Columbus Blue Jackets vs Washington Capitals Winger Comparison
By William Espy
The Columbus Blue Jackets certainly have a superstar winger in Artemi Panarin. However, they’ll be facing an all-time great in Alex Ovechkin as they face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have a solid forward corps based strongly on their dynamic scoring wingers. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals may not be the fastest team, however their mix of skill and power make them a difficult group of wingers to match up against.
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Led by Rocket Richard winner Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals have a hard hitting, smooth skating team which includes shootout specialist T.J. Oshie, power forward Tom Wilson and blossoming star Jakub Vrana.
Add in the solid bottom six which is made up of players like Devante Smith-Pelly, Alex Chiasson and you have a powerhouse corps of wingers who should certainly help contend for a Stanley Cup.
Meanwhile on the Columbus Blue Jackets ends, they are led by “The Breadman” Artemi Panarin, who finished the season with a career high 82 points. The two biggest question marks on the wing would likely be Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson. Atkinson has been on a tear as of late, and whether or not he carries it into the playoffs will be a massive decider of the series. Anderson just returned from injury and played the final two games of the season, scoring a goal against the Predators.
If these two can both produce at their highest level, it will certainly give the Blue Jackets an advantage.
ADVANTAGE: COLUMBUS
It’s difficult to give any team an advantage over Ovechkin, however the reason the Columbus Blue Jackets get it in this situation is depth. The Blue Jackets have an abundance of scoring wingers with players like Thomas Vanek, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Matt Calvert and others; making it hard for any team to compete with the depth goal scoring.
Expect this series to be high scoring, and expect the Columbus Blue Jackets wingers to play their hearts out. While they have the depth, it won’t help if Washington’s pure talent out works them.