One of the biggest keys for success for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the season ahead: better health. Last year, they were without several key pieces for large portions of the year. That's something that has to change. Behind the scenes, it looks like GM Don Waddell is trying to force that change with action.
While a lot of the injury troubles faced in the Union Blue over the past few years have been freak accidents, the fact that the team has gone out and started making changes to its support staff is pretty telling. If you are one of the people who thought that the team's training process might be part of the reason, you should approve of these changes.
Today, they announced the hiring of Barry Brennan as strength and conditioning coach. It's not his first go-round with the organization: he served in the same role for five seasons (2005-10). He also worked in that capacity with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010-11 - under Don Waddell. Clearly, the CBJ GM is a fan of Brennan's:
"“Barry Brennan is a well-respected, experienced leader in his field and we are very pleased to welcome him back to the Blue Jackets,” said Waddell. “Ryan Gadbois has done a phenomenal job for us as our assistant strength & conditioning coach, and we believe our players will benefit greatly from working with Barry and Ryan.”"Don Waddell
Certainly, a change in philosophy can't hurt. Last season, the Jackets sorely missed Boone Jenner (shoulder) for the first 5 months of the campaign. They also lost Erik Gudbranson (shoulder) for a similar amount of time, while Yegor Chinakhov missed half the season with back issues. That's two middle of the lineup forwards and a key third pairing defenseman.
Sometimes, injuries can be blamed on bad luck. Other times, you have to ask yourself if there is something they can do differently to help prevent them.
Strictly from an outside perspective, that seems to be the case here. This is certainly not the first year the team has run into its share of injuries to key players. It's something that cannot keep happening if they are going to realistically turn the corner and become a stronger team. They have to keep their best players in the lineup to do that.
Hopefully, this is the first of many steps towards better health within the organization. That would at least allow us to see what we really have with this group.