VP Sports & Entertainment presents: Columbus Blue Jackets sign Blades netminder Gardner

Columbus, Ohio- The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Saskatoon Blades goaltender Evan Gardner to a three-year, entry-level contract, Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell announced Tuesday.

The contract takes effect in the 2025-26 season.

Gardner has been named WHL Goaltender of the Week twice this season, in addition to a Goaltender of the Month win in November.

The 2024 WHL Rookie of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year nominee has built up a solid sophomore season with a 22-12-3-1 record, a 2.83 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and three shutouts.

He’s coming off back-to-back clean sheets against the Swift Current Broncos and the Regina Pats to keep Saskatoon in the race for an East Division title and home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2025 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien.

“It was an awesome week. Probably couldn’t have pictured it any better,” Gardner grinned as he met with reporters on Tuesday. “Three wins keeping us up at the top, two shutouts and the the contract is the icing on the cake.

That’s just the start to this journey of me hoping to play in the NHL one day, so just sticking to getting one percent better every day.”

The Gardfather strikes again!

An undefeated week from @BlueJacketsNHL prospect Evan Gardner helps the @BladesHockey lock up another WHL Weekly Award.

📝 | https://t.co/ifVQyTzqoJ pic.twitter.com/njqijDi7wv

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 17, 2025

Gardner, 19, is seventh among all WHL netminders in GAA and is tied for fourth in save percentage and shutouts.

“He’s expected to be the guy every night,” Blades Goaltending Coach Jeff Harvey told WHL.ca in February. “I would say he’s a much better goaltender at this point this year than he was last season… We were doing a video session the other day and one of the clips I had was like, ‘This isn’t normal for a 19-year-old.’ The way he can transition into his post, get into a reverse track, bump off his post. He’s so fluid in his operations, entering so clean and exiting so clean. He’s doing stuff that guys at the pro level (and) in the National League aren’t even doing.”

Columbus traded up to select the 6-foot-1, 177-pound puckstopper with the 60th overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NHL Draft, making him the fourth-highest-drafted goaltender at that draft.

The Fort St. John, B.C. product also grew up playing minor hockey against fellow Blue Jackets prospect Cayden Lindstrom, who’s from nearby Dawson Creek, B.C.

Originally drafted by Saskatoon in the third round of the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft, Gardner stole the show in his rookie season in 2023-24.

He went 21-5-0-2 in his rookie season to seize the Blades’ starting job, help Saskatoon clinch the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions in a 50-win season and backstop the squad to Game 7 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Championship, where the Blades ultimately fell in overtime to Columbus defenceman Denton Mateychuk and the 2024 WHL Champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

Gardner, who lives with Type-1 diabetes, has also used his platform to advocate for diabetes awareness and raise thousands of dollars to benefit youth impacted by the chronic disease in Saskatchewan.

Earlier this season, he auctioned off a specialty goalie mask, raising $4,650 for Diabetes Canada’s Camp Kornder in nearby Christopher Lake, Sask.

Gardner was nominated for the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy for WHL Rookie of the Year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy for WHL Humanitarian of the Year.

The ‘Gardian’ and the Blades will battle the Brandon Wheat Kings in a fight for first in the East Division on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m. CST.

Saskatoon has also clinched a berth in the 2025 WHL Playoffs, which kick off on March 28, 2025, with matchups still to be determined.