Finally, and thankfully, the Columbus Blue Jackets have given up hope. And replaced it with expectation.

Now let’s see if CBJ fans can follow suit.

At the team’s preseason media day, All-Star defenseman Zach Werenski said, “This year, I genuinely feel like if we’re not a playoff team, it’s a failure for this group. I think everyone believes that in our locker room.”

Good. The NHL is not kiddie hockey at the Chiller. Just coming close to making the playoffs should not be acceptable. The Blue Jackets need more Ricky Bobby – “If you’re not first, you’re last” – and less Rickie Fowler, a PGA Tour fan favorite more popular for his pleasant personality than his golf. Sounds like the Jackets, if not their supporters, are embracing the need to excel beyond just playing hard, keeping games close and almost making the playoffs.

Hope is passive desire. Expectation is aggressive longing. Beginning with the organization’s inception 25 years ago, a good chunk of the paying public have been content with hoping the team does well while mostly enjoying the experience of attending Blue Jackets games at Nationwide Arena. Drink beer, brace for the cannon, fingers crossed the team wins. If it loses, oh well. Still was a fun night out.  

Ugh. That attitude lacks aggression, which leads to a pressure deficit in the locker room, which seeps onto the ice. And pressure is necessary for tip-top performance, whether creating diamonds or Stanley Cup contenders. 

Pro sports is not for faint of heart fans

Pro sports should never resemble permissive parenting, with minimal rules, boundaries or expectations. Instead, when your kid messes up, there should be actual consequences, not a pat on the head and “You’ll do better next time.”

Are CBJ fans permissive parents? You tell me. The Blue Jackets’ 2024-25 home attendance averaged 17,040, which is both remarkable and disturbing, considering the futility that has come to define the franchise. Columbus owns the second-lowest points percentage (.486) of any NHL team this century, coming in just ahead of the Seattle Kraken (.433), who have been around only since 2021-22. The Jackets have made the playoffs six out of 24 seasons, with the only series victory coming against Tampa Bay in 2019. And this in a league with a salary cap that promotes parity. 

Some might describe CBJ fans as being impressively loyal. I would counter that supporting an inferior product is enabling players, front office and ownership to maintain the status quo. 

I can hear the uber loyalists now. “OK, big shot, what would you have us do? Boycott games?” 

Not exactly, although it would be a legitimate option if Columbus were a larger market that could withstand fewer season-ticket purchases. It’s a conundrum, or maybe vicious cycle, as fear of losing the Blue Jackets to another city factors into too many fans dedicating themselves to the CBJ, no matter how poorly they perform.

How about this? Begin treating the Blue Jackets as you would Ohio State football if the Buckeyes suddenly began losing more games than they won. Check that, treat the CBJ the way OSU fans treat the Buckeyes now, by nitpicking every three-and-out and field goal allowed. Apply pressure, not simply by expecting the Blue Jackets to win, but by demanding it. Don’t shrug after CBJ defensive lapses. Bellow your displeasure. 

Some CBJ fans need accountability adjustment

An attitude adjustment is in order, heavy on holding the CBJ more accountable, because something is out of whack when a college football roster of athletes under the legal drinking age causes 10 times the angst among fans as a group of hockey professionals whose only job is to win games.

Spare me the boo-hooing about “man games lost to injury” and the conspiracy theory about how the NHL is “out to get”  Columbus. It’s time to hold feet to the fire. And it sounds like the Blue Jackets welcome it. 

“We expect to make the playoffs, and if we don’t, it’s going to feel like a failure,” forward Adam Fantilli said. “And that does change how you go into the season, with more swagger and expecting to win games.”

Love it.

Your turn, Fifth Line.

I have heard from CBJ fans all summer how the Jackets should make the playoffs this season. I correct them. “Should? Don’t you mean they better?”

Blank stare, then, “Yes. I suppose so.”

Hey, it’s a start.

Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.

Read his columns from the Buckeyes’ national championship season in “Scarlet Reign,” a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Dispatch. Details at OhioState.Champs.com