Columbus Blue Jackets: Harrington-Savard Pair Should Start Saturday

The Columbus Blue Jackets found their third pair going forward, or even their second pair.

The blue line for the Columbus Blue Jackets hasn’t been stellar yet this season. There are finally some signs pointing to this team solidifying its back end though. The team navigated the loss of Seth Jones for seven games nicely and now are at a point where they can finally pin down their top six.

Against the St. Louis Blues, we saw first hand why Scott Harrington deserves to draw in the final spot on the blue line next to David Savard. Harrington, along with Adam Clendening, Dean Kukan and Gabriel Carlsson were competing for the final spot but the performance of the Harrington-Savard pair last night should give Scott the advantage.

Harrington was involved in every aspect of the game last night, sans power play time, and looked great in the win. He was very active offensively and was spotted several times well below the face-off dots in the offensive zone. He made some skilled plays and racked up two assist. The two apples were his second and third points overall this year in only six games played.

More from Editorials

• The Mike Babcock Experiment in Columbus Has Failed
• Mike Babcock Resigns as CBJ Head Coach: Reaction
• “Spittin Chiclets” Podcast Spits on Blue Jackets, Babcock
• Statistical Predictions for the 2023-24 Columbus Blue Jackets
• The Five Greatest Single Seasons by a Columbus Blue Jacket Skater

Kukan is widely considered more skilled than Harrington overall, but Scott showed us that he can also play an attacking style from the blue line and contribute on the offensive end. Alongside Savard, the two had a great night combining for three points and a +2 rating. They played 31.5% of the time last night according to FrozenPool.com. That’s just a shade behind the top pair of Zach Werenski and Seth Jones.

There were some shake moments defensively for the pair, but frankly every pair had defensive laps last night. The two looked far more comfortable and cohesive together than Kukan and Savard did against Arizona.

This is a small sample size but through nine games this season, Harrington has shown more than Kukan and should get the start on Saturday against the Sabres. If he plays well again, Clendening should be sent down following Brandon Dubinsky‘s return and Kukan should rotate in when needed.