2. More offense, please.
On many nights this year, it did not matter who was in goal for the Blue Jackets, especially as the games got heavier down the stretch. This team's offense was prone to drying up, which is ultimately the main reason they missed the playoffs.
This season, Zach Werenski again led the team in scoring, with 81 points (22 goals) in 75 games. Reminder: he's a defenseman. As great as Zach is, having a defenseman lead your team by 14 points is not a good sign for a team with playoff aspirations.
Kirill Marchenko finished tied for 57th in the league, with 67 points on the year. He led all Blue Jackets forwards by 8 points. Adam Fantilli was third on the team with 59 points, and Charlie Coyle was fourth with 58. They only had one other player (Mason Marchment, 45) with more than 40 points.
I came up with four reasons why this team struggled to score goals. First, as is tradition in Columbus: what is this team's offensive game plan? One line is playing the dump & chase. Another line is trying to beat guys one on one. Yet another line is trying cross-ice plays.
All of that points to the biggest issue: there was no offensive structure. It was a free for all. No matter what kind of talent you have on the roster; if guys aren't on the same page, your offense is going to sputter. That was the case this year.
The second reason this team struggled to score ties into the first: the power-play was abysmal again this year. This is something that Rick Bowness has promised to fix, so hopefully the new assistant coaches he brings aboard can help.
The other two reasons this team's offense sputtered? The skill guys were not consistent enough in their game, and the result was that the opposition had easy matchups.
Kent Johnson scored 57 points in 68 games last season, but saw his production fall off a cliff this year, scoring just 22 points in 76 games. Meanwhile, Sean Monahan went from 19 goals and 57 points in 54 games; to 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games.
If those two guys score at roughly their same levels this year, that takes a lot of the stress off of guys like Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli to get the job done each and every night. I don't even think Waddell needs to go out and add any more scoring. I just think they need to find a way to get everyone back on track, and get more consistency throughout their lineup.
If KJ and Monahan get back to being 60-ish point players, that top line will be able to produce more. That's going to help the team overall. All of that may be fixed with some simple coaching adjustments, and better summer habits. We'll see. Lets look at the final roster hole on the last slide.
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