Kent Johnson's return gives the Blue Jackets a more clearly defined forward group

It's been 5 weeks to the day since Kent Johnson last suited up for a Blue Jackets game. It certainly feels like longer, as the team has struggled to find consistency for much of the early part of this season. Tonight however, "KJ" returns to the lineup, which will now be more balanced and clearly defined.

There's no debating that your team needs contributions from every player on any given night. That's one of the things that makes hockey unique to some other team sports. You can't have passengers on the ice at any time. All six guys (including your goalie) need to be involved in the game.

For that reason, I'm more old school in my thinking, when it comes to an NHL lineup. Certainly, you need skilled players to play in your top-six. But, I also believe your bottom-six needs to be a good mix of size, defensive awareness, and physicality. Sure, having skill here doesn't hurt; but the key to a winning NHL team is usually balance. You can't have all skill guys, nor can you have all grit. With KJ's return, the Blue Jackets have a better mix of both.

How does Kent Johnson help balance things out?

Look at it from this perspective: Kent is jumping right back into the second line tonight, where he'll play alongside Adam Fantilli and James van Riemsdyk. This has a ripple effect on the rest of the lineup. Starting with Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov, every player from there on down the roster has just seen their workload eased.

We still have the top line of Dmitri Voronkov, Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko. But now, Fantilli is going to have an elite playmaker on his wing, and van Riemsdyk will bring some size and a veteran presence to that line.

This gives the Jackets the option of a third scoring line, which is going to be damn hard to play against on both sides of the puck. Chinakhov and Sillinger will be flanked by Mathieu Olivier, whose usually busy hands have been used to earn a share of the team lead in goals (6) so far this season. They're all reliable on both sides of the puck, and any of them can also strike offensively. They should be fun to watch.

This leads us to the fourth line, which suddenly has the right parts to play against any line in the league. Sean Kuraly centers Zach Aston-Reese and Justin Danforth. While they don't have the skill of the third line, they should be hard on the puck in each zone, while giving this team reliable minutes.

When you break it all down, this team now has two clear scoring lines. They also have an efficient checking line, and a veteran-laden fourth line that won't hurt you in any situation. It will be interesting to see how they play tonight with a lineup that actually looks pretty dangerous.