Patrik Laine trade proves that the Blue Jackets are embracing a culture change
Improving your team can come in a variety of ways. In the case of the Columbus Blue Jackets, ushering in a competitive culture seems to be at the forefront of this stage of the rebuild.
Sometimes, even though it may not make sense at first, you have to move away from a talented player in order to improve. That seems to be the case with the Blue Jackets, who are embracing a culture change at this stage of their rebuild. Trading Patrik Laine seems to be a big step in that direction.
After the big trade was announced on Monday, light was shed about a leadership meeting that happened sometime back in 2021. Per reports, several players who were remnants of the John Tortorella era went to management and told them that the team didn't want Laine nor goaltender Elvis Merzlikins around any longer.
I think it was Cam (Atkinson), Seth Jones, (Zach) Werenski, maybe Gus Nyquist (when asked about fixing the room): you gotta get Laine and Merzlikins out of here.
I was completely not surprised by this story. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it makes perfect sense. This all came about around the time Tortorella left the organization. The team was just beginning its rebuild in earnest.
The players who were here - the ones who helped build this team's competitive culture - were supposedly vocal about these two enormous personalities in their locker room. They were so concerned that they apparently demanded Laine and Merzlikins get sent away. This would have been just months after the team acquired Laine, so things must have been pretty bad early on.
If true, this certainly connects a lot of dots in regards to things we didn't know. For starters, why did Tortorella suddenly decide to "mutually part ways" with the organization? After all he'd built up here, it felt like he would want to help this team get back on its feet. It may have been time for him to go anyhow, but I have a hard time seeing him walking away from a good situation.
I've long considered that it had something to do with then-GM Jarmo Kekalainen bringing in players Torts didn't want to coach. This would be affirmation of that theory, if true. He'd already seen his captain (Nick Foligno) and wily veteran defenseman (David Savard) both traded that spring. I'm feeling more confident that he just didn't want to stick around while the locker room fell apart.
What about Seth Jones? He seemed quite happy in Central Ohio until something changed behind the scenes. Suddenly, he had no interest in signing a contract extension with the team, and was dealt that summer for a handful of futures. He wouldn't say exactly why he didn't want to stay in Columbus. Wouldn't it make sense that it's because he didn't want to publicly call out the players he might have to keep playing with?
Though let's be fair here: that Seth Jones contract was a bullet dodged by the organization. Call it dumb luck.
Cam Atkinson fell victim to this process as well. The beloved winger - and noted Columbus lover - was traded to Philadelphia that summer in exchange for Jakub Voracek. The team obliterated its leadership core in the span of just a few months, spiraling itself into a full rebuild that is still ongoing, three full years later.
There are other hints that the team soured on these players. We don't even have to look very deep ... let's dive deeper on the next slide.
It does seem like the Blue Jackets have been disjointed for the last several seasons. The locker room may have been a bigger part of things than we first assumed.
Just looking back at last season, there are a few glaring examples that this team wasn't on the same page with Patrik Laine or Elvis Merzlikins.
In the fourth game of the year, garbage time was ticking down towards a Blue Jackets win over the Calgary Flames. As you'll remember, Laine was leveled by a dirty hit from Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Immediately, Erik Gudbranson rushed to confront Andersson in reaction to the hit. He wasn't able to get any kind of retribution, however, because the linesmen jumped into the fracas.
The rematch loomed large, but when the teams met again on January 26, nobody from the Jackets seemed concerned with Ramus Andersson at all. In that regard, the game was a bit of a letdown (though, the good guys did pick up a 5-2 win).
They failed Laine to come to Laine's aid again when he was tripped into the boards, fracturing his clavicle on December 14th - in what would be his last appearance with the Blue Jackets. Maybe I'm reading more into these than I should be. But, I can speak from experience that most NHL teams - or teams in any sport and level - will defend their star players over just about anything.
You know who else gets defended valiantly, nearly 100% of the time? Goaltenders. I don't think I'm stretching anything by saying that the Blue Jackets did not go out of their way to defend Elvis Merzlikins this season.
I only need one example: the Tom Wilson incident. I've watched a lot of hockey in my lifetime, and I've never seen anything quite like this. Yes, I've seen goaltenders lose their temper before. I've seen punches thrown both ways. But in overtime? I
I'm also not sure I've ever seen someone throw a haymaker on a goaltender and not immediately get jumped by every player on the ice. When backup arrives, it's Kent Johnson - far from the guy you want confronting Tom Wilson. Expectedly, he doesn't really affect the outcome much. But, when secondary backup arrives, nobody comes to Elvis' aid - they all rush in to protect Johnson.
After the game, Merzlikins talked about getting tripped by Wilson in the first period. We watched him get in Elvis' face all night long, with no real repercussions. I don't think the Blue Jackets were a soft team this year, by any stretch of the imagination. So, the fact that nobody did anything about this, is really telling.
Compounding my theory: I talked several times throughout the year about the team playing better hockey in front of Daniil Tarasov and Jet Greaves. Even journeyman Spencer Martin saw better efforts defensively. Often, Merzlikins was hung out to dry - which at least partially contributed to him being statistically the worst goaltender to play for the Blue Jackets this year.
Coaches are usually quick to defend their goaltenders. I've even heard one former assistant tell the ref "protect our goaltender, or else we're gonna" - but the Blue Jacket staff did not do so after that loss against Washington. Pascal Vincent himself called it disappointing.
It sure seems like Jarmo Kekalainen chose the wrong side when his leadership core approached him with concerns. Instead of trading them all away, maybe he should have been receptive to what they were telling him.
Instead, we've seen this organization waste two years of development while waiting for Patrik Laine and Elvis Merzlikins to find their games. One of those pieces of business was solved this week. We'll see what happens with the other one in due time.
Sometimes, there has to be addition by subtraction. Trading Patrik Laine for pennies on the dollar proves that Don Waddell is committed to correcting the locker room in Columbus.
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