COLUMBUS, Ohio — The first three weeks of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ season were a pleasant surprise. The young players had puffy chests, the veteran players were stout and competitive, and the energy level was off the charts relative to the past two or three seasons.
The last two weeks, frankly, have been exactly what most expected from the Blue Jackets this season. The young players have been wildly inconsistent, the veterans look to be playing higher in the lineup than they should be, and the club’s ability to defend or finish on scoring chances are major issues.
Which is the real picture of the Blue Jackets?
The Blue Jackets flew home from Seattle on Wednesday. It’s a 4 1/2-hour flight on a good day, but it probably felt much longer given the lumps they took on a winless (0-4-1) five-game road trip that ended with a 5-2 loss against the Kraken on Tuesday.
Some will quibble if this was a four- or five-game road trip, since the Blue Jackets returned home for a day and a half following their 7-2 loss in Washington on Nov. 2. But we’re calling this a five-game trip because it was five straight road games without an interruption (All-Star weekend, a bye week, etc.).
In the not-quite 24-season history of the Columbus franchise, they’ve had 22 trips that spanned five or more consecutive road games. This marked the sixth time that they’ve gone winless on one of those trips. Three of those have occurred in the last five seasons.
The Blue Jackets will say that they deserved a better fate in at least a couple of those games, and there’s a compelling argument to be made.
For instance, Columbus outshot all five opponents — Washington, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Seattle — often by large margins. All told, the Jackets had 58 more shots on goal than their opponents during the trip.
Further, the Jackets, according to Natural Stat Trick, had more high-danger scoring chances (all strengths) in each of the five games, too, including a 23-11 edge against San Jose on Nov. 5.
When Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason and players say they need to “stick with it,” this is what they mean. But they’re right to also say the Jackets need to get back to what brought them success early in the season — the relentless forechecking, the calculated risks by defensemen to join the play, the tireless battling for pucks along the wall.
And some of the numbers during the club’s six-game losing streak are downright ugly. Consider:
- Cole Sillinger, who has bounced from third-line center to second-line winger to first-line winger to second-line center and back to second-line winger on Tuesday, has zero goals, zero assists and a minus-9 rating.
- Mathieu Olivier, who provided an unexpected burst of offense early this season, has zero points and a minus-7 rating.
- Adam Fantilli, Zach Werenski and Justin Danforth haven’t scored goals, while defensemen Jake Christiansen and Jack Johnson — the third pair on Tuesday — have zero points and minus-5 ratings.
- Sean Monahan and Yegor Chinakhov, who carried the Jackets offensively in the early-going, have just one goal and one assist.
Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell has continued to look for roster help, as seen by the addition of defenseman Dante Fabbro via waivers from Nashville last Sunday. Fabbro made his Blue Jackets debut on Tuesday on the No. 1 defensive pair next to Werenski.
But Waddell has also signaled that he’s not interested in giving up future resources (draft picks or prospects) to acquire immediate but short-term roster help. It’s worth noting that he could have traded for Fabbro (and his $2.5 million salary) a week or so before he claimed him on waivers.
The Blue Jackets will likely make some roster moves on Thursday in advance of Friday’s game in Nationwide Arena against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are currently dealing with their own struggles.
The addition of Fabbro gives them eight defensemen. While that fits in their 23-man roster, it doesn’t make much sense to keep 20-year-old David Jiricek and 24-year-old Jordan Harris out of the lineup. Harris has played in eight of the club’s 15 games, while Jiricek has dressed in only five.
The next impact player to join the roster will likely be winger Kent Johnson, who has been out since Oct. 17 with a shoulder injury. The club hasn’t given a timeline for Johnson’s return, but it’s expected to happen in the next couple of weeks.
Until then, the Blue Jackets will continue hoping for some puck luck, all the while working to create their own luck by getting back to the basics they stressed early in the season.
Late last month, there was an exciting air around the club, a belief that maybe — just maybe — they could be a surprise club in the NHL this season. Recently, as the losses pile up, it’s beginning to show similarities to the past two seasons.
(Photo: Steven Bisig / Imagn Images)
