The Blue Jackets roster is down to its final few decisions, who makes the cut?
The Blue Jackets re-assigned seven players on Wednesday, leaving them with 32 players remaining at camp. Five of those players are injured, which means that the Blue Jackets roster is down to 27 - leaving the team with its final few decisions. Who makes the cut?
We can't count the injured players because they aren't actively competing for jobs. Even if we could, the only player sitting out injured that would be on the opening night roster is forward Justin Danforth. Excluding the list of injured players, the Jackets have four cuts left ahead of Monday's roster deadline.
To get from 27 down to 23 shouldn't be too difficult, aside from a couple of decisions. At a quick glance, there are 9 players who are on the roster bubble. Here is the full rundown of players remaining at camp:
There's still 32 on the #CBJ camp roster, but that includes five injured players, so really down to 27. 23-man rosters due Monday.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 2, 2024
F (15) - C. Sillinger, Kuraly, Voronkov, O. Sillinger, Gambrell, Fantilli, JVR, Monahan, Olivier, Jenner, Brindley, Chinakhov, Pyythia, Marchenko,…
18 players listed above are going to be on the NHL roster on opening night. That leaves five spots for the remaining nine players, and there is some really healthy competition here. The most interesting battle remains on the blue line.
I expect the team to keep 8 defensemen to start the season. That means that just one cut remains here, with 4 guys battling for 3 jobs: Denton Mateychuk, David Jiricek, Jake Christiansen, and Jordan Harris.
Before camp, I would have bet good money that Jiricek was an opening night lock. But during camp and through most of the preseason, I'm not so sure. Even though he's a much needed right-hand shot, he's struggled in comparison to the other players around him. Still, I don't see the team sending him back for a third season of AHL development. He's stagnated in his development, so I feel like he will get a shot to play in the NHL.
Harris also seemed like a lock, but I'm not sure he's done enough to separate himself from the pack. His biggest competition was probably going to be Christiansen, who has certainly been a standout player since camp started. If we have to choose between these two, Christiansen gets the edge for me. Would the team risk losing the only piece they got in return for Patrik Laine, however?
This brings us to Mateychuk, who has made this decision infinitely more difficult than most people probably expected. He's arguably been the best defenseman - possibly even the best skater - for the Blue Jackets at training camp this year. How can you send him to the American Hockey League, when you've preached all summer about building a culture based on rewarding merit?
Cutting that last defenseman is going to be really difficult. I think the two guys that would be easier to send down - Mateychuk and Christiansen - have outperformed the two guys we expected to make the team - Jiricek and Harris. At least enough to make the decision interesting.
Of course, the team could keep them all around and move on from a certain veteran presence that probably shouldn't be on the ice anyhow. That would be the easiest move to make, in my opinion. Let's look at the battles up front, and what's going on in goal.
The Blue Jackets will most likely start the season with 13 forwards, which means they'll have 2 to re-assign before Monday's roster deadline.
This one is pretty easy to work out, based on the lines we've seen running in practice. Barring any new acquisitions, Dylan Gambrell seems to be in line to start the season as the fourth line left wing for the Blue Jackets.
That's how they've been lining up for the last several days. Gambrell (28) is a veteran of 233 NHL games, and really all the team needs here is some energy and physicality alongside Sean Kuraly and Mathieu Olivier. He'll bring both, along with enough experience to be a replacement level player.
The 13th forward job is up for grabs until Justin Danforth eventually debuts. Mikael Pyyhtia, Gavin Brindley, and Owen Sillinger are jockeying for that role in the intermediate. This should be a pretty easy decision because this isn't going to be a player who plays every night.
For development's sake, Pyyhtia and Brindley should both play heavy minutes in the AHL. Neither of them have to go through waivers, and neither of them are going to benefit from sitting in the press box in Columbus. They should be sent to Cleveland for starring roles this year.
Your 13th forward? Owen Sillinger. He can be an energy guy at practice and jump into games as needed. Keeping him around for the time being doesn't change anything in this team's long-term plans.
Finally, I'm starting to wonder if we're about to see a big shift in goal. Elvis Merzlikins will occupy the starting job - at least until he proves he cannot. He's paid accordingly, and let's give credit where it's due: he's been pretty good this fall. Hopefully, for all involved, he has a bounce back season this year.
But the backup role could go the other way. Jet Greaves has vastly outplayed Daniil Tarasov in the preseason games. Could the team actually move on from Tarasov at this point?
He'll require waivers to be sent down, and I'm almost certain he would be claimed. Teams are always looking for goaltending, and I feel like there's still enough buzz about his perceived potential, that someone would take a shot. But, for the first time, I wonder if that doesn't matter to the Blue Jackets? Or, could they simply ship him off via trade to the highest bidder?
There is a new management regime here, which won't be as dedicated to keeping a guy around because they've drafted and spent so much time trying to develop him. At some point, Greaves is going to burst onto the NHL scene. I just wonder if that might not be happening right before our eyes. He can still be sent to the AHL without clearing waivers, so maybe I've read too far into it. We'll see.
It will be interesting to see where the chips fall over the next 5 days for this team. There have been some real surprising efforts - good and bad - at training camp this year.
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