Columbus Blue Jackets Shouldn’t Give Karlsson a Tribute Video
Let’s hope the Columbus Blue Jackets have a higher standard than Karlsson for a welcome back video.
Tonight will be the return of William Karlsson to Central Ohio as the Columbus Blue Jackets finish their season series with the Vegas Golden Knights. Karlsson has been the Knights most surprising player of the season and many in Columbus are scratching their heads about how we could have lost such a player.
When he returns tonight though with 36 goals in his pocket, I hope the Jackets don’t honor him with a welcome back or tribute video of any kind. Let’s be honest, the bar for one of these should be pretty high. Honoring an opposing player coming into your building should be a once every three or four year thing.
When Rick Nash came back, he deserved a video. If a guy like Matt Calvert who played with this franchise for almost a decade, leaves after this season and comes back, he should get a video. But not William Karlsson.
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Sure we all love his flowing hair and bromance with Alexander Wennberg, but Karlsson’s time in Columbus was not stellar. He only played 165 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets over three seasons. He scored 47 points in that time. He was a part of the best team in franchise history, but he was a third/fourth liner on that team.
By no measurable standards was Karlsson a franchise standout at any point. He shouldn’t get a nostalgic video and no one should feel like he deserves one.
The standard for giving a player a few minutes of thanks and praise right before the team tries to go out on the ice and bury him should be high. And just because people feel like losing Karlsson was a mistake (which it wasn’t) or they like his hair doesn’t reach that standard.
I appreciate all William Karlsson did as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets for 165 games but sorry Bill, you don’t get a video in my eyes.