Don Waddell didn’t make many changes to the Blue Jackets’ roster this summer.
The Blue Jackets’ president/general manager couldn’t get a trade done for defenseman Noah Dobson, for one thing. For another, he didn’t have much flexibility given the roster’s composition. So, after making a few understated tweaks to bolster his team’s depth, he called it a summer.
Critics complained that merely re-signing defensemen Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro after acquiring veteran forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood wasn’t enough. The Blue Jackets would once again fall short of making the playoffs, they said, just like they usually do.
Well, after 10 games, Waddell’s quiet offseason tinkering has helped the Blue Jackets make some noise. They’re 6-4-0 after a 6-3 romp over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 29 at Nationwide Arena. What would their record be without their depth pieces?
Look no further than the past two games for their impact.
Wood, in his return from a scary eye injury, sparked a thrilling comeback in a 4-3 overtime win on Oct. 28 in Buffalo, and Coyle’s line keyed the Jackets’ rout of the Maple Leafs. Matched up against Toronto’s second line, which features star center John Tavares and high-scoring Matthew Knies, the Blue Jackets’ third line dominated.
Coyle, who has eight points in nine games with a goal and seven assists, established a new career high with four assists. Mathieu Olivier scored his first goal of the season that counted and set career highs with three assists and four points. Cole Sillinger, a center who’s struggled on the wing, nearly notched his third career hat trick with two goals, one assist and three points.
Throw in Isac Lundeström’s assist on Wood’s OT winner in Buffalo plus goals from Provorov and Fabbro against Toronto and every single piece of Waddell’s lowkey summer contributed to an impressive back-to-back sweep.
“We have a pretty solid lineup all the way up, and it’s four lines who are reliable and can chip in,” Coyle said. “Some nights, it’s going to be one line. Some nights, it’s going to be two lines. Some nights, it’s going to be all the lines. When we play that way, the credit is going to be shared, and I think that’s such a good thing that we have in this room, just unselfish people who don’t mind that, if that’s the case, and are willing to abide by that.”
Coyle, it should be noted, knows a thing or two about playoff teams. This is his 14th NHL season, his fourth team, and he’s never missed the postseason. It’s still early, but the Blue Jackets are showing some hallmarks of a serious playoff contender.
“I think everybody feels part of it,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “I think that leadership group in there facilitates that, allows everybody to feel a part of it … so there should be a confidence level up and down the lineup.”
Here are four more takeaways:
The Blue Jackets’ alternating goalie deployment might be a bit unorthodox compared to how most NHL teams do it, but it’s working for both Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves.
There’ll likely be a point where one of the two gets a run of consecutive starts, but that’s down the road in a long season ahead. Right now, they’re a tandem, and both are thriving.
Merzlikins allowed three goals on 36 shots against the Maple Leafs, but one of them was scored with a tremendous effort from Sammy Blais to keep his stick below the height of the crossbar while the other two were scored late with the game already decided.
Merzlikins improved to 4-1-0 with a 2.97 goals-against average and .915 save percentage a day after Greaves upped his numbers to 2-3-0 with a 2.81 GAA and .907 save percentage.
They’ve quickly become one of the NHL’s top tandems starting out.
Zach Werenski off to another strong start for Columbus Blue Jackets
Zach Werenski added a goal and assist against the Maple Leafs to bring his season scoring totals to three goals, five assists and eight points. He’s again seated among the top offensive defensemen in the NHL, tied for second in goals and seventh in points.
After finishing runner-up for the Norris Trophy last season, the Blue Jackets’ star defenseman is off to another strong start. He might be approaching a hot streak, too, with 2-2-4 in the past two games.
Werenski sat out a few shifts in the third period against Toronto, but coach Dean Evason indicated that it was an effort to avoid overusing him in a blowout.
Columbus Blue Jackets improving in back-to-back games
After missing the playoffs by two points last season, the Blue Jackets identified some key areas of improvement to avoid the same fate this time around.
One was winning more away from Nationwide Arena, which they’ve done with a 4-1-0 record in their first five road games. Another was winning more back-to-backs after going 8-14-2 overall last year in 12 back-to-backs, including 2-10-0 in second games.
They’re 3-1-0 overall after playing their first two of 15 back-to-backs this season, including 2-0-0 in second games.
“The depth is obviously what coaches and teams want,” Evason said. “We play 15 (sets of) back-to-back games, so if you can play all four lines, all six (defensemen) and you can have confidence that both goaltenders can play, then it’s great, right? To have that depth that we have, and having everybody going, it’s nice. It’s been a lot of fun in that way.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social