It's everyone's favorite time of year: when we get to look back at just how bad our 5 bold predictions for the Blue Jackets were this season.
This has become an annual tradition at Union & Blue. We make the predictions, and get roasted for it later. This year, we were very optimistic and thus pretty bold with our preseason predictions. Unfortunately, a little too optimistic. It's bad. You have been warned.
Bold prediction #1: Isac Lundestrom sets career highs across the board and becomes one of the best UFA signings from last summer.
Verdict: wrong.
Isac Lundestrom was an under the radar UFA last summer, after surprisingly not being qualified as an RFA by the Anaheim Ducks. When he came to Columbus, we were pretty excited. And, while his first year was far from a disappointment, he did not make our dreams come true.
He scored 4 goals and 12 points, while playing in 68 games for the Blue Jackets. Not even close to his career highs (16 goals, 29 points). But it wasn't all bad. He did exactly what Don Waddell hoped he would do when he signed him: he ate up hard, thankless minutes.
And honestly, he did pretty well. He finished with a -13 on-ice goal differential, which was tied for third-worst on the team. Most of that was due to penalty kill minutes however, where he did a nice job. He was also pretty good at even strength. We're still very happy with the signing, even if he couldn't live up to our (admittedly) lofty expectations.
Bold prediction #2: Jet Greaves finishes top-10 in the NHL in save percentage and earns Vezina Trophy votes.
Verdict: we're taking a partial win here.
Amongst goalies with at least 25 games played, Jet Greaves finished 11th in the league in save percentage (.908%). If you adjust that to 41 games-which should be the bare minimum baseline for a starting goaltender-he finished 6th.
That save percentage is tied with Boston's Jeremy Swayman, who is one of the three Vezina finalists. It's not likely that Jet will get many (any) meaningful votes, but that doesn't mean he did not deserve them. In my opinion, his only drawback is that he played behind a leaky team defense.
Per Moneypuck, he finished 9th in the league in goals saved above expected (16.5), and by season's end, established himself as the clear starting goaltender for the Blue Jackets. He's currently starring for team Canada at the World Championships. Jet has arrived, folks.
Bold prediction #3: The Blue Jackets will make a divisional playoff spot, and win one round.
Verdict: I don't want to talk about it.
Bold prediction #4: Kirill Marchenko leads the league in +/-, and winds up in the Selke conversation.
Verdict: not even close.
Marchy ended up with a respectable +7, but he saw his production crater over the last month of the season. That put a damper on a lot of the good things he did this year.
It looked to me like he was playing through some kind of injury, so I'm not terribly concerned. He's still an elite two-way winger in this league, whether he gets the media attention for it or not. Of any player on the roster, he might be the biggest breakout candidate heading into next season. We might have to pin this one in our minds for another day.
Bold prediction #5: the Blue Jackets will set a franchise record with 8 20+ goal scorers, and the single season goal scoring record will fall.
Verdict: we were too ambitious.
Almost every player who had a standout season in 2024-25, regressed this year. Kent Johnson and Sean Monahan were MIA for much of the season, and they were two of my leading candidates.
Meanwhile, my pick to set the team's goal scoring record (Adam Fantilli) shot out of the gate like a snail, scoring just 2 goals in his first 14 games; en route to 24 on the campaign. Dmitri Voronkov was nailed to the press box despite scoring 17 goals, never getting the chance to hit 20.
I also mentioned Boone Jenner (not even close), Egor Chinakhov (he got 21, though mostly with Pittsburgh), and Cole Sillinger (nope) as candidates to break the 20 goal plateau. In the end, just 4 players got there: Marchenko (26), Fantilli (24), Zach Werenski (22), and Charlie Coyle (20).
Overall, we got one out of five of these predictions somewhat right. The Blue Jackets let us down in a lot of ways this year, and this was just the icing on the cake. Like I said at the top, they were bold. Maybe our summer predictions can be better.
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