Columbus Blue Jackets: Six Players At Risk of Losing Their Spots
Yesterday, we touched on six top prospects and their odds of making the Columbus Blue Jackets ahead of the season opener. Today, we’ll look at six players at risk of losing their jobs at training camp.
Related Story. Six Top Prospects Who Could Make the CBJ. light
We’ll kick things off with probably the most contentious of our choices: center Jack Roslovic. It’s not that he’s a bad player, or really even that he had a bad season last year. It’s just that he always leaves us wanting so much more. You can see the talent, but he never seems to put it all together consistently enough.
FEELIN' ROSIE 🌹 pic.twitter.com/gPDpKFg4IU
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 25, 2023
He’s super streaky offensively, and the unfortunate thing about his game is that he doesn’t bring much (anything) else to the table. He’s a mess defensively. He’s not a penalty killer. He’s not great in the faceoff circle. He doesn’t forecheck. So in those regular 4+ game stretches where he’s not producing, you only notice him at times when he stands out for the wrong reasons.
The Blue Jackets have two very promising rookie centers competing for jobs this fall in Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov. While it’s entirely possible that someone can move to the wing and you can keep them all around; the depth situation on the wings means that the Blue Jackets will need to cut ties with someone. Unfortunately, there aren’t any easy cuts there, either. The team is loaded with quality young players battling for those jobs. It’s a tough situation.
To top it off, Roslovic makes $4 million against the cap this year, in the final year of his contract. I have a really hard time seeing the team extend him beyond this season, which makes him a prime trade target for a team looking for a depth scoring center. In short, nearly every contending team in the league might be interested, depending on the price. Still, I think Jack probably makes the cut, mostly because he is still a productive player, even with his pitfalls. Chance Roslovic is on the team: 95%.
Yegor Chinakhov is another guy who finds himself in a tough spot. He was injured for a lot of last season, then finished his year in the AHL, where he was able to regain some scoring confidence. But even before his injury, I thought Yegor was starting to really come on strong, playing quality two-way hockey.
His release makes him a dangerous scoring threat from anywhere in the offensive zone. For that reason, I thought Chinakhov would be a prime breakout candidate with you-know-who as the head coach. But as it stands, with Pascal Vincent taking over, Yegor is a known entity who should be able to crack the lineup because of that shot, his size, and all-around game. I had him penciled into the third line in our season preview series, and I still think he’ll have the inside track for that role.
With that said, he’s in a battle for his job with a big handful of other guys. I like his chances when you stack him up against some of the other wingers battling for bottom-six minutes. But if both Fantilli and Voronkov both make the team, someone is getting moved to the wing. And Chinakhov could be the odd man out, if the team decides they have enough scoring depth at that point. He’s a player to watch over the next couple of weeks, for sure. Chance Chinakhov is on the team: 70%.
Looking at the back end for the Blue Jackets, there’s a fairly clear top-four of Zach Werenski, Ivan Provorov, Damon Severson, and Adam Boqvist. After that? It’s a battle.
The glaring question that keeps coming up from last year’s group: where does Andrew Peeke fit in? He played 80 games for the team last season and did the hard work, blocking a ton of shots and remaining remarkably healthy in the process. Still, the team felt the need to go out and upgrade this summer, bringing Damon Severson to an already crowded right side of the defense corps.
Like Roslovic, Peeke is a veteran guy in a situation where he might just be passed up by other players. Through not fault of his own, it’s just that this team is improving around him, and he doesn’t bring a ton to the table. He can’t play the left side on defense. He doesn’t bring a lot (anything) to the table offensively. He’s not strong enough to be the physical presence or the enforcer on the back end. Really, he’s been playing out of his element for about two seasons now – evidenced by his league-leading -41 rating last season.
I like Andrew Peeke, and we should all be appreciative of the things he did for this team through the roughest parts of the rebuild. But, is he anything more than a bottom pairing guy, who chips in some second unit PK minutes and blocks shots? That’s fine, but to me, that also shows he spends a lot of time in his own end. Does he do enough to beat out guys like Adam Boqvist, David Jiricek, or even a less expensive guy like Nick Blankenburg? It’s going to be tough for him, and even with his NHL-only contract, it could go either way. Peeker might be a trade candidate before the season even starts. Chance Peeke is on the team: 51%.
