The Blue Jackets Have Good Defensemen: Why Isn’t it Working?
Another loss on Saturday night dropped the Blue Jackets to a 10-17-5 record – last place in the Eastern Conference by points percentage. After 32 games, the team is on pace for roughly 64 points, only a slight improvement over last year.
Their lottery pick pace would be easier to get behind if General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen and team President John Davidson hadn’t boasted all summer about making a run at the playoffs this season. That’s exactly what they did. They also went out and acquired players to plug holes, seemingly trying to do just that. The problem here is: it hasn’t worked.
Kekalainen’s attempt to solve this team’s goals against struggles from a year ago – picking up two top-four defensemen – has only marginally helped the situation. They’re still oozing high danger scoring chances against, and currently only the San Jose Sharks (3.90 GAA) have a worse goals against average than the Blue Jackets, who surrender an average of 3.63 per game.
As the season wears on, one thing that becomes evident is that this team still doesn’t have enough defensemen capable of actually defending in their own zone. Over the past two summers, Kekalainen has acquired three defensemen: Erik Gudbranson, Ivan Provorov, and Damon Severson. Each was picked up to bring experience to this team’s young back-end, and help this team improve in the standings. While they have improved slightly, I don’t think this is what Jarmo had in mind.
If you look at it objectively, it’s somewhat easy to see why. Gudbranson was brought in to fill the need for a tough, no-nonsense leader on the back-end. He’s filled his role just fine, in my opinion. But at his very best, he’s suited against bottom-six opposition when he’s on the ice. You don’t want him playing against top skill guys from the other team – that’s a recipe for disaster. The problem here: we’ve seen plenty of that usage over the last season and a half.
Provorov has been a productive offensive player and minute muncher throughout his NHL career. But, defensively, he leaves a lot to be desired. When the Jackets acquired him, we talked quite a bit about him needing a change of scenery and fewer minutes – against lower competition. Maybe that would help rejuvenate his career? Instead, head coach Pascal Vincent has no choice but to roll him out for an average of 23 minutes per game – including when this team is trying to defend leads late. There is simply no-one else. The problem here: Provorov is not good in his own end. Case in point:
The pass by Bratter; the finish by Cap 🤌 pic.twitter.com/1XlkRauLBz
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 17, 2023
They’re getting production from the back end, but not much defensively. They did bring in one other guy though; why hasn’t he helped more?
Damon Severson (currently on IR) has shown promising moments, but also the occasional glaring mistake.
Of the three defensemen acquired over the past two offseasons, Severson may be the most capable at defending in zone. But traditionally, he’s struggled unless paired with another steady defenseman. His best season came when playing alongside Ryan Graves last year in New Jersey. They took on a lot of the tougher assignments and played a simple style. The problem here: the Jackets do not have one single defensive defenseman capable of playing alongside Severson and taking on that role.
Zach Werenski is the team’s #1 defenseman, and he’s not good enough in his own end to take on top opposition. You want him on the ice for offensive zone faceoffs, power-plays, and clutch goal scoring situations. Which, coincidentally, is when you also want your #2 left-shot defenseman – Provorov – on the ice. The third guy on the left side depth chart? Jake Bean, who, by the way, was drafted and developed to play in that exact same role.
Down the right side, they have Severson (when healthy), Gudbranson, then David Jiricek – who has shown a penchant for being strong in all three zones, but he’s still very young and developing. After those three, they’re down to another player who is all offense: Adam Boqvist. Then comes Andrew Peeke, who sure puts in the effort defensively, but aside from getting hit with the puck a lot, leaves a lot to be desired. Lastly, currently on the roster is Nick Blankenburg, who shows flashes of potential, but also brings the occasional glaring mistake to the table.
When you take a step back and look at it from a simple perspective: this team has one, maybe two guys capable of playing in-zone defense against strong competition. And one of them is 19 years old. That’s why it isn’t working. They have good pieces, but the mix is all wrong. There’s way too much offense, too many guys who want the puck, or who want to lead the rush up the ice; and not enough guys willing to stay home and battle defensively.
They need someone who can come in and play the shutdown role on that second defense pairing, alongside Damon Severson. Funny enough, I think former Jacket Vladislav Gavrikov would have been perfect in that spot; but he’s an LA King now. I know they just acquired Provorov, and he has been productive here offensively. But, it’s time to admit that he’s the wrong type of defenseman for the role they acquired him to play.
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Correcting that mistake and bringing in someone who can hold pace defensively, could push everyone down the depth chart enough to help this team win some more hockey games. At the very least, it will mask some of the other shortcomings here, and make the games more entertaining.
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