COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Item No. 1: Level 1 emergency

Many parts of Ohio were expecting their first measurable snowfall of the winter, with as much as 5-10 inches possible overnight Sunday into Monday, especially in the northern reaches by Toledo and Cleveland.

As for the state’s NHL club … well, they’ve been in a frost for a while now.

Forwards Kirill Marchenko (eight goals), Dmitri Voronkov (seven) and Miles Wood (four goals in only eight games), plus defenseman Zach Werenski (four) have carried the Blue Jackets through the first month of the season.

But the balanced, coming-from-everywhere offense the Blue Jackets enjoyed last season — no NHL club had more 15-goal scorers than Columbus’ eight — has been missing in action so far in 2025-26.

The Blue Jackets are 7-7-0 and riding a three-game losing streak heading into Monday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

But how soon can they expect to snap this losing streak, or hover around .500, with so few players carrying the offensive load?

Consider:

Center Adam Fantilli, who had 31 goals last season, has just two this season, including an ongoing eight-game stretch with no goals and a minus-7 rating.
Winger Boone Jenner, who has just two goals, has also gone eight games without a goal. The captain is minus-6 in that span and was dropped to the fourth line for Saturday’s game in Vancouver.
Center Sean Monahan has just one goal in 14 games. He had six at this point last season.
Winger Kent Johnson, who has scored only two goals, has gone six games without a point and has a minus-8 rating in that span.
Winger Mathieu Olivier, who broke out with 18 goals last season, has just one goal. Other than a 1-3-4 game vs. Toronto (Oct. 29), he has only one assist all season.

Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason has shuffled his lines more times than he would have liked, and his charges have responded each time with a renewed sense of jump. But the results haven’t followed.

It was hard to find fault with the Blue Jackets’ work ethic or energy on Saturday, and they created 19 scoring chances and 13 high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

But only Marchenko (two goals) and Voronkov (one) could get a puck past Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen. That’s been the story of the season: Marchenko and Voronkov have combined for 14 goals. All other Columbus forwards combined? 18.

MARCHY DOES IT AGAIN! 🚨

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/dowyXriU6r

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 9, 2025

One of the defining images of Saturday’s game was Fantilli, one of the most snakebitten players in the NHL so far this season, slamming his stick on the ice and shouting choice words on his way back to the Blue Jackets bench after missing a golden chance off his backhand during the second period.

“You wish you could pinpoint why you’re not scoring,” Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell told The Athletic. “We’re getting lots of opportunities and that makes it frustrating. If you weren’t getting the chances, you’d be more concerned. We’re getting them, we’re just not burying them.”

When Waddell was hired last summer, he was initially concerned about the roster’s ability to score. But the Blue Jackets surprised last season in many ways, not least their firepower. They finished seventh in the league with a franchise-record 267 goals scored.

Waddell spent all morning Sunday, he said, digging into these current struggles. He was looking for something specific that could explain where the Blue Jackets’ scoring touch has gone.

The only answer, he said, is to be patient.

“You just have to believe that these guys — the Fantillis, the Johnsons, the Monahans — they’re going to score more goals eventually,” Waddell said. “We can’t expect Marchy and Voronkov and Z to score every game. It’s not like we’re asking a guy who scored five goals last season to score 15. These guys all have a history of being able to score.

“We’ve seen it over the years — when guys go through a stretch where they don’t score, the stick gets held a little tighter. They start worrying about getting the shot off quicker instead of just getting the right shot.”

Waddell watched Michigan State and Penn State play on Friday, then arrived in Toronto on Saturday to watch Boston’s 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs. He’s in town early ahead of this week’s GM meetings.

Most of these GMs have already had conversations with Waddell, who has been listening to offers for disgruntled winger Yegor Chinakhov for weeks now. Chinakhov, other than a few shifts, has been unable to crack the Blue Jackets’ top two lines. But Waddell said he isn’t moving him for “futures” — prospects and draft picks — and he’s not getting offers for immediate help.

Waddell’s belief that the Blue Jackets are going to wake up offensively very soon makes him no more desperate to swing a trade, he said, than he was a couple of weeks ago.

“I’ve said to a few guys on this trip that we’re not going to do anything unless somebody blows us away,” Waddell said. “And I don’t see that happening.”

The Blue Jackets canceled practice on Sunday in Edmonton, opting instead to rest up for what figures to be a heck of a test today. The Oilers were routed 9-1 at home by Colorado on Saturday, so they should be loaded for bear.

