April 15: Columbus Blue Jackets
Projected 2024-25 cap space: $20,792,500
2024 draft picks: 1st, 3rd, 3rd (LA), 4th, 5th, 6th
What went wrong?
There was hope this season might be different, but Columbus is missing the playoffs for a fourth straight season. The team got off to an inauspicious start before even playing its first game, thanks to Mike Babcock's quick exit, leading to first-time NHL head coach Pascal Vincent taking over. Then Columbus' real problems began.
The new season opened with Columbus winning three of its first five tilts — and then losing 13 of the next 14. Johnny Gaudreau, that highly prized free agent the Blue Jackets pegged as a savior, had arguably the worst season of his career with 11 goals and 58 points in 77 games. But he was still, bafflingly, Columbus' leading scorer (the Blue Jackets' second most productive forward? Kirill Marchenko, with 39 points). The Blue Jackets landed near the bottom of the league in every offensive, defensive and special teams category. Plus, two of the three goalies Columbus primarily used (with a minimum of five starts) have a sub-.900 save percentage. It's a recipe for disaster.
Granted, Columbus dealt with staggeringly poor health across the board. The Blue Jackets racked up approximately 250 man games lost to injury, including to 2023 No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli (leg), forward Sean Kuraly (lower body), Justin Danforth (concussion) and defenseman Adam Boqvist (upper body). Patrik Laine also missed time early in the season with a broken clavicle prior to entering the NHL/NHL Player Assistance Program in January. Columbus tried to make the most of who it had in the lineup, but, as in years past, the sheer volume of injuries (among other problems) was once again insurmountable.
Keys to the offseason:
The Blue Jackets must do an internal review on how and why they are among the NHL's most injured teams every season. It's uncanny how many of Columbus' most important, impactful players wind up missing large stretches of the season. If there's a way the club can reduce that through new training protocols or regimens it would go a long way in making the Blue Jackets competitive again.
That said, Columbus' search for a new general manager is a top priority. Longtime GM Jarmo Kekalainen was fired in February and president of hockey operations John Davidson has been filling in temporarily. He will eventually spearhead the Blue Jackets' efforts in identifying and hiring the right person to put the club back on a winning track. What exactly that looks like for Columbus is the critical question.
Will the Blue Jackets pursue a full-scale rebuild or attempt to capitalize on their core of young talents — namely Fantilli, Dmitri Voronkov, Marchenko, Cole Sillinger, David Jiricek and others — to push their way into an immediately brighter future? Then there's Elvis Merzlikins. The Blue Jackets starter has three seasons left on his contract at $5.4 million per year and won't be easy to trade with a full no-movement clause. But a fresh start for him outside Columbus might be best for both player and team. Keep an eye on how that situation potentially plays out in the coming months.
Realistic expectations for 2024-25:
It seems unlikely Columbus can go from bottom-dweller to playoff contender in a single season. But at least putting themselves in the mix would be a massive boost for the Blue Jackets and the confidence of their array of burgeoning players. They need to know the organization has a plan. Whatever that ultimately is should be decided quickly and executed by a management team installed for the long haul.
4 comments
I don’t think I agree with the part about not expecting playoffs next year. A hell of a lot went wrong this year and I think it should be at least reasonable to think we could fight for a wild card spot if things turn around for us.
No front office, terrible strength and conditioning, no coach. I’m sure we’re a playoff team next year
The salient memory I have of the last game I went to (it was the one where we gave up a 3-0 lead, predictably, think it was against the Sens), was Johnny skating into space in front of the net and *not shooting the puck*. Instead, he holds it until the opportunity is gone and then tries to pass it off to whomever, Marchenko maybe, and turns it over. Your best offensive threat doesn’t want to shoot the puck – not a guy who should be looking for tap-ins, that’s the job of our captain we didn’t want to entertain trade offers for despite him being played into the ground on too high a line due to the lack of depth. Maybe it’s emblematic of something, in some way. Obviously, the depth isn’t there yet (especially defense and center), and the approach hasn’t made sense sometimes (coaching).
And then you have the injury issues for the second season running.
Forget playoffs – keep cleaning house, institute the proper perspective, and hope guys develop. I would kill to not be able to field a team from the injury list. Just don’t give us a GM who fucks it all up again. Please.
After the last few seasons, I find it hard to have much hope of anything going forward. At the very least, my benefit of the doubt has been all but burned away. Prove to me things are different and I’ll start getting excited agin. I’ve put my hand on the stove one too many times to believe it’s ice cold now.
It’s been years and we still can’t figure out how to make a powerplay work. Our youth never seems to develop into what they’re billed they could be. Injuries ravage our team every year. We have major major issues that will likely take a long time to solve, and that’s a tough pill to swallow since we’ll now have been wandering in the desert for 4 seasons.
A proper rebuild shouldn’t take this long, but we weren’t doing a proper rebuild. [One could argue we’ve never done a proper *build,* let alone rebuild…] I’d love to see the playoffs next season, but more than that, we need to figure out how to fix these ongoing terrible issues that always derail us and never seem to get fixed.
Miss the playoffs, but the kids look better, the team is mostly healthy, and we have a league average power play for the first time in god knows when? At least we know we’re hopefully on the right track.