30. The defenseman vetoed the trade, and the next day he and general manager Don Waddell issued statements about Werenski’s desire to stay in Columbus.

“I feel like it just got off the rails a little bit so I called Don one day and I was like, ‘We need to get this back on the rails. I want to be here. This is where I want to be. I want to win here,’ ” Werenski said. “I was like, ‘We’ve got to say something here to get this back on the rails.’

“It was just crazy and I think for me it just reassured that Columbus is where I want to be,” he later added. “When all that stuff was swirling I knew I wanted to be a Blue Jacket, I wanted to win here and I believe in our group. It was just a lot of madness, a lot of craziness, a lot of stuff that I didn’t know that I was reading about me. But I think deep down it really proved to me that Columbus is where I want to play, where I want to win and where I want to be for a long time, and this is the group I want to win with.”