Columbus Blue Jackets: Boone Jenner Right at Home as Center
The Columbus Blue Jackets Boone Jenner looks right at home as a center.
Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella has never been afraid to shake things up. Whether it be with his coaching staff, his teams lines, or his relationship with the media, Torts always keeps it interesting.
He shook things up last week when he moved Boone Jenner to the center position after both Lukas Sedlak and Riley Nash failed to get the job done on the third line. Now Boone, flanked by Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno, have become the Jackets second best line.
In last night’s win over the St. Louis Blues, Boone had two goals and was the Jackets best man in the face-off dot yet again. Alongside of Jenner, Foligno and Anderson added another goal and two assist. Not bad for a line centered by a guy who hasn’t played consistently down the middle for years.
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But Boone looks right at home down the middle and it’s not uncharted territory for the 25-year-old. He played center while playing junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals. He also has been tossed in the middle over the years sporadically for the Jackets as the franchise has had chronic center issues.
Even though he has increased defensive responsibilities, he still brings the physical game that we all know and love, and that the Jackets need. Alongside of Anderson and Foligno, that is one hard hitting line that opposing teams aren’t going to like playing against.
The imposing Anderson – Jenner – Foligno line logged 22.1% of the Jackets ice time last night according to FrozenPool.com. That is just a shade behind the skilled Panarin – PLD – Atkinson line at 22.5% of the time. The balance of ice time between the two contrasting lines makes matching up against the Jackets that much more difficult. Throw in a third line filled with the speed of Bjorkstrand – Wennberg – Duclair, and the Jackets might have found their top three lines.
dark. Next. Goals will come for Nuti
If Boone keeps this up, the Jackets will have a hard time putting him back to the wing when Dubinsky returns from injury. This means Riley Nash, the preseason favorite to be the third line center, might not even be in the lineup. Boone’s play down the middle has given Torts another tool to tinker with in his constant tinkering of the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup.