The Blue Jackets have played 20 games so far in the 2025-2026 season. For a team that had high expectations coming into the season, the entire team preached about getting a fast start and banking points early.
This was the mindset due to coming up just short (2 points) of making the playoffs last year. If the team could have had a better start, they likely would have made the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Through the first 20 games of the 2025-26 season, the Blue Jackets have 22 points (10-8-2 record), 62 goals-for, 65 goals-against, a 5-3-1 home record, and a 5-5-1 away-record. The question then becomes: is this an improvement compared to last season?
Not enough of an improvement.
The Blue Jackets played their first 20 games by November 23 in the 2024-25 season. Through those first 20 games, they had 20 points (9-9-2 record), 70 goals-for, 72 goals-against, a 7-3-0 home record, and a 2-6-2 away record. That record landed them in 11th place in the Eastern conference at that time.
When you compare the first 20 games of both last season and this season, they are nearly identical. The Blue Jackets sit in 11th place in both seasons and have a goal differential of -2 (2024-25) and -3 (2025-26). The only difference is that the 2025-26 team has 1 more win and, thus, 2 more points in the standings.
The Blue Jackets road record has improved compared to last season. They are nearly 0.500 on the road compared to 0.200 in 2024-25. That is good news. But the team needs to be better at home, as their home winning percentage has dropped from 0.700 last season to 0.556 this season.
The bottom line: the team has had almost an identical start to both seasons. For a team that was focused on a better start to the season, they surely haven’t had it. We have already seen that this start can (and likely will) result in coming up short of qualifying for the post-season. They will need to improve their play and find consistency if they would like to make the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.