Blue Jackets 2024 Season Preview, Dylan Gambrell will have to earn his NHL ice time with this opportunity
Dylan Gambrell was an earlier summer signing for the Columbus Blue Jackets; one that flew under the radar at the time, as he was seen as an AHL depth piece. Despite this, the six-season NHL vet earned a spot on the opening night roster, and he'll work to earn ice time along the other new depth forwards in the union blue.
Dylan Gambrell was among the final two forwards to make the CBJ opening night roster. For some fans, he's likely a face that had faded into the background over the summer and may have been seen by the organization when he signed in July as an AHL-level depth piece forward.
However, due to injuries to Boone Jenner, Dmitri Voronkov, and Justin Danforth; Gambrell has been pushed into NHL service, likely as a bottom sixer. Despite this rather unceremonious beginning to his time in the union blue, I have no doubts that Gambrell will earn the respect of many fans in Columbus for his hard-working attitude, which will make him an NHL mainstay for the foreseeable future.
The former 60th overall pick spent all of last year with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, after spending the four previous seasons primarily at the NHL level with the San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators. In 2023-2024, Gambrell posted a 14-22-36 line with the Marlies in 66 games and scored one goal in the Marlies' short-lived Calder Cup playoffs visit. Before that, Gambrell had put up a 17-23-40 line in 233 career games during his various stays at the National Hockey League level.
Dylan is primarily seen as a bottom-three two-way centreman/winger who has lacked consistency throughout his career in the NHL and AHL. He has struggled in the faceoff dot and with streakiness in his scoring ability.
Despite this, Gambrell showed signs of maturation in his game last year as he put up his first 35+ point season in either league since the 2018-2019 campaign with the San Jose Barracuda. While it remains to be seen whether or not he can translate his 0.50 PPG+ scoring pace from the American Hockey League last season to the NHL level, this is precisely the shot that Gambrell needs to prove exactly that.
One bold prediction: Gambrell will find his way back onto the AHL roster when Justin Danforth comes off of injured reserve and will spend the remainder of the season there.
I find it personally difficult to imagine a situation in which Dylan Gambrell spends the entire 2024-2025 campaign with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has lacked any sort of scoring or role consistency during his time in North American hockey so far in his career, and nothing I've seen from his past record or his play during the preseason has yet convinced me otherwise.
Despite averaging around 16:00 minutes of TOI during the preseason in four separate games, Gambrell failed to register any points, was a +- 0 and had a total of 3 shots on net. Justin Danforth does everything Gambrell does at a higher level, and I believe Mikael Pyyhtia has higher upside at this point in his career.
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