The Blue Jackets head into their team's Halloween party (per Cole Sillinger's postgame first-star interview) Thursday night, tied for second in the Metropolitan Division with 12 points.
Who genuinely expected this kind of turnaround after they started the season 1-3 following that disheartening loss to the Colorado Avalanche? I certainly didn't.
The CBJ will get an off day on Thursday, followed by a practice day on Friday, before heading back to Nationwide to take on the Blues on Saturday, then to Long Island to take on the Islanders on Sunday.
I was in the building Wednesday night and had a (nearly) front row seat for the drubbing Columbus put on the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are expected to be one of the best teams in the NHL, headed into the postseason at the end of this campaign. Here are a few things I saw and the conclusions I drew after the contest.
If this keeps up, Columbus may have some of the best depth scoring in the NHL.
The first and second forward lines, outside of the Ivan Provorov goal, assisted by Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko; were mostly nonfactors on Wednesday night. The second line, especially, looked sluggish and slow, and the three players weren't reacting well to what the Maple Leafs were throwing at them.
But never fear, CBJ fans, the line of Mathieu Olivier - Charlie Coyle - Cole Sillinger is here to save the day! Somehow, the three combined for 3-8-11 and were a combined +13 rating on the evening.
I can't say much else other than the trio were stellar throughout the entire evening. Coyle described postgame that he had more spring in his skates against Toronto than he did the night before against Buffalo. I certainly believe him.
The Achilles' Heel for some postseason contenders in recent years has been being "top-heavy," lacking depth scoring when their stars are off the ice. (Hello, Oilers.) If the CBJ can keep this kind of depth scoring up, especially from their veterans, it'll be a huge boon for them come April.
The Zach Werenski and Denton Mateychuk pairing might be the next Werenski-Jones level stellar first pairing for the Blue Jackets.
Second period intermission random observation: How good has Denton Mateychuk been tonight? +2 and leading the team in blocked shots. He has been fantastic against the Matthews line especially. Love it. #CBJ
— Mike Stump (@Mr_UnionBlue) October 30, 2025
Zach Werenski will always be Zach Werenski. An elite, elite offensive defenseman that has the potential to lead all NHL D-men in points and be a Norris Trophy candidate every year moving forward.
But... man, how good has Denton Mateychuk looked on that top pairing?
When the Blue Jackets first selected Mateychuk, I saw him as a bit of a Zach Werenski clone. Similar size, stature, intelligence for the game, leadership ability, and offense-first approach. While all of those things may be true, Denton has quickly shown that he's not all about the offensive zone.
I saw him time and again, Wednesday night, make clever play after imaginative play in front of Elvis Merzlikins, and it was clear that he was frustrating Auston Matthews. Especially every time he'd break up a scoring attempt from the elite American centerman, which I saw him do solo on at least three separate occasions.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but Mateychuk looks to be a top-pairing guy already, while playing on his backhand, and could be the perfect two-way pairing mate next to Zach Werenski moving into the future.
Elvis Merzlikins might be back.
Jackets fans from before 2021 remember why some of us got so excited about Elvis Merzlikins during and immediately following his rookie season. He, at his peak, is a highlight reel netminder on almost every defensive zone possession.
It's like he's doing somersaults out there when he's looking excellent, and his flashiness really works. I saw that sort of "vintage" Elvis out there on Wednesday night. He looked strong and confident, and he really seemed to thrive on both the energy of the Nationwide Arena crowd and the support of his teammates.
Elvis plays with his emotions on his sleeve and relies on them, along with his supreme size and athleticism, to play successfully, and so far this season, both facets of his game are really working for him.
Time will tell if this approach remains sustainable, but I think it very well could. He has the right environment around him this year, and this team could be going places.