As they do every year, The Hockey News published their Top 100 players in the NHL retrospective following the conclusion of the 2025-2026 campaign. Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, only two Columbus Blue Jackets made the Top 100.
The first entry for the Arch City club is obvious: Norris Trophy-winning LHD Defenseman, Zach Werenski. Z was voted the best skater at his position in the National Hockey League this season, and THN recognized this by placing him 10th in the league among all players, only behind Cale Makar (4th) and Quinn Hughes (8th) among D-men.
The Blue Jackets only had one other entry on the Top 100 list. Some other candidates probably spring to mind. Kirill Marchenko? Maybe in 2025, but not after his slump down the stretch. (Seriously, he only scored one goal in his final eighteen games?) Jet Greaves? He had a great first season in the NHL, but he needs to show it again before he shows up on that list.
As you might've guessed by now, it was Ivan Provorov, checking in at 95th.
"Yes, it's been the Zach Werenski show in Columbus, but he's not the only blueliner logging big ice time. Provorov has been playing nearly 25 minutes a night for the Blue Jackets, and those minutes have been very effective. When he's patrolling the pond, Columbus is outscoring opponents by a fair clip at five-a-side."The Hockey News
I wasn't quiet about my appreciation for Ivan Provorov's improved game this season. Across the board in his underlying metrics, he seemed to improve.
Perhaps surprisingly, no Ivan Provorov on this list. #CBJ
— Mike Stump (@Mr_UnionBlue) July 23, 2026
Or, maybe not surprisingly… https://t.co/eebHHCKWSm pic.twitter.com/zu0OpZCF9Y
First, however, let's take a look at what you can find in his statistical profile at a surface level. "Provy" put up a 9-22-31 line in another 82 game season (his fourth straight season playing in all of his club's 82 games) while skating for a insane 24:49 minutes a night. He was a +14 rating overall, and posted 32 penalty minutes across 82 games played. His 0.37 PPG was right at his career average of 0.40, which are more-than-acceptable numbers for a second pairing defenseman.
In terms of the eye test and what lies under the hood, I think what stood out about Ivan was his consistency this year. Despite blocking 1.6 shots per game and seemingly taking half of them to areas that would likely injure a normal man, Provy came back out to take his 20+ shifts a night, and played them consistently well. The team posted a +10 goal differential with him on the ice at 5v5 (44th in the NHL among Defenseman with at least 500 minutes) and a +7 on the man advantage.
Ivan Provorov is what he is at this stage in his career: a more-than-serviceable 2nd-unit pointman that blocks shots, moves the puck reliably well, and wins almost every minute in which he's on the ice in even strength & power play situations.
The Jackets, thankfully, don't (or, at least, shouldn't) need him to be much more than that. He is not a reliable penalty killer, as evidenced by his -27 goal differential on the 4v5 (14th to last in the NHL among defenseman who played at least one minute on the PK), and should not be relied upon in that role.
A good coach, like Rick Bowness, knows when to deploy Provorov, and it shows that Ivan's underlying numbers drastically improved after Bones was brought on.
Expect more of the same from Provorov this season, a long season of holding down the fort in the LHD 2nd pairing role, hopefully helping lead the CBJ back to the NHL Playoffs in the spring.
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