Blue Jackets sign Corson Ceulemans to one-year extension

Corson Ceulemans did not just get a new contract. He got another runway, and the next season could decide whether that path still leads to Columbus or settles in Cleveland.

The Blue Jackets signed the 23-year-old defenseman to a one-year, two-way extension for the 2026-27 season on June 20, keeping him in the organization on a deal tracked at $850,000 at the NHL level and $95,000 in the AHL. For the Cleveland Monsters, that matters immediately: Ceulemans looks set to return as a key blue-line piece, while the Blue Jackets continue to decide whether he is a legitimate call-up option or still a prospect whose tools have not fully translated.

“Corson is a talented, young defenseman with excellent offensive instincts, skating ability and puck-moving skills,” general manager Don Waddell said.

That talent package is exactly why Columbus took Ceulemans 25th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. The 6-foot-2, 191-pound right-shot defender had already flashed at the international level, winning gold with Canada at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championships and tying for the lead among defensemen with 1-7-8 in six games. The Blue Jackets then brought him along through two seasons at the University of Wisconsin before he signed his entry-level contract on March 7, 2023.

Now the focus has shifted from projection to proof. Ceulemans has spent significant time in the Blue Jackets’ system and was loaned to Cleveland on Sept. 28, 2025. Columbus’ official release credits him with 14 goals, 31 assists, 45 points, 90 penalty minutes and 262 shots in 157 career AHL games, production that shows why the organization still believes in the upside. But the larger challenge has remained the same: turning aggressive, creative offense into a more complete pro game that does not give back too much the other way.

That balance is what makes 2026-27 such a pivotal year. Ceulemans has already shown he can drive offense from the back end. What he has to show now, with the Monsters and in any NHL looks that follow, is that the mistakes that can come with that style are becoming fewer and farther between. If he does, Columbus has another young defender to add to a pipeline that has already pushed players such as Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger and Denton Mateychuk toward the NHL. If he does not, the extension may be remembered as the last stop before the organization made a harder decision about his future.