Grading the Blue Jackets defense corps and goaltending at the halfway mark

Goaltending is still a glaring issue.

We knew coming into the 2024-25 season that goaltending was a team weakness, which has remained the case.

All three of the Blue Jackets' goaltenders find themselves below expectations in goals saved above average, meaning they are falling short of what the average NHL goaltender would be able to save under the same scenarios.

Daniil Tarasov has saved 10.5 goals under expected. Elvis Merzlikins is 6.3 under. Even Jet Greaves is in the negative at 1.2 under. Among goalies that have played in at least four games, that puts Tarasov in second to last in the NHL, Elvis at 14th to the bottom, and Jet at 34th to the cellar. All this puts them second to last in the NHL in goals saved above expected, second only to the Philadelphia Flyers in that statistic.

There's not much else to look at with team goaltending. It's a solid F, as it has been for a few seasons now. Given the contract situation with Merzlikins, it was unlikely that Don Waddell would find anything out of house to fix this area of the team in the 2024 offseason, but I imagine this will be a focus of his come 2025.

The Blue Jackets have been at, or near, the bottom of every goaltending statistic since Sergei Bobrovsky left Columbus over a half decade ago. They must find a way to dig themselves out as fast as possible. Improving their team goals against average by improving in goal and on defense, is the next step they must take in their rebuild.