After an impressive 6-1 shellacking of the Edmonton Oilers last night, the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves sitting 8th in the Eastern Conference with a 4-3-1 record (9 points). They're playing well in spite of being hit by the injury bug early on, mostly because they're playing a team-first game.
It's still very early in the NHL season - roughly 10% of the way in - but this certainly looks like a different team than the one we've seen for the last two or even three seasons. The Jackets look organized, composed, and confident on a nightly basis right now.
Sure, they have yet to string together two wins. But, they also have yet to lose two games in a row, which points directly towards the coaching staff seeing the issues at hand and pressing the correct buttons in between games. Naturally, there is still a long way to go for this team, but they're hanging around every game so far. Even the ones where they really didn't play all that well.
They're exciting as hell to watch...
In each their four wins, the Blue Jackets have scored six goals. That's not a recipe for success over the course of a full season because you're probably not going to average six goals per game - even with the best roster on the planet. And, this team has far from the best roster on the planet.
But, it shows that they are finally being coached in the offensive zone, at least to some degree. That hasn't been the case for this team in more than a decade. John Tortorella established the "we don't coach offense" approach when he arrived here in 2015. I won't say that Brad Larsen and Pascal Vincent had the same tactics; but I don't think either of them had the aptitude to fix it.
No matter which line hits the ice, there is a clear and present game plan on both sides of the puck. In the offensive zone, guys are finding gaps in coverage, and the player who has the puck often has more than one passing option. It's truly hockey 101, but with a young team, sometimes you have to teach them how to do it. Dean Evason and his staff clearly spotted that shortcoming, and have worked diligently to correct it.
Four defined lines actually helps?
This team is having success because they're rolling all four lines and getting contributions in all three zones. There is no longer an undefined top-six, mish-mashed together with skill and depth guys to create some kind of balance, or punish certain players. The coaching staff has a distinct top line, has worked to formulate a second scoring line around Adam Fantilli; and has rolled out one of the most effective checking lines in the entire NHL.
Mathieu Olivier has four goals already on the season, and his line with Justin Danforth and Zach Aston-Reese has been a nightmare matchup for the opposition. All of this while keeping Sean Kuraly, James van Riemsdyk, and Kevin Labanc on the fourth line, where they can control their matchups better. There is a clear top-six, and a clear bottom-six amongst the forwards.
Globetrotters hockey is fun, and it can work...
We also haven't heard Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov get accused of being "too cute" with the puck. So, they haven't been relegated to the bench while the guys who should be in the bottom of the lineup are given more minutes. They're put in a position to succeed offensively, and having a true top line center in Sean Monahan certainly hasn't hurt, either.
As such, the trio have become one of the best two-way lines in the entire NHL. In fact, by some measures, the best line in the NHL so far this season.
While I don't see them continuing to score at this pace (the top line, or the entire team), it has been a really fun start to the season for the Blue Jackets. And, even when their scoring inevitably falls off, I feel like this coaching staff will know how to direct this team towards finding more wins. That's something we haven't been able to say for almost four years.