As the Blue Jackets continue to look for a winning formula, they hope to lean on some of the high draft picks made during their rebuild to lead the way offensively. This season, one of those players struggled mightily. No sugar coating it: Kent Johnson had an abysmal season.
After a magical 2024-25 season that saw nearly every young player on the roster take a major step forward, the organization and its fans were excited for more growth this year. Unfortunately, that did not come to fruition. Across the board, the team stagnated.
For the sixth year in a row, they were awful in their defensive zone. However this season, their upstart offense was unable to bail them out and outscore their ballooning goals against average. A big part of that struggle was the regression of Johnson.
When he's going, his offense unlocks a lot of things for the Jackets. He is arguably the best puck handler on the team, able to hold onto it for that extra half second, open up time and space by drawing in defenders; then find an open teammate for a scoring chance.
This year, we did not see enough of that. And, as a result, this became a team with one scoring line. On most nights, that line was matched up against the top defensive combinations for the opposition. The result: the Blue Jackets struggled to find offense. Especially as the games got tough.
When they were playing those hard, meaningful games down the stretch, on many nights they had to do so without the services of Johnson. His play had struggled so much, that the coaching staff decided they were better off without him in the lineup. It was hard to argue that reasoning.
He was a healthy scratch on several occasions, but even when he was in the lineup, he was in no position to score. Between his struggles and slashed ice time, he finished the year with a measly 7 goals and 22 points in 76 games played.
That's a tremendous drop-off from last season's 24 goals and 57 points in 68 games. In fact, if you want to look at one direct reason this team failed to make the playoffs, it's the lack of production from their second line. Both Johnson and center Sean Monahan struggled all year, and they were key contributors on last year's squad.
Coming out of his third full NHL season, it sure looked like Kent was well on his way to becoming a superstar playmaker in this league. Coming out of his fourth, he has a lot of critics. In fact, it was an easy "F" grade for me this season. Right from the start of the season, it seemed like he just never got going.
He's still young, but it's up to him to correct the issues.
The good news is, Kent Johnson is still only 23 years old. He has a lot of hockey left, and it's not like he forgot how to play offense. I think having a summer to reset, combined with a coach who better understands the "Xs and Os" of the game, can help him get on track.
But, it starts with him. After the season, Rick Bowness mentioned that Kent had lost 10 or 12 pounds from the prior season. For a guy who was already slight, that's a problem. He will need to bulk back up this summer.
Aside from that, I couldn't really point out any one hole in his game. He just needs to hold up a little better physically, and that will allow him to do the things he did so well in the season before. He just can't get muscled off of the puck so easily.
Another thing that Bowness and Waddell brought up really stood out to me. They talked about how upset he was after the season, that he couldn't help this team more. That's a good sign. He's not giving up, and he wants to fix it.
I'm confident that he will work hard this summer to get himself back on track. He's capable of being an 80+ point player in this league, and it feels like he will have the right support around him to get that done.
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