Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell gives offseason recap
Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell gives offseason recap during the team media day at Nationwide Arena on Sept. 15, 2025.
The Columbus Blue Jackets enter the new season with high expectations after narrowly missing the playoffs in 2024-25.Zach Werenski and Adam Fantilli said failing to make the playoffs this season should be considered a failure.Coach Dean Evason and his staff are entering their second season, aiming to build on last year’s progress.
After finishing one win shy of the NHL’s postseason field last season, the Columbus Blue Jackets are returning for the start of a new campaign with loftier expectations.
Barring another swath of key injuries, they’ve got an impressive roster comprised of driven veterans and emerging youngsters plus a coaching staff heading into its second season under Dean Evason’s leadership. Making the playoffs has become the Jackets’ baseline now, and they’ve narrowed their focus to obtaining that goal based on comments at the team’s opening media luncheon Sept. 15 at Nationwide Arena.
“This year, I genuinely feel like if we’re not a playoff team, it’s a failure for this group,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “I think everyone believes that in our locker room, so I’m excited just to get to work with the guys here in a couple days.”
He wasn’t alone in that assessment.
“We’re a confident team now,” third-year center Adam Fantilli said. “We expect to make the playoffs, and if we don’t it’s going to feel like a failure. And that does change a little bit the way you go into a season. You go in with a little more swagger and just expecting to win games.”
Others gave more nuanced responses, including captain Boone Jenner, Evason and president/general manager Don Waddell, but nobody stepped back from it. As Fantilli said, this is a confident team with the start of training camp looming and evidence abounds to back it up.
Two 30-goal scorers return with forwards Kirill Marchenko and Fantilli. Monahan produced at a point-per-game pace in his first season with the Blue Jackets. Jenner is healthy. And a sizable group of additional young forwards led by Kent Johnson and Dmitri Voronkov should provide ample scoring depth. Also, the Jackets return their top seven defensemen from a solid group that improved as last season progressed, led by Werenski as a Norris trophy candidate.
Consistency in goal remains an issue with Elvis Merzlikins, but the addition of Jet Greaves in his first extended NHL action could spark an internal battle that helps both become a strong tandem. As for coaching, Evason and his staff return for a second season feeling miles ahead of where they were a year ago. Their systems and strategies are installed, the team’s identity is forged and the Blue Jackets are intent on continuing to honor the memory of Johnny Gaudreau with their play.
There’s also a new wall of doubters already writing off last season as a “fluke” sparked by Gaudreau’s tragic death.
“A lot of guys had great years last year,” Werenski said. “The hardest part is consistency and doing it again, year after year, and I think that’s our biggest challenge this year. I think we have the team, and I think we had the team last year to make the playoffs, but we fell just short. Now, it’s doing it again and doing it even better. We had a good year, but it wasn’t good enough.”
That’s why expectations have changed, which is something that should be welcomed in Columbus after five rough years since the Blue Jackets’ last postseason appearance. They should be a playoff team now. That should be their next goal on a path that ultimately leads to the NHL’s biggest payoff.
“The Stanley Cup’s our expectation … that’s what we want, right?” Evason said. “We have to take steps to get there, and that first step is obviously to make the playoffs, and then (take) each round after that. So, yeah, our expectation is to have a great season, make the playoffs and then we want to win the first round and move forward.”
Dispatch Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social