Kent Johnson hits the 75-point mark and becomes a top line winger.
One of the more surprising things about training camp this year, is that newly acquired winger Valeri Nichushkin has not been playing on the top line. Instead, Bowness and his staff have had Kent Johnson flanking Kirill Marchenko; with Adam Fantilli joining them at center after signing his contract on Thursday. Marchenko was replaced with Matthew Knies after the big trade.
With that in mind, is it out of the realm of possibility that Johnson could re-establish himself as one of this team's top offensive weapons? The answer to that question is simple: it's up to one person. That person is Kent Johnson.
It's hard to call whatever last year's abomination was a "sophomore slump" since Kent has three full NHL seasons under his belt. But, isn't that kinda what it felt like?
He never really got going, only showing flashes of the player that scored 24 goals and 57 points in 68 games during the 2024-25 campaign. By season's end, with the games really starting to matter; he was a healthy scratch on more than one occasion.
He would finish with just 7 goals and 22 points in 76 games. If you want to look at one of the main reasons the Blue Jackets missed the playoffs, it was Kent Johnson. This team was built to rely upon his play driving ability, but they just weren't able to do so.
The good news is, it sounds like everyone knows the cause, and according to reports, that has been corrected. One thing I know for sure: this guy didn't just forget how to play offense. So, if those issues have been corrected, we could be in for a real treat from a motivated KJ this year.
I definitely think 75 points is possible, especially if that top line can generate any kind of chemistry. Lest we overlook the power-play, which we talked about in our first bold prediction. Fingers crossed on this one; unlocking KJ could solve a lot of problems for the Blue Jackets.
Mike Stump brought up this prediction, and we all agreed. We think there will be big things from #91 this year. Which brings me to our final bold prediction.
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