Quarter Season Report Card for Columbus Blue Jackets Forwards: Part 1

The Columbus Blue Jackets are through 21 games of the season. Let’s hand out some letter grades for every forward’s performance thus far.

The Columbus Blue Jackets forward group has been a slight step behind their blue line brothers through 21 games. Not by much but there are far more questions and striking concerns up front compared to the defenseman.

There are have been two solid lines that have emerged, a huge surprise in an offseason signing, and a few puzzling performances. The team is led by Cam Atkinson in goals who has 13 through 21 games including a hat trick against the Carolina Hurricanes on November 17th.

Coach Tortorella has emphasized checking, or the lack thereof, from his forward group and it has led to some surprise healthy scratches and some puzzling line combinations. There is still plenty of time to shake out the bottom two lines but there are some real issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Now, lets hand out our report cards for the first quarter of the season to the forwards in reverse alphabetical order.

Alexander Wennberg

This is one of the toughest grades to give out for any player on the team. Preseason expectations two years ago were that Alexander Wennberg was going to be this franchise’s number one center. That didn’t work out and Pierre-Luc Dubois took that role through the year.

Coming into this season, Wennberg was supposed to be the second line center. History has repeated itself and it looks like, once again, he has fallen down a line and has become the squad’s third line center. Although he has 11 points in 21 games, Wennberg’s play has been disappointing.

Despite his 43 point pace, Wennberg hasn’t been an offensive force and hasn’t taken over a game once this year. His best performance came way back on October 9th against the Colorado Avalanche when he had two primary assist.

Defensively he has been below average and it has cost him plenty of ice time. He has only been on the ice for 18+ minutes twice this season and is averaging just 15 minutes a game.

His line-mates have been shuffled quite a bit but no combination has worked out quite yet. It hasn’t been a bad start to the year, just not to the level we expect out of Alexander Wennberg.

Lukas Sedlak

Lukas Sedlak has become a regular on the fourth line for the Columbus Blue Jackets, logging 15 games so far this year. Although he is averaging a team low eight minutes of ice time per game, he has had some high and low moments so far.

Sedlak at times has looked like a defensively responsible forward that checks very hard and is a pest to the opponent. Exactly what you want from your fourth line.

But then there are times, like in the most recent game against Toronto, where his inexperience shines and his mental errors cost the Jackets dearly. The yo-yo type performance may soon cost Sedlak his role on the fourth line for an AHL call up or Oliver Bjorkstrand, if Torts feels like playing him.

We don’t expect a ton from Sedlak but he hasn’t done what he needs to do to stay a regular on the fourth line. Or to get a solid grade for his performance thus far.

Artemi Panarin

The Breadman has been his usual self this season despite riding the longest goalless streak of his career. Despite not scoring a goal in the last ten games, Artemi Panarin still leads the team in points with 22 and has five goals.

Teams are certainly keying on the Jackets best player but Panarin’s playmaking ability has led to more Cam Atkinson and Pierre-Luc Dubois goals this year. This top line is one of the better top line’s in the league and Panarin’s unselfish play is a huge reason why.

Panarin is on pace for another record setting year in union blue, averaging over a point per game. Although he did miss one game due to illness, Panarin is on pace to score 89 points this year.

That will certainly fetch him whatever price he wants on the open market. Even with all the discussion swirling around his contract situation with the Blue Jackets, Panarin is still performing at an elite level proving he is focused on nothing but winning.

Not much more can be said about the great start to the year from Panarin. I’m sure he’ll be proud of his report card for the first quarter of the year.

Riley Nash

We are handing out report card grades and not superlatives, but if we were, Riley Nash would win for most disappointing player of the year so far. Nash, 29, was signed in the offseason and was expected to be the Jackets third line center after having a few solid seasons in Boston. But that hasn’t been the case and Nash now finds himself close to being a healthy scratch.

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He wasn’t expected to come into Columbus and blow the doors off offensively, but the team certainly hoped he could put up more than two assist in 20 games. That just isn’t going to cut it no matter who you are. But it’s especially troubling if you are making $2.75 million a season.

Beyond the offensive disappointment there are plenty of defensive struggles to point out as well. Nash has been a solid 200 foot center in past seasons, but this year, he hasn’t been able to be counted on in his own end. Nash is a -3 so far this season and is boasting a lowly 45% corsi for rate.

Nash has slid from third line center, to fourth line center, and now is a fourth line winger. He hasn’t shown any sign of improvement and his demotion I fear will continue to him sitting in the press box for games soon.

Not the start to the season Nash, or the organization, wanted to see.

Sonny Milano

It’s tough to give out a report card to a player who has only played eight games and has been poorly utilized but here we go anyway. Sonny Milano, who now finds himself in Cleveland, has had a less than stellar start to the year as well.

Milano hasn’t earned a consistent spot in the lineup this year due to his defensive play. I would argue that he has played no worse defensively than many of the possible bottom six forwards on the roster but apparently Coach Tortorella disagrees with me.

Sonny was sparingly used in his time in Columbus only averaging eight minutes a game which made it tough for him to get into an offensive rhythm which the scorer needed. This led to Sonny only producing one goal which came all the way back on October 18th against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Milano, 22, last played with the Jackets on October 23rd and has since been with the Monsters. In his time in the AHL he has played well, averaging a point per game in his six appearances.

The play of the other fourth line Jackets though may give Milano another chance in Columbus this season. I hope he does get another chance because we know how gifted Sonny is with the puck on his stick.

Boone Jenner

Another forward that has earned a good grade! Boone Jenner has been asked to moved to center this year and he has played very well in the middle of the Jackets second line.

Jenner, with Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno on his wing, have become this team’s go-to defensive line while still providing an offensive punch. Boone has nine points through 21 games and is well on his way to his second 40 point season in his career.

But the reason for Boone’s high mark is due to everything else he does on the ice. He is trusted defensively more than any other center and has the third highest defensive zone start rate on the team at 67.1%. Boone also has the most blocked shots by any CBJ forward with 27.

He also has done very well at the face-off dot for a player who hasn’t taken many draws in his NHL career. He is at 49.8% from the dot, good for second on the team among players with at least 100 draws.

Boone has been a rock solid contributor for this team all year and is due for an offensive explosion here soon that will boost his numbers. Even without a gaudy number of points though, Jenner has been fantastic through the first quarter of the season.