The Columbus Blue Jackets were spoiled with good health and great goaltending last season. What happens if they aren’t so lucky this season?
Last year the Columbus Blue Jackets had fantastic health and the best goaltender in the league. Sergei Bobrovsky, who has had injury trouble in the past, stood tall the whole season and finished third in the MVP voting.
But Bob will almost certainly not post a .931 save percentage this year again. It’s just impossible to do. And Sergei suffering from an injury is not too farfetched either. He has a history of injuries and is on one of the longer healthy runs in his career.
For the first time in while though the Columbus Blue Jackets aren’t 100% relying on Sergei to carry this team. They have an above average goalie in backup Joonas Korpisalo.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Many teams have to wonder what happens if their starting goalie goes down. For teams like Toronto, Edmonton, and now Pittsburgh, their season would likely tank without their starting goalies in most of the time. The honest fact is that their backups can’t play close to league average.
Joonas Korpisalo was already better than those teams backups last season and has clearly improved. Korpi has been one of the better players for the Columbus Blue Jackets in training camp but is getting almost no attention because of the buzz around Josh Anderson and the lack of center depth.
The 23-year-old has already posted a 52 save game this preseason. He is 2-1-0 this post season thus far and has shown off some big saves already. In the regular season when there is a top 10 NHL defense in front of him, Joonas can carry this team.
The harsh reality is that injuries and regression are apart of hockey. Those two fickle facts might strike Sergei Bobrovsky this year. The Jackets can rest easy though knowing that Joonas is ready to step in.
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The truth is that the CBJ have a top three goaltending tandem in the NHL. Maybe only Washington has a better duo than the Jackets. That title though could shift to Ohio this year with Joonas.