There couldn’t be a better time for the Blue Jackets to get some bounces, finish some chances and give themselves a reasonable margin for error.

Item No. 2: Smith in limbo

NHL veteran forward Milan Lucic signed a professional tryout contract with the St. Louis Blues’ AHL affiliate last week. The news reached AHL Cleveland defenseman Brendan Smith quicker than most.

Smith’s agent, Matt Oakes, texted him almost immediately. “You’re OK,” the text read. “You’re not the oldest.” There may have been a “ha ha” or a “smiling/crying emoji” included.

Smith, who turns 37 years old in February, had been the oldest player in the AHL this season until Lucic, who will be 38 in June, joined the Springfield (Mass.) Thunderbirds.

Actually, Smith doesn’t give a damn about his age or the tread that may have come off his tires during a 726-game NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars.

If he didn’t firmly believe that he still has the ability to help an NHL club, he said, he wouldn’t have spent the last month playing for the Cleveland Monsters. He also wouldn’t have spent all of those hours driving from Cleveland to Columbus (two hours each direction) between games and practices to keep his family intact and coach his 7-year-old’s hockey team.

“Any time you’re on the ice, it’s for the love of the game,” Smith told The Athletic. “It doesn’t matter where I am, really. Any chance to play is a gift. I’m older, but I still believe that I can play in the NHL, and that’s my goal.”

Smith came to training camp on an NHL PTO with the Blue Jackets, but wasn’t able to grab a roster spot. Unlike a year ago, the Blue Jackets weren’t beset by injuries during training camp and the preseason, so the roster choices held zero drama.

By the time final cuts were made, Smith and his wife and family were fairly settled in Columbus, and he and his son were already engaged with Battery Hockey, the program founded by former Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson. Smith is coaching with Derek Dorsett, Brandon Dubinsky and other former NHLers.

Once the NHL season was underway and no other teams had stepped forward, Smith signed a PTO with AHL Cleveland. The agreement is for 25 games, which means Smith could be playing for the Monsters well into the season. (They’ve played only seven games, the fewest in the AHL).

“I was thinking something would have happened by now, but we’ll keep rolling with it, I guess … until I won’t,” Smith said. “And at that time, (Cleveland coach Trent) Vogelhuber wants to have a conversation, same with management in Columbus and my agent.

“That moment isn’t today. But it’s rearing its head, I’d say. The commute is hard.”

For instance, Smith bolted out of Cleveland after Saturday’s 1 p.m. game between Cleveland and Providence — the Monsters lost 3-2 in overtime — so he could drive to Detroit for his son’s travel hockey game.

When the Monsters have late-morning practices at their facility in Strongsville, Ohio, Smith is out the door of his home in Dublin, Ohio — a Columbus suburb — by 5:45 a.m. in order to beat the traffic and arrive well ahead of practice.

“I’ve been all over Ohio highways,” Smith said. “So far, no (speeding) tickets.”

He even talks like a full-fledged Ohioan: “What’s with all the semis driving in the left lane?!”

Smith has been a big addition for the Monsters, especially when defenseman Daemon Hunt, who was expected to play a substantial role, was claimed on waivers by the Minnesota Wild just before the season started. He’s been playing with first-year AHLer Guillaume Richard on the Monsters’ top defensive pair, playing sizable minutes and killing penalties. In seven games, he has zero points, four penalty minutes and a minus-3 rating for a Cleveland team that has had trouble scoring.

Smith is putting in work off the ice, too. Vogelhuber raved about his play, but also how open he’s been to bringing along Cleveland’s young players. NHL veterans who have made $40 million during their careers may not always have been so open.

“It’s such a positive situation,” Vogelhuber said. “He’s really an example to so many guys in our room of what it means to be an NHL player, a leader. They gravitate toward him, absolutely.”

Vogelhuber and Smith have known each other for almost two decades.

Vogelhuber played with Smith’s younger brother, current Vegas Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith, at Miami University, and he met Brendan way back around 2009 or 2010. Fast-forward 16 years, and Vogelhuber is Brendan Smith’s coach.

“There’s a little bit of weird there, yeah,” Smith said, smiling. “My brother has laughed about him being my coach now, but it’s not as weird as you’d think. The thing is, I’m closer to management’s age and the coaching staff’s age than I am to the boys (in the dressing room). Like, by a mile. After games, the guys are getting together and, for me, it’s like, ‘I kinda wanna hang out with those guys.’”

