At the halfway point, grading the forwards for the Columbus Blue Jackets

We are officially halfway through the 2024-25 season for the Columbus Blue Jackets. As such, we're grading the NHL's teams performance at the mid-way mark. Yesterday, we reviewed the front office and coaching staff. Today, we're continuing by grading the team's forwards.

Through 41 games, I'm not sure how you could look at this team's forwards and see them in a negative light. At this moment, the Blue Jackets are fourth in the entire NHL with 141 goals scored. This isn't due to them playing more games than everyone else - every team inside the top-5 has played at least 40 games, aside from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They sit 5th in the league in shots (1,236), have a power-play is operating at 23.9% (10th), and they have scored 5 shorthanded goals - tied for third most in the NHL.

This team is scoring at a high rate, even after the tragic loss of their leading scorer from each of the previous two seasons. After last night's win in Pittsburgh, they have two players on pace for 90+ points (though one is defenseman Zach Werenski, who will be part of our grades tomorrow); and another three players playing at roughly a point-per-game pace.

This is all without captain Boone Jenner so far this season, and in a year where Yegor Chinakhov has again missed a lot of time due to injury; while Adam Fantilli continues to try to find his offensive game. I'm not sure anyone saw this kind of production coming from this team at any point this year. Let alone the halfway mark, and especially without these three guys being bigger contributors.

The top line is buzzing, and secondary scoring is alive and well...

Since Dmitri Voronkov debuted after missing the first 9 games due to injury, the top line featuring himself, Sean Monahan, and Kirill Marchenko; has been arguably the best line in the entire NHL. Voronkov is one of those guys at a near point-per-game pace, with 17 goals and 28 points in just 32 games played.

Meanwhile, Marchenko leads the way amongst forwards with 45 points (also 17 goals); and Monahan sits third with 41 points (14 goals). The best thing about this line may not be the offensive production, however. It may very well be their ability to drive the play against top opposition every night. It's metrics like this that make a huge difference overall:

Outside of the top line, things haven't been as consistent, but overall, they are getting production when they need it. Kent Johnson has also missed time due to injury, but he's scored 23 points (10 goals) in 27 games played, good for 5th on the team. Head coach Dean Evason has relied on #91 to drive offense on a variety of different line combinations, and he's done that most nights.

Cole Sillinger (22 points), Adam Fantilli (19 points), and Yegor Chinakhov (14 points in 21 games) have all showed plenty of promise while they continue to work out kinks in their games. However, the biggest surprise on the team may be Mathieu Olivier; who has already set a career high with 10 goals (16 points) halfway into the season. The two-way effort from Mikael Pyyhtia has been eye opening as well, and deserves mention.

All the while, James van Riemsdyk, Zach Aston-Reese and Kevin Labanc have stepped in and brought veteran leadership along with timely secondary scoring. I think the three of them deserve a ton of credit for stepping in here and being solid pros; something we have grown to expect from the likes of existing vets Sean Kuraly and Justin Danforth.

CBJ forwards grade: A

When it comes to the team's forwards, there isn't much we can complain about. I'll even argue that this team is playing better in its own defensive zone, even though guys are getting caught out of position from time to time. That's the only real knock I can come up with here, which says a lot about how good this team's forwards have been this season.