Much of the narrative through the early part of this offseason has been how the Blue Jackets fell short of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Whether you believe they aimed too low, or if they just didn't have the talent (it seems like they did), the fact remains that there are still areas where they need to improve.
The truth here is, this team really wasn't that far off this year. They finished with 92 points, which in a lot of years, would be enough to sneak into a wild card spot. But, they still fell short, as so many other teams around them were able to play at a greater pace.
That means that Don Waddell's task this summer is not necesarilly to overhaul his roster. He just needs to tweak it a little bit, and some of the answers to this team's lineup holes will come from within.
But, with all of that said: they need to improve in three areas, if they are going to take a larger step next season. We don't want to see them come back hoping for a wild card spot. We want to see this team competing for a divisional spot, and maybe even a Stanley Cup.
It's not all that far-fetched if they can fill these holes. Lets talk about them.
1. They need a backup goaltender who can steal a game here and there.
This season was far from perfect, but how much different would things have been if this team had gotten better than a .883% save percentage from their backup goalie? A few more saves, and they might have landed enough points to sneak into the playoffs.
The way this team was built, it was always going to be a big ask for them to score 4+ goals per game. Yet, that's what it would have taken in the 29 games started by Elvis Merzlikins, if you look at his goals against average.
This was the fifth consecutive season where #90 allowed at least 3 goals per game on average. He posted the second worst save percentage of his career, and the third worst GAA.
I'm not blaming him entirely. This team still had a lot of defensive zone issues-especially before firing Dean Evason and Steve McCarthy. But it is worth noting that Jet Greaves was able to post a .908% save percentage behind the same team, so some of this certainly does fall on Elvis' shoulders.
We have been saying the same thing for years: Elvis needs to be better. He has not been able to do that so far. He has one year remaining on his contract, and the organization sure sounds like they are bringing him back.
If that's the case, they actually do need him to be better this time. But also, they have to have a backup plan for their backup goaltending position, and I expect that to be the case heading into training camp.
The Blue Jackets can ill afford to have a guy posting these kind of numbers in 25 or more starts next season, if they want to turn the corner into contention. It's time to figure this position out for now and into the future. I'm still confident that there is a better version of Elvis Merzlikins out there, and it's entirely possible that he capably fills in that role.
I just hope the team doesn't throw all of its eggs back into that basket without a plan B. They need to be ready to cut this off early next season, before they fall out of the race again.
On the next slide, we'll talk about the second hole we see in the CBJ lineup.
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