Last season heading into opening night the Columbus Blue Jackets were riding the high of signing Johnny Gaudreau, a season in which the organization was supposed to take a step closer to the end of a retooling quickly turned into a nightmare. Forward Patrik Laine sprained his elbow in the season opener and the injuries would snowball from there to the tune of 545 man games lost. Head coach Brad Larsen was let go and Mike Babcock was brought in for approximately three months and fired due to shady interactions with younger players. Enter Pascal Vincent in his first stint as an NHL head coach.
As the Blue Jackets gear up for a new season there is renewed optimism from the front office, players, and fan base. The hockey gods graced Columbus with the top-line center the organization has so desperately needed in Adam Fantilli who fell to the third overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Level Draft.
Along with Fantilli, top prospects David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk have had really solid training camps and look close to being ready to contribute, adding to the optimism. The Blue Jackets are one of the league's younger teams so development time at the NHL level will be a focus of the upcoming season.
The forwards led by team captain Boone Jenner should be able to produce more goals this season with healthy defensive players. Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, Johnny Gaudreau, Cole Sillinger, and others need to step up their game to improve the 214 goals last season which ranked the Blue Jackets #30. Adding a player like Fantilli will help though he will need development time as well.
The defense without many starters was about as one would expect, not good. The blueline had 330 goals against ranking the team 31st out of 32. This is where Damen Severson and Ivan Provorov will be welcomed. With a healthy Zach Werenski, it gives the Blue Jackets veterans as well as buys the organization time if Jiricek and the 19-year-old Mateychuk are deemed not ready. If either Jiricek or Mateychuk is ready or when they are (if it is during the season) the blueline will also improve.
The Blue Jackets hired Mark Recchi who has spent time with the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils as an assistant coach. The hope is that Recchi can breathe life into the unit and get more production leading to better results.
While a healthy Columbus Blue Jackets team is an improvement, the Metro is tough. Headed by the Carolina Hurricanes and Devils to a revamped Penguins team it is difficult to project the Blue Jackets much higher than fifth. Player development and improved all-around play should be the focus of this season. The Blue Jackets should be able to hit the 70-75 point mark up from last year’s 59 points.