But mentoring the young players is one of his favorite parts of the job.

“I’ve made it a point to go get dinner with them and hang out away from the rink when I’m able,” Smith said. “They pick the spots and I take them to dinner.”

Smith talks glowingly about how surprised he’s been by how much he loves living in the area. Nothing is settled, but it sounds like he’d be willing to make it a permanent home.

For now, it’s a day-to-day existence.

“The longer this goes, the harder it will get, because commuting is an issue,” Smith said. “I still think I can play in the NHL. If that’s how the stars align, that’s great. If not, well, that’s how the cookie crumbles.”

Item No. 3: Snacks

• The Blue Jackets were hoping defenseman Erik Gudbranson (hip) would be ready to play when they return home, but it might be a little longer. Waddell told The Athletic that Gudbranson, who is traveling with the club on this lengthy road trip, has started skating and is making progress toward a return. But the best guess is that he’s back early next week — the Jackets host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, Nov. 17 — or during the four-game road trip that starts just after.

• Olivier’s game misconduct for his major boarding penalty on Vancouver defenseman Elias Pettersson on Saturday was the first game misconduct of his 264-game career with the Blue Jackets and Nashville. He was assessed a game misconduct earlier this season for a hit vs. Washington’s Declan Chisholm, but the game misconduct was expunged from his record by the league the following day. This one’s not going away, apparently.

• My, how times have changed in the NHL: most agree Olivier is the league’s toughest fighter, but he’s played parts of seven seasons in the NHL and is only now getting a game misconduct. The heavyweight champs from yesteryear collected them like cufflinks. Tim Hunter is the NHL’s all-time leader with 40, followed by Tiger Williams (36), Marty McSorley (33) and Bob Probert (33).

• Olivier’s penalty occurred at 7:00 of the second period, with the Canucks and Blue Jackets tied at 1. He was also given a major penalty for boarding, putting Vancouver on a five-minute power play. The Blue Jackets’ beleaguered penalty kill was tremendous, allowing only three shots on goal from 38, 52 and 63 feet away from goaltender Elvis Merzlikins’ net.

• We asked the NHL stats department for the Blue Jackets’ all-time record killing five-minute majors. They’ve killed 14 of 24 (58.3 percent). The last successful five-minute kill for the Blue Jackets was exactly six years ago Sunday, when Nick Foligno was called for charging after he landed his right elbow into the head of Colorado Avalanche forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare on Nov. 9, 2019, a 4-2 Columbus loss.

• Cole Sillinger, still only 22 years old, played in his 300th NHL game on Saturday. He doesn’t turn 23 until May 16.

• With analyst Jody Shelley stepping away from the club on Monday to be part of Amazon’s NHL coverage, Blue Jackets senior adviser and alternate governor John Davidson will step back into the broadcast booth with play-by-play voice Steve Mears on Monday when the Jackets play in Edmonton. Davidson, a Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster, joined Mears several times last season, too.

• This week’s Monday Gathering trivia question: Olivier’ game misconduct was a career first. But which Blue Jackets player earned the most game misconducts during his Columbus career? (Hint: he earned one in his first NHL game.)

• Waddell and much of his staff attended the Michigan State vs. Penn State game on Friday in East Lansing, giving him a chance to see two of the club’s three first-round picks over the past two years. Center Cayden Lindstrom, No. 4 overall in 2024, is a freshman at Michigan State, while defenseman Jackson Smith, No. 14 in June, is a freshman at Penn State. Waddell watched Smith and the Nittany Lions play last weekend in Columbus. This was his first in-person look at Lindstrom this season.

• Here’s Waddell on Lindstrom, who missed almost all of last season recovering from back surgery: “He had four really good scoring chances, and he can’t score right now. He’s getting frustrated, I can tell. He can really skate, though. He split the D one time, using his size and speed and strength. He’s very involved. I liked what I saw there.”

Waddell said Lindstrom has continued to progress in his recovery and has started working with weights. “He couldn’t do weights for a long time, and they’ve got him on a really good program now. They’re really happy with him.”

• Trivia answer: Jared Boll had six game misconducts, the most in franchise history. Jody Shelley was close behind with four, followed by Brandon Dubinsky with three. Boll’s NHL debut — Oct. 5, 2007 — ended at 16:20 of the second period when he was given a major for elbowing and a game misconduct after a mid-ice hit on Anaheim’s Travis Moen.