Columbus Blue Jackets Well Represented in Sportsnet’s Top 100

Of all the offseason rankings, Sportsnet.ca have the Columbus Blue Jackets players slotted the most appropriately.

September. Fall is coming, football is back, and hockey is right around the corner. That means only a few more weeks of talking about rankings and expectations for the Columbus Blue Jackets until we get to see some action on the ice.

Sportsnet.ca released their rankings of the top 100 players in the NHL for the 2018-2019 season. Unlike other rankings that were released in the summer, this list is a projection of how Sportsnet’s analysts, insiders, and personalities think each player will perform in the 2018-2019 season.

The final ranking took into account 16 total rankings for the final composite list. There were 56 forwards, 29 defenseman and 15 goalies that made the final list.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets had four players in the top 100 with at least one player from each category making the top 100. Let’s check them out.

#66 Zach Werenski

Wedged in between Shayne Gostisbehere and former #1 overall pick Aaron Ekblad, Werenski is the 16th highest defenseman on Sportnets’ list. The 21-year-old is the 5th youngest player on the top 100.

Werenski’s slot is realistic but I can see him being a top 10 defenseman this season. Despite a torn laburm nagging Zach for most of the season last year, he still finished second in goals amongst defenseman. A healthy Z should only build on that number.

He will be due a healthy raise with his contract extension that will kick in next year.

#34 Seth Jones

Seth Jones comes in at #34 overall and is the seventh highest rated defenseman. Jones comes in between Dustin Byfuglien at 38 and Roman Josi at 29. With such a large list of players it would be nit-picky to make a big deal out of Roman Josi being ranked ahead of Jones. So I’ll make a small deal out of it.

Jones outpaced Josi last season in goals, assist, corsi, and time on ice. Seth is also five years younger than Josi. Its hard for me to comprehend how Jones isn’t set up to have a better year than Josi but #34 overall is still a nice nod to the Columbus Blue Jackets All-Star defenseman.

#31 Artemi Panarin

Just three spots below Jones is the Jackets only forward in the top 100. There is a decent argument that Cam Atkinson will be a top 100 player, but a slow start to his 2017-2018 year and an injury was too much to keep him in the minds of the ranking participants.

Panarin though comes in right were he should be. The Breadman is the 23rd ranked forward in the top 100 and the sixth highest left winger. Artemi is sandwiched between Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues and Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers.

He will certainly have another great season this year. The only question is will it be all in Columbus or split between Ohio and another destination?

#23 Sergei Bobrovsky

Best goalie in the game. Not just by UnionAndBlue.com’s measure, but by that of the NHL Network and now Sportsnet.

Sergei is the only active goalie with two Vezina trophy’s and is undoubtedly the best net-minder in the game. He is primed for another huge season as his contract expires at the end of this year. The Russian star is looking to get paid “Carey Price money” and it’s hard to argue against it considering his track record.

Another year as the best goalie in the world coupled with a postseason series win and the Jackets may have no choice but to pay Bob. The lack of success in April is worrisome when considering a long term deal but his performance over an 82 game regular season can not be matched.

The list is well done and the most accurate of any put out this offseason. You can check out where your favorite Columbus Blue Jackets player falls here as well as a great infographic breaking down the demographics of the list here.

Do you think that the Jackets were ranked accurately? Let us know if you think someone was too high or too low in the comments.