Grading the Blue Jackets defensemen: C-
Zach Werenski has just catapulted himself into another stratosphere. It's difficult not to argue that he's the 2nd or 3rd best defenseman in the world right now, next to Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes.
He is in the top 20 of all skaters in points produced, and per every advanced stat I can find, he is actually having the best defensive impact of his career.
His newfound pairing mate, Denton Mateychuk, has also been elevating his game to new heights. Per Hockey Stat Cards, he is above the 75th percentile among defensemen in game score and has been scoring at a torrid pace lately.
Oddly enough, both Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson, while cold during small stretches, have also been decent in terms of scoring and play-driving so far through the campaign, with both D-men also in the 75th percentile or above for their net impacts.
Then comes the third pairing rotation. In short, the bottom pairing for the CBJ has been nothing short of a disaster this season. Also, per Hockey Stat Cards, Dante Fabbro and Jake Christiansen have been among the league's worst defensemen this year.
Among those defensemen who have played at least 200 minutes so far this season, Jake Christiansen is dead last in the entire NHL in Goals % while he is on the ice, and Fabbro is 9th to last. The Union Blue is a combined -21 while those two are on the ice.
If you want to point to one reason why the team has struggled as of late, it's because of their third defense pairing. They are actively losing games every time their third pairing skates onto the ice.
If the Jackets could even get slightly better play out of these guys, they would be in a playoff spot. There's no way around that. But when you are actively getting beaten for 10-15 minutes every game, it's going to be hard to win hockey games.
Grading the Blue Jackets goaltenders: B
Jet Greaves has been one of the best goalies in the NHL, just like us here at Union Blue thought he would be.
Also as expected: Elvis Merzlikins has been one of the worst netminders in the NHL. If this were just about Jet, this rating would be an A. If it were just Elvis, it'd be a D-.
It isn't easy to reconcile just how different the two goalies currently on the NHL roster have been, and you have to wonder what would happen if the club had gotten even slightly below league-average goaltending from Elvis during his starts earlier in the year. Would they be in a playoff spot? It's quite possible.
If the club is to be successful this season, they will need to continue to ride Jet, as even the spot starts Elvis has been put into have been mostly disastrous.
We're not done with the grades. Let's talk about the coaching staff and front office before we leave.