Columbus Blue Jackets 2023-24 player review: Alexandre Texier

The last time we had seen Alexandre Texier before the start of this season, was January 26th of 2022. On that night, he broke his hand and would miss the next two months due to the injury.

Instead of returning to the Blue Jackets, he stayed in Europe due to the death of two family members.

Texier played his 2022-23 season with ZSC Lions (Switzerland), to stay closer to family. And he was productive there, finishing third on the team in scoring with 35 points in 46 games.

With the way things went in Columbus last season, it's hard to see this as a poor decision by Texier. It's not like he missed anything here, and it seemed like he may have rediscovered his lost scoring touch.

At the start of training camp this season, there was a little bit of excitement around the talented Frenchman. Could he find his way into a top-six role for the Jackets this season?

Ultimately, that was not the case. But even though Texier didn't nail down a top-six role for the Jackets, he did play a reliable two-way game this season.

More importantly, Texier stayed healthy this year, setting career marks across the board, including games played (78), goals (12), assists (18) and points (30). His points total was good enough for 8th on the team (6th amongst forwards); really not bad for a guy we had written off last year.

He didn't see much power-play time this season; but he was a mainstay on the penalty kill for the Jackets, bringing his intelligence, speed, and a touch of skill to that side of the puck.

Still, with all that aside, we have to ask ourselves: does Texier fit into this team's long-term plans?

The answer to that is a resounding no, in my opinion. It's not that he's not a skilled guy, or that we don't like him. It's just that he hasn't developed much beyond what he was when he first came into the league, all the way back in 2019. He's being passed up by nearly everyone that comes along.

Texier is a restricted free agent this summer, and while I don't see the team walking away from him for nothing; I do think he's a candidate for a change of scenery. At some point, we may look back upon him as a bygone player from the "Jarmo" era in Columbus.

Tex gets a passing grade here, but only just. He was "good", but in my opinion, it's one of those cases where we should expect more. Good is the enemy of great, after all.