The Three Biggest Surprises and Disappointments for the Blue Jackets
We asked the question on Twitter this week: in your opinion, who is the biggest surprise for the Blue Jackets this season? Also, who is the biggest disappointment? The fifth line did not disappoint, offering plenty of great arguments for both sides. You can read them here. Today, we’ll discuss some of our picks.
One common theme in the list of surprises is the play of rookie forward Kirill Marchenko. Despite only being in Columbus for 55 games, he’s already set a new mark for goals by a CBJ rookie with 21, while earning top line minutes alongside Johnny Gaudreau. But if you’ll recall – we were really high on Marchenko in the preseason, even mentioning potential Calder Trophy love before the season.
That’s probably not going to happen, since Marchenko spent such a large chunk of his season in Cleveland. While he’s been great to watch, he doesn’t make my list of surprises because I knew he was going to be good (though admittedly, not quite this good). Instead, I looked in different directions.
First positive surprise: Adam Boqvist
This one might seem like it came out of left field, but hear me out: even though he’s got NHL experience, Boqvist is the same age as Marchenko (22). This season, he’s sitting just three points behind Marchenko, and he’s played in 13 fewer games. Also, he’s a defenseman.
ADAM BOQVIST 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9jrSZKoUrF
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 19, 2023
Prior to the season, I was very much on the train of thought that Boqvist would be playing for an opportunity elsewhere; that he would be passed up by better options like Nick Blankenburg, or younger options like David Jiricek. Instead, Boqvist has quietly had the most productive season of his young career. He’s matched last season’s point total (22) in 11 fewer games.
Injuries aside, Boqvist has emerged and established himself as a potential top-four defenseman, who can quarterback a #1 power-play and be productive. He’ll need to play protected minutes, but my perspective on him has changed quite a bit because he’s been really good this season. Hopefully he can stay healthy and prove it even more next season.
After plenty of poor physical showings last season, the Jackets added some size and toughness to the roster over the summer. First, they signed Erik Gudbranson to add grit and experience to the back end. But it was the addition of another player that has turned out well, in my opinion.
Second positive surprise: Mathieu Olivier
The Jackets added Olivier in a move that slipped under the radar, acquiring him from Nashville a week before the draft. Having not spent much time in the NHL (48 games), it was hard to see Olivier as much more than an extra forward for the team.
Instead, Mathieu earned a fourth line role right out of the gate, and until his injury two weeks ago, had been a leader and consistent depth player for the Jackets. More importantly, he’s not just the pugilist that we thought we were getting; he’s been good on the forecheck and reliable in the defensive zone. In fact, it was a blocked shot that caused his recent injury.
He’ll never be a top-six player for the team, but he’s proven capable of the role he’s in, and has some flashes of skill here and there. He’s not the classic enforcer in regards to penalties either – you don’t see him running around and taking bad ones. Olivier is an RFA this summer and seems like a great guy to keep around.
Third positive surprise: Patrik Laine
Watching Laine’s development has been astounding. It’s been just over two years since the Jackets acquired Laine in exchange for disgruntled center Pierre-Luc Dubois. A former second overall pick, Laine was somehow cast as an outsider from the Winnipeg Jets’ core group, and his start in Columbus was rocky at best.
LET'S HEAR IT FOR LAINE 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KziGaN9RT1
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 22, 2023
He earned early visits to the doghouse from John Tortorella. That first season was a mess overall, and a change in coaching philosophy was definitely needed. He was more productive last year, but struggled to stay healthy and it still felt like he had a lot more to give, even with 56 points in 56 games. This year, he produced at a slightly lower rate with 52 points in 55 games … but for the first time, I feel like we’re starting to see the elite NHL talent that was expected of him in his draft year.
He’s been a lot more noticeable on the ice in a good way. We aren’t seeing as much of him drifting around the outside, waiting for the play to come to him. He’s been more engaged, and has been working harder away from the puck this season. He volunteered to play center when things got tough – and honestly, he looked really good there, especially for a guy who’s never really played there before.
At 24 years old, he’s entering the prime of his career. He’s matured a lot in our brief time watching him, and this year I could make the argument that he’s transitioned from young, carefree star – to a young leader on this team. Like almost everyone else on the roster, staying healthy is the key to a big season for Patty next year.
There are plenty of things to choose from here, with the team all but locked into a bottom-four finish. We could go on four paragraphs about things that went wrong this season; but we had to narrow this down to three to ensure we aren’t piling on, or boring you all with a rambling discussion. So, we chose three that really stand out.
