Columbus Blue Jackets: First Ever Union and Blue Fan AMA

This week we’re trying something new at Union & Blue: ask us anything. Via our social media channels we’ve given Jacket fans around the world to ask the questions that are on their mind, for us to answer in detail. We’ll look to do this regularly as we move ahead, but for now let’s get started.

Via Twitter, Mike in Nebraska asks: Is it time for a new uniform design? Not talking about changing the crest or anything like that, but the #CBJ have had the same basic sweater design for over a decade now.

Great question. This is certainly not something I would typically write about, but it is something that I’m sure we’ve all thought about over the years. I actually like the uniforms as they are right now, with some minor changes I’d like to see.

First, I’m one of the people who thinks the swirled Ohio State flag logo in the shape of the letter “C”, wrapped around a star, is fantastic. I love the simplicity of it, and I do think that in time it will turn into something that is iconic with the city of Columbus. Think of it like the spoked “B” that the Boston Bruins have. In that regard, I agree with Mike that the crest is fine as it is.

The design of the uniforms themselves is also pretty simplistic, which is great because it gives them a clean, easy to identify look; but the one thing I’ve never liked is the red pants. I get that they’re that way to break things up, so they aren’t in Union Blue from head to toe … but I don’t like them. For this reason, I think a re-design of the home uniform as a whole, that eliminates the red pants, would be fantastic.

I’m not an artist or graphic designer, but I think it would be cool to see them incorporate more of the red/white on the jerseys themselves, and roll with the blue pants at home. Look at the image above and how clean the road uniforms are with the blue pants. In my opinion, these are about a million times better than the old away uniforms, and it’s the pants that make all the difference.

I do like the look of the new reverse retro, but only when I’m seeing the whole uniform. I don’t particularly care for the jerseys on their own. Maybe going with more of a black/blue theme like that could be something to work around? Or, perhaps they could go Union Blue all the way down, and break it up with some striping along the way.

CBJ Opinions asked the following question via Twitter:

At what point does Jarmos seat get hot? Meaning how long is his leash. Similarly, I don’t think JD’s seat should be warm at all but isn’t he supposed to be a bridge to the fans? We’ve barely heard from him in a very turbulent season.

Simple response: I don’t think either seat is even warm at this point. If you take the full picture into account, it’s hard to blame Jarmo or JD for the team’s place in the standings this season. Most importantly, I think ownership is happy with the overall direction of the franchise, and they honestly should be.

First, I think they actually had a pretty decent roster coming into the year. I would argue that on paper, this is one of the most talented teams the Blue Jackets have ever iced – the roster was just very young to begin with, and then the injuries have killed any chance of success.

It’s one thing to lose a Zach Werenski, or a Justin Danforth, or a Jakub Voracek … but losing all of them at once, for the entire season, is really hard to overcome. Then they started losing the depth pieces like Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist, and Nick Blankenburg. It was going to take a whole lot of “maybes” for this team to have success this year to begin with, and it blew up dramatically due to the injury situation. Defense was the question mark they had to start the season, and losing that many defensemen at the same time, is basically a death sentence.

Second, look at what’s coming in the pipeline. This team has the best prospect pool they’ve ever had, and it’s only going to get better with another top-5 pick in this upcoming draft – which is very strong. For the first time, they aren’t bringing guys like David Jiricek up to play, even though they desperately need all the help they can get in Columbus. I’m confident that they are letting them develop at the right pace, and this team should be stronger because of it.

I get the frustration with this management group, but I don’t think it’s been all that bad myself. The first rebuild under Jarmo was an expedited one because the team matured much faster than expected, and the ownership was hungry for some kind of success here. Had they gotten one or two more high draft picks, I think they could have established and sustained success for awhile. That success might have led to some of these guys sticking around, at which point we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

When Jarmo was hired, the best players in Columbus were Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno and Brandon Dubinsky. The top prospects were Ryan Murray and Ryan Johansen; who, at their very best, were secondary pieces. The team that peaked in 2019 reflected that – though Jarmo added some significant pieces like Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, Seth Jones, etc – the core guys that were here, the CBJ draft picks, were mostly blue collar/depth type players. No other GM in our brief history has built a roster quite like that 2019 team, and he did it with secondary assets. So for that reason, I think he deserves one more chance to build it from the ground up, the right way.

