Three Active Former Blue Jackets Who Would be Perfect for this Team

So, you think the center position is going to be okay in due time. I do get it. This team surrendered 330 goals last year, and even though they added two quality veterans this summer, they still lack a high end player for the top pairing. You think they should fix that first. I don’t disagree. If only…

Like the Laine/Dubois situation, imagine this team with it’s prospect pool and depth now, but with Seth Jones on the roster. Right off the bat, the big caveat for me here would be his monster contract, which has him overpaid by probably $2-3m per year. With that aside though, he’s exactly what we need.

He’s a veteran of over 700 NHL games, and while his offense never translated into big numbers, we know very well what he’s capable of doing with and without the puck. He has the size, elite level skating, two-way presence, and transition game that meshes perfectly with Zach Werenski – we’ve witnessed it live. Imagine a top-four of Werenski, Jones, Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson … now you’re getting somewhere.

Like our other ideas, this changes the entire complexion of the team, and buys them plenty of time for David Jiricek and Corson Ceulemans to develop into future stalwarts on the right side. Probably most importantly, it means the team doesn’t divvy out $16 million on Erik Gudbranson last summer. With Seth on the roster though, this group is pretty darn good:

Line 1: Gaudreau – Jenner – Marchenko
Line 2: Johnson – Roslovic – Laine
Line 3: Texier – Fantilli – Chinakhov
Line 4: Robinson – Kuraly – Danforth
Extras: Voronkov, Olivier
Defense pair 1: Werenski – Jones
Defense pair 2: Provorov – Severson
Defense pair 3: Bean – Gudbranson
Extra: Peeke
Goaltenders: Merzlikins, Tarasov

There you have it – three former Jacket players that we feel could really help this team out of its current funk. With all of that said, it’s hard (nearly impossible) to pencil in a Dubois or Jones without gutting other major pieces of the lineup due to the salary cap. Even taking Gudbranson away, things get awful tight in a hurry – especially when you consider the young players that will need contracts soon.

In all, it’s just a dream anyhow. We could redo this whole thing and replace Dubois, Wennberg, and Jones with guys who weren’t former Blue Jackets but would be great fits here and have the same effect/outcome. But it’s fun to imagine what might have been, with these guys still around and the incoming pieces from the rebuild. Maybe in some other universe.