Reviewing Our Roster Prediction Halfway Through the Preseason
Today we’re taking a look at our way-too-early roster predictions (made in July). Let’s adjust those predictions based on how training camp has gone so far. While there aren’t any big changes at the top, there are some surprises here.
Man, how time flies. It seems like we’ve been building up to hockey all summer, only to have training camp blow by us. Hockey season starts next week, if you can believe that; with the Jackets hosting the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, October 12, at Nationwide Arena. At this point in the preseason, you can start to weed out who will be on the big club, and who might be starting their season in the American Hockey League.
With that in mind, lets take a look at our roster prediction from August. I’ve listed the players that I think might not be on the opening night roster for the Jackets, in bold font here:
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 – Boqvist
Defense pair 2: Provorov – Severson
Defense pair 3: Bean – Gudbranson
Extra: Peeke
Goaltenders: Merzlikins, Tarasov
Related Story. Our Prediction for the 2023-24 Columbus Blue Jackets (July). light
There aren’t really any surprises if you’ve paid attention this preseason. Yegor Chinakhov, Jake Bean, and Daniil Tarasov have all missed big chunks of camp with injury. Chinakhov will probably have to start his season by rehabbing, before facing another stint in the AHL to get up to speed. I think that’s fine for him; but if he can get his game going early on, he’ll be in the NHL soon, rather than later. This is a big year for him to prove himself.
Dmitri Voronkov has looked fine, but I think he’ll start the year with the Cleveland Monsters as well. Really, it’s hard to complain about him; the problem is, he just isn’t up to the pace of the NHL game yet. His size, physicality, and willingness to be a pain in the rear for the opponents, will make him an NHL call-up and standout, not unlike Kirill Marchenko last season.
Jake Bean has missed all but the last few days of camp recovering from yet another ailment – and unfortunately for him, this has opened the door for young Denton Mateychuk to show off his abilities. What differentiates Bean from the two forwards mentioned above, is that he’s waiver eligible, and cannot be sent down without the risk of losing him to every other team in the league. So, I think it’s possible that the team places him on IR to start the season and allow Mateychuk to play in up to 9-games before making a decision. It’s also possible that they could keep 9 defensemen around until they work it out. I wouldn’t count out a trade to free up the back-end, either.
Daniil Tarasov is another guy recovering from yet another knee injury. The Jackets picked up goaltender Spencer Martin off of waivers from Vancouver late last week, which shows us their level of confidence in getting Tarasov back before the season starts. It seems we’ve come to a fork in the road here, and this will be a situation to watch until the team picks one or the other.
There are some players who have really caught the eye of the coaching staff and management throughout camp thus far. While some of them aren’t going to be kept around for obvious reasons, we’ll discuss their play on the next page. Oh, and we also have a new roster prediction…
Coming into camp, it was really easy to write some players off based on the contract situations in Columbus, and the promise of certain players. But what we weren’t counting on, were certain players coming in more prepared than ever.
The first player I wrote off in July was Emil Bemstrom, and I could not have been more wrong. It seemed like he had been given every opportunity to make a difference, only to keep coming up short – but he’s had a really strong camp, and I definitely think he’s earned another shot. Whether or not he’s in the opening night lineup, I find it hard to believe that they’ll send down a guy who has been better than most of the competition this fall. Talk about taking advantage, just look at him winning on the forecheck here:
PATTY IS THE MOMENT.@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/9N2ilPiD96
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) September 30, 2023
Carson Meyer wasn’t even on my radar in July, but he’s had a very strong camp as well. His energy, forechecking, and ability to chip in some secondary offense, has made him a standout whenever he’s on the ice. I still have him right on the bubble, mostly because of numbers; but I think you have to lean his way if it comes down to him and a guy like Voronkov. His energy stands out, big time.
Speaking of energy, we can’t talk about the forward group without mentioning James Malatesta, who has been better than most of us expected so far. Fresh out of junior hockey, the former 5th round pick has competed hard for every single puck, and he has a great release that will translate to goals very soon. I don’t see him starting the season in Columbus; they’ll want him to get some offensive confidence in Cleveland. But, he’s made himself a really hard player to cut.
With all of that said, here is my current prediction for the opening night roster for the Blue Jackets:
F (14)
Gaudreau – Jenner – Marchenko
Laine – Fantilli – Johnson
Texier – Roslovic – Danforth
Robinson – Kuraly – Olivier
Meyer, Bemstrom
D (7)
Werenski – Severson
Provorov – Boqvist
Mateychuk – Gudbranson
Peeke
G (2) Merzlikins, Martin
*IR – Jake Bean, Daniil Tarasov
I think Adam Fantilli and Patrik Laine have shown strong enough chemistry to merit Adam getting at least a look on the second line. This puts Jack Roslovic in a third line role; where he has a couple of strong two-way players on either wing. In theory, that could give the team three solid scoring lines.
Mathieu Olivier starts on the fourth line, but I think that could be a rotation of him, Meyer, and Bemstrom; depending on the opponents. I do think Denton Mateychuk has earned at least a trial run on defense here; he’s been outstanding this preseason. So good, in fact, that I think he’ll get that opportunity ahead of another top prospect: David Jiricek. Part of that is due to him being a left-hand shot, but a bigger part of that has been his swagger and poise with the puck.
We’ll revisit this prediction, as well as the early roster prediction, once the season kicks off next week. Training camp has been fascinating to watch so far; I hope that all of the competition for jobs makes for a stronger, deeper Blue Jacket team this season.
Next. Five Reasons the CBJ Will Miss the Playoffs. dark