The Blue Jackets got their preseason started on a good note with a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sept. 21 at Nationwide Arena.
Brendan Gaunce, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Dmitri Voronkov and Mathieu Olivier scored goals, Ivan Fedotov started in net and made 14 saves, and rookie Evan Gardner polished it off with six saves in the third to close the night out.
Voronkov finished with three points on a goal and two assists while skating at left wing on a top forward line centered by Del Bel Belluz. Olivier scored the game’s final goal into an empty net with 23 seconds left to complete the scoring.Â
Here are three takeaways:
Ivan Fedotov impresses in preseason debut for Columbus Blue Jackets
It was only two periods at the start of the Blue Jackets’ preseason, but Fedotov looked solid in his first action since being acquired in a Sept. 14 trade with the Philadelphia Flyers.Â
Fedotov was added to handle the third goaltending spot on the organizational depth chart. He’s expected to be AHL Cleveland’s top goalie and NHL injury replacement for the Blue Jackets. Standing 6 feet 7, 214 pounds, Fedotov is even taller than 6-5 Daniil Tarasov, whom the Blue Jackets traded to the Florida Panthers prior to this summer’s NHL draft.Â
Fedotov, who struggled in the NHL level with the Flyers, used his large frame effectively while stopping 14 of 15 shots through the first two periods. Rookie Evan Gardner, a 2024 second-round pick, played the third and stopped all six shots he faced.
Dmitri Voronkov wastes no time making offensive impact
Dmitri Voronkov was challenged to drop weight and add strength during the summer, and the early returns look good. Voronkov, who’s 6-5, appears to have slimmed down from his listed weight of 227 pounds last season and the hope is that he’ll make gains from it in speed and quickness.
Voronkov’s offensive production took a slide in the second half of last season, which the Blue Jackets would like him to avoid this time around. He’s already off to another great start offensively, even though it’s just the preseason. After assisting the Jackets’ first two goals, he scored the third one late in the game for a three-point effort. The only criticism was an egregious turnover that led directly to the Blues’ only goal, but coach Dean Evason said that was addressed and corrected on the bench.
“The first time he came into the room, as soon as he got here, we asked him, ‘Are you in shape?’ before he even did a thing, and he’s like, ‘Yeah,’ and you can tell,” Evason said. “I’ll be honest with you. We told him, ‘You’re not going to play if you come in not in good shape,’ and he did. He’s committed.”
Luca Del Bel Belluz starts strong on bid to make Columbus Blue Jackets NHL roster
Del Bel Belluz has a tough task in this camp after impressing in 15 NHL games last season. Despite the departures of forwards James van Riemsdyk, Sean Kuraly, Justin Danforth, Luke Kunin and Christian Fischer, the rookie center still has tough competition to earn an NHL roster spot.
The Blue Jackets added three NHL veteran forwards with a trade to acquire Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood prior to the draft followed by signing free agent center Isac Lundestrom away from the Anaheim Ducks. Those three all have one-way NHL contracts, so they’re almost assured of making the roster. That leaves Del Bel Belluz, a 2022 second-round pick, competing with the likes of Mikael Pyyhtia, James Malatesta and others for a possible 14th forward spot on the roster.
He got off to a good start against the Blues, centering the top line and scoring what turned out to be the winning goal off a rebound in the second period. Del Bel Belluz also assisted on Voronkov’s goal late in the third for a 3-1 cushion.
“I’m just trying to go out there and show what I can do,” Del Bel Belluz said. “They want to see me play hard on pucks and win battles, skate hard and play with pace, so I’m just trying to do that. If the offense comes, great.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.socialÂ