The 5th Line has sent a message to the Blue Jackets via the annual front office poll from the Athletic

The Blue Jackets finished with the 17th-best record in the NHL last season, but fan confidence has arguably never been lower. This week, the message was sent from the 5th Line to the front office of the organization: this is not good enough.

In a survey put out by the Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn, fans from all 32 teams were allowed the chance to voice their opinion. This survey gives us a chance to grade any team's front office, and add a note on why we voted the way we did.

This year, the Blue Jackets front office ranked 28th in the NHL in the eyes of fans. This would be expected in a year where the 5th Line didn't take much part in the poll. After all, it's usually the outside fans and media that have the lowest opinion of our organization.

However, that wasn't the case this year. In fact, one thing that Dom points out in his blurb that is very notable: only three teams had more of its own fans respond to the poll (Montreal (2nd), Toronto (21st), and Minnesota (16th)).

For once in their existence, the perception around the Blue Jackets was more positive from outsiders (mostly C grades) than from its own fanbase (D grades). It was the 5th Line that dragged the the Jackets down in these rankings.

One of the fan quotes in Dom's blurb about the team speaks volumes about the situation:

"Between a brutal summer of rumors (Werenski, Marchenko, no Fantilli extension) and laying off two of the team’s most beloved voices in team media, the front office had a very poor Summer 2026 as far as instilling confidence in the near future."

Unnamed 5th Liner

The worst offseason in years. Maybe ever.

The frustrating thing about this summer from the Blue Jackets is that it felt like all this team needed was a slight bump to take a larger step. Last season was maddening at times, because they just couldn't put it all together on a consistent basis.

But, there is still a lot of talent here. There is depth at every position. It felt like all Don Waddell needed to do was make one big splash, and upgrade any one position on the roster. That's it.

He went out and acquired Valeri Nichushkin, who could be a good match for their top line left wing vacancy. But, is he really all that big of a step up from Mason Marchment? Time will tell, but I'm not sure throwing all of his eggs into that basket was the right call.

Aside from that, it's all been tinkering on the fringes again. The Jackets are running it back with the same two goaltenders, and the same seven defensemen from last year. They added Ryan Lomberg (who I really like), but it's hard to look at this team and say they are going to be all that much better. Let alone good enough to convince their two best players to stick around.

Both Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko have both balked at re-signing here beyond their current contracts. Can we really blame them? Gone is fan favorite Boone Jenner, leaving the team with no captain and no obvious choice for that role, which directly hinges on Werenski's long-term plans.

To top it all off, they still haven't yet re-signed their franchise center as of August 20th. They took their budding star goaltender all the way to the start of an arbitration hearing before finally offering him an acceptable deal. And, they let go of two of the most beloved faces under their employment.

At this point, this team looks to be without any significant direction. This front office seems to be content with running it back and hoping this year will be different. Maybe it will. However, there is no doubt why confidence is so low within this fanbase.

Don't even get me started on their drafting.

Our confidence is low because we have seen this play out before. Every time this franchise gets close, it's two steps in the wrong direction. They never put forth any innovative effort to take the step into contention. That's probably the best way to describe their summer so far.

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