We’re continuing our glance around the Metropolitan Division and seeing which teams really improved over the offseason (and who didn’t). Next up, it’s the Columbus Blue Jackets who were an incredible story as they approached to making the playoffs last season but could end up even in the same realm as the Philadelphia Flyers after all 82 games are done.
Their offseason, in one sentence
Added some decent depth, but didn’t do enough to transform themselves from a bubble team into an actual contender.
Blue Jackets’ biggest addition
The Jackets sent Gavin Brindley, a 2025 3rd round pick (#77), and a 2027 2nd round pick to the Avalanche in order to acquire veteran center Charlie Coyle in late June. The 33-year-old was the ultimate ironman, with 35 points in 83 games split between the Avalanche and the Bruins, although he was much better once he arrived in Colorado. Coyle will probably slot in on the third line behind Sean Monahan and Adam Fantilli, giving the Blue Jackets a solid trio of dependable play down the middle.
With Coyle, the Jackets seem to be looking to try and assemble some depth in support of Fantilli’s development into, what they hope will be, their future number one center. Coyle will look to provide decent production around the half a point per-game mark while mentoring the aforementioned Fantilli, as well as Cole Sillinger, with his 13 years of NHL experience providing a steadying presence.
Blue Jackets’ biggest loss
Columbus didn’t lose any major pieces to their lineup, but old friend James van Riemsdyk did sign with Detroit after putting up a decent line of 16 goals, 20 assists and 36 points while playing 71 games with the Blue Jackets. Some depth scoring will be lost due to his departure, but they seem to have sufficiently replaced whatever may be lost. This wasn’t prime JVR, and with a slew of young wingers circling around looking for an opening, it may just create an opportunity for someone to stake a claim to a top-9 spot.
Other stuff they did
Columbus also added Isac Lundestrom in free agency, with the defensively-sound centerman coming over from Anaheim to provide even more forward depth, perhaps even filling the hole left by the departure of Sean Kuraly. Miles Wood also joins from Colorado to add some speed and depth down the wing.
The most significant pieces of business that the Jackets did was in house, they resigned Dmitiri Voronkov to a two-year, 4,175 million dollars a year deal, Dante Fabbro to a four-year, at 4,125 million annually, and most crucially locked up Ivan Provorov to a seven-year, 8.5 million dollars a year contract that will keep him in the navy blue until he is 35. They also made a trade with the Flyers to acquire Ivan Fedotov, who was immediately shuttled down to the AHL soon after. It’s a lot of the same core, with only a few alterations around the edges.
Are they better or worse right now than when they started the offseason?
The Jackets are probably a bit better than they were when the season ended, by dint of the Coyle acquisition and some internal development that will be expected to come from some of their younger forwards. They also didn’t lose any specific pieces that would result in a massive difference to their roster, and any changes that did happen, they seem to have filled the holes reasonably well. It’s a slight improvement, but it is an improvement nonetheless. The real problem is that, besides the Fedotov reclaimation project, they didn’t do anything to improve their goaltending, and that was the real area of need.
The long-term outlook
The Blue Jackets are in a strange place. They missed the playoffs by two points last season, but it came in the context of a Metropolitan division where the Rangers underperformed, and the other teams in the division were largely mediocre at best. The playoff format makes it so that unless they can crack the top three of Washington, Carolina, and New Jersey, the Jackets will still have to measure up against Atlantic division competition that, up until this point, has proven to be better.
And Columbus just didn’t level up their roster to the point where they should be expected to improve on their 89 point performance drastically. Now, they will look for jumps from Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson in order to fuel their offense, but with Fantilli scoring 30 goals and Johnson having 57 points in 67 games last year, there may not be room for another massive jump from each. A breakout season from Kirill Marchenko was what really propelled them into contention, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can repeat it. Their defensive corps are always interesting with the dynamic Zach Werenski leading the way. Werenski is a workhorse, and with 82 points in 81 games last season he led the way points-wise too.
But it all falls apart between the pipes, the Blue Jackets impressively did all of this while getting a .892 save percentage and a 3.18 goals against average from their starting goalie Elvis Merzlinkins, and as much as you try to improve the forward depth, those numbers are going to have to be better in order for the team to take a real step forward. Jet Greaves had some great numbers in 11 games last year, so maybe he can take on a bit more responsibility and find his rhythm, but at the moment the situation in net caps whatever potential the Jackets think they may have. Sound familiar?
Columbus will have a chance to once again sneak into a wild card spot, or maybe even push for the final division spot, but once again, it will be hard to pick them to actually win a series or push to become a serious contender with the deficiencies they currently still have.