The defense is worse than last year
It's safe to say the Blue Jackets were one of the worst defensive teams last season. They were the fourth worst team in expected goals against, with about 190 goals projected to be scored by opponents. The team actually allowed 179 goals, partially due to the aforementioned success of Jet Greaves.
With the return of veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson from injury, the expected continued success of waiver acquisition Dante Fabbro, and the continued growth of youngster Denton Mateychuk; many fans believed that Columbus may be turning a corner and establishing a solid group of defenders.
However, this season has somehow seen the Jackets play worse defense than last year. They are currently the third worst team in expected goals against, with about 74, which results in a projection of over 200 goals against in the full 82-game season.
Before we look at the struggles that defenders have had, let's look at the few bright spots on the blueline through the first 30 games.
Although he's only played seven games so far this season, Brendan Smith has actually been the best defender on the team. He's joined by Damon Severson, who is having a major redemption season after struggling last season, and Jake Christiansen. All of them have allowed under 3 expected goals against per 60 minutes of ice time.
After that, however, things don't look so good. Ivan Provorov has allowed a shocking 4.39 expected goals against per 60 minutes, with the next closest defender being Dante Fabbro with 4.00 and Zach Werenski not far behind him with 3.97, but his offensive production gives him a slight pass.
Provorov has also led the team in high-danger chances allowed, with 5.66 per 60 minutes being by far the highest on the team among defenders. It's not exactly what the Blue Jackets want to see after signing him to a massive seven-year, $59.5 million contract this past offseason.
Arguably the biggest issue, though, is that Columbus simply doesn't have a shutdown defenseman. This is likely at least partially due to Dean Evason wanting mobile defenders who can provide offense in the opponents' zone.
This often comes back to hurt the Jackets at times, though. Both Werenski and Mateychuk are in the top ten for expected goals against per 60 minutes on the penalty kill. Simply put, these players shouldn't be on the ice when down a man unless absolutely necessary.
Whether the Jackets expected Provorov or Fabbro to be this shutdown defender or not, they need one badly. Although Jet Greaves has been bailing the team out as much as he can so far, something needs to change in the defensive zone before things get out of hand.
The power play is finally getting back on track
In the first 20 games of the season, the Blue Jackets scored just 8 goals on 46 power play opportunities, converting just 17.39% of those chances. The man-advantage units looked stagnant and were lacking a net front presence other than Dmitri Voronkov.
In the last ten games, Columbus has scored 6 goals on 28 chances, which comes out to a 21.43% success rate, jumping just over 4%. While this isn't some incredible change, it's well above league-average and brings the season total up to 18.92%, which places them right in the middle of the league at 16th.
Although it may not be quite as high as some would like, it's definitely a step in the right direction in an area that the Blue Jackets desperately needed to improve.
An important player hasn't been living up to expectations
I already touched on the early struggles of Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro, specifically their poor performance in their own zone, so let's focus on a forward who hasn't been producing as well as they should be.
This forward is Kent Johnson. After tallying 24 goals and 57 points last year in just 68 games, KJ was poised to take another strong step this season and maybe even earn a spot on the first line. The opposite has been the case, however.
Kent has just three goals and three assists in 29 games along with a -15 +/- rating. While his defensive metrics are overall solid, and in the better half of the team's forwards, Johnson is supposed to be a secondary offensive threat, and he has been struggling in this regard.
Even though his chemistry with Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger hasn't looked strong (and those two players haven't exactly stood out themselves), he is still expected to be able to produce offense on his own, and six points this far into the season just isn't enough, especially when we saw what he is capable of last year.
Whether it's a demotion in the lineup, new linemates, or even a healthy scratch, something needs to change to get him going and get his name back on the scoreboard.
Although the Blue Jackets haven't been able to improve in some areas and are still searching for answers in the third period, there have been good signs of progress in the last few weeks.
If they can continue to build on some of these positive steps and clean up the defensive game, we may still be looking at a playoff team here in Columbus.