Quarter Season Report Cards for Columbus Blue Jackets Forwards: Part 2

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.

We’re on to part two of our report cards for the Columbus Blue Jackets forward performance through 21 games. The CBJ have played a quarter of their season and we have enough data points at this time to be able to evaluate their play so far.

Be sure to check out part one if you haven’t yet as well as the defensive grades.

Let’s kick off part two with an evaluation of the captain, Nick Foligno.

We wrote about how Nick Foligno’s NHL career has followed a pretty regular trend. He has great seasons and then follows them up with below average years. Last year he had a below average year and is keeping up the trend by having an excellent year so far.

The captain has six goals and six assist through 20 games. Alongside Boone Jenner and Josh Anderson, Foligno has formed the Jackets second best line through the first quarter of the season.

His 12 points are good for fifth on the team and if Foligno keeps this up, a 48 point season would be in store. Not bad for the 31 year old who still shoulders tremendous defensive responsibility and scores a large majority of his points at even strength or shorthanded.

With the third and fourth lines flailing, there have been talks of moving Foligno down to a third line center role. For his sake and for the sake of the Jackets, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

The second line is rolling right now and shouldn’t be tinkered with. Foligno has found a great home on Boone Jenner’s wing and has earned him a solid grade to start the season.

Anthony Duclair

Anthony Duclair came to Columbus looking for a career reset. Through 21 games, it appears he has found just that.

After bouncing around the NHL, Duclair has shown in union blue that potential and promise he showed three seasons ago when he put up 44 points with the Arizona Coyotes. Through the first quarter of the season Duclair is tied for fifth in points with 12 and his eight goals are third on the team.

One of those eight goals was a beauty of a goal that might be the goal of the year so far for the entire NHL.

Although the last two games haven’t yielded any points, Duclair’s season has already been worth the league minimum the Jackets signed him for this offseason.

Coach Tortorella has had some words about his defensive play, along with almost every other Jacket, but his all around play has been more than what any of us expected. He does need to play better defensively, but for now, there is not much to drag Duclair’s grade down.

Duclair is now playing alongside Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Dubinsky but I expect Oliver Bjorkstrand to come back soon and join the third line. That’s a pretty potent line that can provide a nice scoring pop. It all comes down to their willingness to check because whether you like it or not, that’s what Torts wants to see.

Pierre-Luc Dubois

Pierre-Luc Dubois is not a top 10 center in the NHL but he is getting close. This year we have seen PLD play like a grown man at the age of 20. He is as physical, fast, and skilled of a center the Jackets have ever had. Alongside Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson, PLD has had a fantastic start to the year.

PLD is second on the team in goals with 10 and third in points with 19. While I don’t think PLD will break 40 goals, 30 is well with reach in only his second year in the NHL. The kid can’t even have a drink at a High Street restaurant after the game but he is logging the fourth most minutes per game as a forward.

Jarmo Kekalainen looks smarter everyday as his most “controversial” pick looks like an elite center and the supposed certain number three overall pick in 2016, Jesse Pulijajarvi, continues to struggle and is relegated to the AHL.

PLD has been rock solid and shows now sign of slowing down. He has earned a great grade for his performance through 21 games.

Brandon Dubinsky

Talk about an up and down. Brandon Dubinsky’s career looked like it was heading downhill last season. He had his lowest point totals in his entire career and saw his minutes take a nose dive.

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This offseason though Dubinsky put in the work and came back looking faster, leaner, and ready to take back the mantle of the third line center. He started the season like a bullet shot out of a gun and had two points in his first two games.

But an injury suffered late in practice ended up sidelining Dubinsky for a month. He came back ahead of schedule and had two points in his first three games back. Since then though Dubinsky has not been heard from that much. He has two points in six games, both of which came against the Florida Panthers in the Jackets 7-3 domination last week.

Dubinsky has found himself floating from third to fourth line depending on who Torts decides to scratch that day and what combinations he wants to see. The flux has led to no stability for the 32-year-old Dubinsky which hasn’t exactly helped his bounce back season.

Dubinsky is still the team’s most reliable face-off man and plays well in his own zone. I’d like to see him have some consistent playing partners but he is doing fine without them. All-in-all, its been a good 11 games for Brandon Dubinsky.

Cam Atkinson

Look at that face! That is the smile of a man who knows he is getting an A+ on his report card.

Cam has started this year out on an absolute tear. He is on a five game goal streak that includes his franchise leading 5th hat trick against the Carolina Hurricanes. His 13 goals are tied for fifth best in the NHL. 

On top of that, he has added nine assist playing alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois and Artemi Panarin. They form one of the top lines in the NHL and it has been a joy to watch.

The best part about this year for Cam is he usually takes a few months to get going at this pace. Last year it took until the final 34 games of the year to Cam turn it on. He has just kept that momentum rolling over to the 18-19 season and could lead to a huge season where Cam could take down a lot of CBJ franchise records.

This grade was easy to figure out.

Josh Anderson

The Josh Anderson-Jamie Benn fight along gets Josh Anderson to an A- for the first quarter of the season. That 15 seconds was the best fight in the NHL so far this year and one of the more entertaining moments of the season for the Jackets.

Add on top of that fight eight goals and two assist and you have one of the Jackets top five players of the year. His goal pace may not be sustainable but he can get to the 30 goal mark which would be a huge mark for the 24-year-old.

Anderson has started most of his shifts in the defensive zone but still has a corsi rate of 52%. Alongside Jenner and Foligno, the second line has been a blast to watch and has helped this team climb to the top of the Metro Division.

Part two of our forward report cards had a more A’s than part one for sure. Let us know in the comments below if you agree with the grades we handed out for the first quarter of the year.

Stay tuned for the final installment of our report cards for the first quarter when we hand out grades for the goalies.