It has been the start we all feared. After a magical run that nearly saw them make the playoffs last year, the Blue Jackets have stumbled out of the gates and are showing signs of regression.
As of this morning, they sit dead last in the Metropolitan Division, with an 11-9-5 record (27 points). Throw out the loser point for this argument: the fact here is that in 25 games, they have lost 14 of them. They are tied for dead last in the NHL with 6 regulation wins.
That is not good enough. We are a proud and fanbase that deserves so much more than what we are seeing.
Whether we liked it or not, Bill Simmons was right. Now in their 25th year in the NHL, this franchise is still fighting for relevance within the four major professional sports in North America.
That's probably the worst part about it. As proud as we are, we don't really have an argument against loudmouthed podcasters or opposing fans piling on, because the team on the ice continues to get walked by every other franchise in the NHL.
No-vember.
In the month of November, the Jackets won just 5 of 15 games. Only two of those wins were in regulation. This in spite of the fact that they held leads in nearly all of them - and multi-goal leads in many of them. Often in the third period.
From the outside, it would be easy to look at the mounting pile of injuries and blame the loss of a Boone Jenner or Kirill Marchenko. But, I'm honestly tired of those excuses.
Every other team in the league has to weed through injuries. In fact, the last team to come from a 2 goal deficit and beat the Jackets on Friday night, did so without 7 players.
Injuries are a part of this game. They are going to happen, often in piles like this. But other teams find a way to play through them. They fall back on systems play and live by their culture.
Not the Blue Jackets. In Columbus, it's always "we did some good things, tried our best. Hopefully we can get the next one". Boy, are we tired of that message. It's not good enough.
Since that lone playoff series win in 2019, the league has almost completely flipped through a rebuild cycle. Teams that were good that year are starting to find their way again. Or, they have been good all along.
Teams that weren't good the last time the Blue Jackets made any noise, have mostly been good since. The lone exception would be the Buffalo Sabres, who currently sit last in the Eastern Conference and have not made the playoffs since 2011.
They are the only other fanbase that can claim more agony than what we have faced - and in our team's existence, they have still been far better off. The Sabres made two straight conference finals in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel.
Aside from Buffalo, the longest current playoff droughts in the NHL are as follows: Detroit (2016), Anaheim (2018), and San Jose (2019).
Though they have slumped as of late, Detroit was in first place in their division last week. That's a position the Blue Jackets have only found themselves in one time. Ever. And it's been 10 years since they were there.
Meanwhile, Anaheim is currently atop the Pacific Division, and San Jose has been one of the league's more surprising upstarts this season.
All of those teams have a clear direction, and it's trending upward. The thing is, the Blue Jackets should be right there with them. But they are not, and nobody within the organization seems to care. There isn't any clear direction here.
Consider this: Anaheim's Leo Carlsson, taken just one slot ahead of Adam Fantilli, is currently sixth in the NHL in scoring with 34 points in 25 games. Meanwhile, San Jose's Macklin Celebrini - the first overall pick the very next season - is tied for second with 37 points.
The thing that really stings is, Fantilli put up better numbers than Celebrini at the same age, at the same level. Just one year apart. Both won the Hobey Baker Award.
But while the Sharks have transitioned and handed over the reins to the players they had to lose to acquire; Don Waddell went out this summer and handed Dean Evason a couple more veteran crutches.
He gave up futures to do it. There are no top prospects ready to make the leap right now. This team is mostly assembled. They are supposed to be better this year, but let's be honest: through 25 games, they stink. It's not working.
Stubbornly, we are seeing the same mistakes made each and every night. The formula has been: team plays extremely well for 40 minutes, with all four lines rolling. On many nights, they are building up leads based on the play from guys like Fantilli.
Then, the coaching staff starts limiting shifts and leaning on the "old guard" to close out the game. Double shifts and line shuffling, with a clear refusal to play in the opponent's end. The results have spoken for themselves. It's not good enough.
Our message to the organization.
Our message is very simple. Just being close in games is no longer good enough. That's not winning. We are tired of the loser points - that is not how we want to see this team keep pace in the standings.
We do not want a wild card team or bubble contender. We do not want a first round exit in the playoffs. The entire 5th Line is tired of the excuses. We are pretty well out of patience.
The pieces we suffered so hard to see this team acquire are here. Figure it out and turn this thing around. Give us a reason to be proud. Heck, at this point, give us a reason to keep supporting this team.
Right now, supporting this team is a pretty tough thing to do.