This time, he’s been collecting draft picks and early returns on them have been very positive. Let’s be patient and see this play out for another 2-3 years before we call for heads. One other thing we can’t overlook: all of the improvements going into the arena and fan experience. We can thank this management group for a lot of that, and ownership sees it as well.

Justin Needham asks: 

Is Brad Larsen the coach to lead and develop what is most likely going to be one of most talented prospect pools in the league?

I like this question. Obviously, I’m not around the locker room or any of the players/coaches, so this is an outsider’s perspective. But, I think it’s important to look at the track results so far, and if we do that, I honestly think we’re starting to see some positive returns. Remember: everyone develops at different paces. The team has been a lot better lately, and part of that is improvement in the younger players on the roster.

Adam Boqvist has been on an absolute bender lately. Kirill Marchenko worked to earn top line minutes and Lars fed them to him. Kent Johnson has shown consistent improvement throughout the year. Obviously, Cole Sillinger has been struggling to find offense, but overall his game hasn’t really been that bad (more on that below). My opinion on Brad’s handling of the younger players is: that’s one thing he actually seems to get.

We can talk about his actual coaching (systems, ability to inspire, etc) … I do think there are some question marks there. But, I think the reason he was given the job ahead of Brad Shaw or any of the other candidates, is his softer touch and overall patience. Which are qualities you want in a coach of a young team.

Now, all of that said, I do think he was hired to fail. As odd as that sounds, we’ve talked about this plenty: the best way to get a good team, is to be bad for a few years. I think management knew that Lars, being a rookie coach in the NHL, with a young, rebuilding team, was going to struggle. The injuries we talked about on the last page have probably bought him another year, and I think that’s fine. Let’s see what he can do when more of the roster is turned over to youth next fall, then make a final decision. Maybe he’ll surprise us.

Thomas Rothwell asks a question that we can tie in with the above discussion:

I think there are a few players who have underperformed compared to expectations. I’d say Elvis, Sillinger, Chinakov, and in some ways Laine are the most concerning. Panic meter on these guys? Reason to think they can rebound next season?

From this list, the only player I’m worried about here is Elvis Merzlikins. With that said, he’s been a lot better of late, so hopefully his play has turned a corner and we can put his dreadful year behind us. Mental strength can be everything in goaltending, and he may come out of this situation better prepared for tough moments. That’s what we have to hope for, anyway.

As I talked about briefly above, if you look at Sillinger’s numbers this season, it’s been a brutal year. But, if you’ve followed the games closely, the one thing that stands out to me is that he just keeps working. Yes, it’s obvious that his offensive confidence isn’t there; but it hasn’t slowed his effort on the puck or his play in the defensive zone. Lately, he’s been getting some more looks since being paired up with Kent Johnson, and I think it’s only going to take one goal to really set him off.

Through 30 games this season, Yegor Chinakhov was just one point off of his points total from last year – set in 62 games. More importantly, his plus/minus went from -27 last year, to a reasonable -6 this year. He’s fine, and I honestly thought he looked like the most dangerous offensive threat in a lot of his games this year, he was all over the ice on both sides of the puck.

The only thing I can say to the negative, is that he needs to use that shot more often – it’s a top-10 wrist shot in this league right now. The coaching staff has to put him into situations where he can get open, because the more he shoots, the more he’s going to score. He had 44 shots on goal through those 30 games … I’d like to see that up closer to 60. I would be willing to bet he would have 20 goals by now, if he’d stayed healthy and shot  the puck more often.

As for Laine, let’s tie that into this next question and I’ll answer you both…