Zach Werenski is one of the best blue liners in the entire NHL. Who steps up to play with him?
Not much changes in the core of the defense corps (say that three times fast), which isn't really surprising. The Blue Jackets gave up 300 goals last season, but I don't think this group is really that bad. There are good NHL names here; I'm just not sure the scheme or usage was correct.
Led by Zach Werenski, the Jackets have a pretty serviceable top-four including Ivan Provorov, Damon Severson, and Erik Gudbranson. They supplement this group with newcomer Jordan Harris, veteran Jack Johnson, and (likely) top prospect David Jiricek. On paper, this should work.
If the team does keep Jiricek, I don't see him spending too many nights as the 7th man. Don Waddell has talked quite a few times about the importance of prospects playing games rather than sitting out. So, I think he probably takes a full-time spot if he's kept around.
With that in mind, it's easy to pair everyone off because the Blue Jackets would have three right-hand shooters in the regular lineup. I have the pairings like this:
Werenski-Severson
Provorov-Jiricek
Harris-Gudbranson
Placing Severson alongside Werenski gives the Blue Jackets a viable 20-25 minute per night two-way pair. They can eat up heavy minutes in any situation. Harris and Gudbranson could roll out as a shutdown pair; while Jiricek and Provorov could eat up easy (offensive zone) starts and be used in matchups against secondary competition.
This would leave Jack Johnson as the 7th man, which is what I believe the team brought him in to be. He'll serve as a mentor in practice, with the ability to step in and play minutes if need be. Others in the mix here include Jake Christiansen and Denton Mateychuk. I could see the team keeping 8 full-time defensemen (retaining Christiansen) to keep everyone fresh. Especially with their shortage of NHL forwards, pending any roster additions before the season.
Mateychuk is the wild card for me. He was really close to making the team last year, and has only improved. Could he shock the system and force the team to make some really hard decisions? This is probably the most interesting battle to watch in this year's training camp.
There are some battles to be won up front, though. Let's break down some forward line combos.