Disappointing: Cole Sillinger
It’s really hard to put a 19 year old on this side of the list, but really, Cole had a rough sophomore season. He scored just 3 goals and 11 points in 64 games, before eventually being demoted to the AHL, where he’s currently playing with the Cleveland Monsters. Worse, he’s even struggling there, with just 3 assists through 7 games.
Before the season, in the same article mentioning Kirill Marchenko has a potential Calder candidate; we talked about Cole as the eventual top line center for this team this year. We definitely missed on that one. It’s not that his play was horrendous this season. In fact, I thought he had some really good stretches, and on most nights he was engaged and working hard.
COLE SILLINGER ties the game at 3 💥 pic.twitter.com/RHUpiGXvIc
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 18, 2023
He just lost all semblance of confidence early on; really, seemingly, after his first goal of the season was called back due to offsides in the season opener in Carolina. One look at his celebration in the video above will show you where his mind has been all season. Cole didn’t score his first official goal until November 12th. He scored two games later, then did not find the net again until March 17th (45 games). Still, he’s only 19, and there is plenty of time for him to regroup and reestablish himself as a future core member of this team.
Disappointing: goaltending
This is really the elephant in the room, and I have a feeling we’ll be talking about the goaltending situation quite a bit this summer. The Jackets have used six different goalies this season, led by Elvis Merzlikins (30gp) – who has the second-worst save percentage of them all.
In fact, outside of Joonas Korpisalo, who was dealt to the Kings at the trade deadline, any other goaltender to have significant playing time in Columbus, honestly has dreadful statistics across the board. Daniil Tarasov is supposed to be the top prospect and future starter here, but he’s struggled in both the NHL and AHL this season, and he simply cannot stay healthy.
Michael Hutchinson has been a blue collar workhorse since being acquired, but let’s face it – this guy isn’t a long-term solution. Jet Greaves and Jon Gillies both had fine performances in the games they played over the last week, but again, neither of these guys looks like a long-term solution here (though Greaves may be a good backup some day).
Whether it’s an obvious fix like improving the depth and experience on defense to help them out, or as drastic as finding another goaltender to step in, correcting the team’s goals against average has to be priority #1 this offseason.
Inconsistency is going to happen with a young roster, and the Jackets had the youngest roster in the NHL coming into the season. Worse, they lost some of their most skilled veterans long-term, early in the season.
Biggest disappointment: injuries
The injury situation here could be the cause of every other negative situation here this season. The Jackets will not have a single player play in all 82 games this season. They’ve used 43 different players, including a franchise record 6 goalies; 13 defensemen, and 24 forwards. That’s two completely different lineups of players, plus an extra defenseman and two extra goalies.
How much differently might this season have gone if they’d just stayed mostly healthy? I’m not saying they would be in the playoffs right now. Maybe they would still be a lottery team. But, we would at least have a year of true evaluations and a better feeling for where some guys are, who might fit in long term, and maybe who needs to go for this team to take steps forward.
They lost their top defenseman before the season was 25% gone. In fact every defenseman has missed time due to injury; while spark plug forward Justin Danforth has been out for nearly six months, and veterans Gustav Nyquist and Jakub Voracek saw their Blue Jacket careers end. Captain Boone Jenner, Patrik Laine … heck, just type out the whole roster here.
Would things have gone differently for Cole Sillinger, had he not missed most of the preseason due to a concussion? Or better yet, had he not lost his wily veteran linemate in Voracek early in the season? We can also look at the goaltending situation and say that things probably would have been better with a healthy Werenski leading the way.
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Coaches and players will often say that there are no excuses in sports. That’s basically true; the team who shows up and plays the best will often win. But let’s not forget that there is a talent separation as well. And, it’s really hard for players to show up and play their best, when they’re having serious shoulder surgery early in the season.
No roster featuring a back-end of Andrew Peeke, Adam Boqvist, Gavin Bayreuther, Marcus Bjork, Tim Berni, and Billy Sweezey, is going to contend for anything other than a lottery pick. But over the last couple of weeks, that’s what this team has been running with … in front of Jon Gillies and Michael Hutchinson in goal. And it’s really been this way all season, with guys rotating through who probably aren’t suited for NHL time.
All we can do is hope that GM Jarmo Kekalainen pulls some strings and bolsters this team’s depth on defense for next season. A couple of top-six centers wouldn’t hurt either, but we know that’s asking a lot. Regardless, for a team that’s averaging more than 4 goals against, it can’t get much worse. Can it?
Next. Jet Greaves Makes Stellar NHL Debut for the Blue Jackets. dark