Jake Bean begins his training camp still on the IR list, which is terrible news. He first landed on the IR last November, and we have not seen him on the ice since – almost 10 months ago to the day. For a guy who might be contending for his job this fall, that is not a good place to be. He has missed a lot of hockey.
Bean has shown glimpses of being a good top-four, puck moving defenseman. But he has yet to remain healthy for enough time to prove himself, and over the last few years has gone from promising former first round pick – to 25 year old fringe NHL player. He just hasn’t broken out and produced enough to mask his shortcomings defensively, which are still huge issues.
Bean with the snipe 🎯 pic.twitter.com/xiZYhdp4GO
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2022
Worse for Jake, the Jackets come into the season with a bounty of other options. They could elect to move one of their right-hand shooting defensemen over to the left side. I think his job would have been a lot safer with the head coach they had last week (Babs loves the lefty/righty tandems) – but Pascal Vincent may not see that as important. If Andrew Peeke, or Nick Blankenburg, or Erik Gudbranson, or even David Jiricek prove they can play on their off-side, that could spell doom for Jake Bean.
Or, he could simply lose his job to a 20 year old prospect Stanislav Svozil. He’s my dark horse out of training camp; his skating, physicality, and playmaking, will draw lots of attention from coaches, scouts, and management. If he wins a job, it would be at the direct expense of Jake Bean, who might become a trade candidate at that point. As far as value, well, we would have to see. Chance Bean is on the team: 50%.
A couple of returning bottom-six forwards should be quite concerned about their jobs this fall. Both of them are great guys to keep around, but there is a lot of competition for jobs at training camp.
Eric Robinson has direct competition coming for his job, with some good prospects seemingly ready to fill that role. His speed and ability to kill penalties have made him a standout player for the Jackets over the last few seasons, but his lack of finishing ability has kept him buried on the fourth line – even as the team has struggled to fill out its lineup.
Robby gets the hat trick and seals the deal for a Jackets W 🔥 pic.twitter.com/CQg6CpwcUR
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 1, 2023
Former first round pick Liam Foudy brings a lot of the same abilities as Robinson, and perhaps a little bit more of a scoring touch. This may be easily broken down as a battle between the two of them for a job on the fourth line. But even if not, he could find himself fighting against different types of players such as Dmitri Voronkov, Yegor Chinakhov, or even returnee Alexandre Texier at training camp.
Still, as I’ve always said, until a prospect takes a guy’s job away, an NHL player is still safe over a prospect, so Robinson seems relatively safe. Either way you shake it down, I think he’s going to be on the team in some capacity – even if he spends a few nights in the press box this season. He’s inexpensive, works hard, and does everything he’s asked to do. Chance Robinson is on the team: 95%.
The final player on my list is scrappy 30 year-old Justin Danforth. He started last season in great favor with head coach Brad Larsen, and with good reason. He’s a guy who has worked his behind off to get to the NHL level, earning him immediate respect from his teammates and making him a fan favorite in the process.
All Danforth does is bring his lunch pail to work and play a blue collar style of hockey that all of us can get behind. He’s quick to the puck, willing to go into the tough areas of the ice; where he competes hard and physically. He does all of the little things well, blocking shots, throwing his body around, taking faceoffs, killing penalties … and he even chips in offensively. He’s everything you want in an energy line guy.
Let’s also not forget: he started out last season playing on the top power-play unit for the Jackets. There’s some skill here, and I would argue that he was a really underrated loss from last year’s team when he went down with injury. They needed a spark plug on a lot of nights, and that’s exactly what Danforth is. Like Robinson however, there are some guys pushing for jobs here – Chinakhov, Voronkov, Texier, and even Mathieu Olivier will be competing with Danforth for a job. But also like Robinson, I have a hard time seeing Danforth getting cut. He’s a great guy to keep around, even if he doesn’t play every night. His odds aren’t as high as Robinson, who is more established … but he’s cheap and they need that energy. Chance Danforth is on the team: 51%.
All of these players will have to work hard to retain their roles from last season. In the end, I think a trade – or maybe even multiple trades – will become necessary for the Jackets to free up roster space. A lot of that depends on the readiness of their prospects, several of whom look really close to being NHL ready.
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