For most sports franchises, the quality of a season is typically valued once the season is over. Fans typically assess the preseason expectations and weigh them with the results from that season. Success is valued differently for each team.
For contenders, a successful season is winning a championship and failure is not winning a title. For rebuilding teams, a successful season is growth and development while failure is regressing even further. Every team in the NHL will be judged once their respective season ends.
However, with the 2024-2025 iteration of the Blue Jackets, the season should already be considered a win, despite games still at hand. There are multiple reasons why this season has been a major success:
We can see the light at the end of the rebuild tunnel.
The Blue Jackets have been one of the worst teams in the NHL over the past five seasons. The exodus of many core players (Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Seth Jones, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Patrik Laine, and others) over that span, coupled with a poor culture; has led to poor results in recent memory.
While the team has been stockpiling draft picks and prospects, the expectation of this season was to play the young talent and see them grow. Most experts picked the team to finish in the bottom three in the NHL and be a lottery team. Very few, if any, picked this team to be pushing for a playoff spot.
They paid tribute to a fallen teammate, and he would be proud.
By now, everyone is aware of the tragedy that happened to Johnny Hockey. The world lost a good father, friend, citizen, and person. This took a big emotional toll on the Blue Jackets players. It would have been easy for so many people to not play or to play poorly with the loss of their teammate. Yet, their love for Johnny brought the team closer together and has propelled them to greater heights.
From a hockey perspective, the team not only lost a quality teammate, but a top line winger. Even in spite of the lost production, the Jackets improved across the board; with many of their young players stepping in to fill the offensive void.
To better health.
For years, the Blue Jackets have had an injury problem, where many key pieces were injured; which led to poor results. Management often hoped/implied that our losing was due to injuries. In 2024-2025, the CBJ lost Boone Jenner, Erik Gudbranson, Sean Monahan, Cole Sillinger, Justin Danforth, and others for extended periods of time.
Yet, despite the missing pieces, the team continued to win and stay in the playoff picture. That shows that the depth within the organization is improving. It also shows that the young talent is improving and knocking on the door of making a significant impact in the NHL.
Steps in the right direction.
The 2024-2025 season has been a major success for the team because of how they handled all the adversity. The organization has grown, matured, and improved dramatically. That development has led to an enhanced culture within the organization and to success on the ice. While the success isn’t championship level yet, it is only the beginning of a bright future ahead.
If the Blue Jackets make the playoffs, then the magnitude of that success is weighed even more. However, making the playoffs is just an extra at this point. For the team to be playing meaningful games at this point in the season despite everything that has been against them, is a major success. The 5th Line should relish this season whether the CBJ make the playoffs or not. This team has over exceeded all expectations despite all the obstacles against them.