The Columbus Blue Jackets are a quarter of the way through their season. How do the Jackets grade out thus far?
Just like life itself, the NHL season is fleeting and will be gone before you know it. If you don’t slow down and appreciate what you have, the Columbus Blue Jackets season will race by you. It’s tough to believe but the CBJ are 25% of the way through their season.
We all had expectations and visions of what this team should be. We also had visions of what this team could be at it’s best. I think they have lived up to what this team should be. They certainly haven’t reached the heights of what they could be.
We’re here to give the Jackets their first quarter report card. Let us know what you think the Jackets deserve on their first quarter report card in the comments.
Could be a lot better, but is satisfactory work. The Jackets are tied for 20th in the NHL with 2.77 goals per game thus far. That number is far too low for the level of talent on this team. No one in Jackets land would dispute that.
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The Jackets have the fifth best corsi for percent in the league through 22 games. With that amount of possession and the level of skill on this team one would expect there to be more offense. That is reflected in the Jackets having the highest expected goals for percentage in the league as well.
The Jackets points leader currently is Artemi Panarin with 15. The Jackets have five players with double digit points. Cam Atkinson, Alexander Wennberg, and Nick Foligno have not reached 10 points yet though. These offensive players will certainly turn it on and help the offense heat up.
A lot of the offensive woes are tied to a lack of power play success. We’ll get into that in a bit.
With a flailing offense, the Jacket have rode an incredible defense to the top spot in the Metro. The Jackets have the 2nd best goals against average in the NHL through the first quarter.
Everyone knows that Seth Jones and Zach Werenski are a dominate top pair on the offensive end. But they are showing they are possibly the best defensive pairing this year with their play in their own zone. The top line has been complimented by Ryan Murray and Markus Nutivaara who have become the best third pair in the NHL.
All of this with solid forward checking creates the best overall defense in the league. O, and they have Sergei Bobrovsky in net. So that helps.
This will be the shortest section. Sergei Bobrovski is still playing incredibly well. Amongst goalies who have made 10 starts, Bob leads the league in shutouts, goals against average, and save percentage. He is second in wins as well.
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It is incredibly tough to win back-to-back Vezina’s but Bob certainly has a chance this year.
The Jackets power play unit has been beyond terrible. They are by far the worst team in the league with the man advantage this year. They are so bad, many in our football crazied city have asked if we can just decline penalties.
The Jackets have a 10% success rate on the power play. The next worse team is converting at 14.3%. Almost 50% better than the CBJ.
No one has the answer to the Columbus Blue Jackets woes and it doesn’t seem like an answer is coming any time soon. Almost every player on the team has played on the top unit as Coach John Tortorella looks for answers to his failing power play.
The penalty kill has been fine though. Columbus is 10th in the league in killing off penalties at 83.6%. That is the only reason why this grade is not an F.