NHL

TSJ 31 in 31: Columbus Blue Jackets Must Be All-In For 2018-19

by
Former Writers
September 13, 2018

Ava7

NHL

The Columbus Blue Jackets Have to Be All-In this season

The Columbus Blue Jackets have two Franchise talents that are going to be Unrestricted Free Agents at the end of the 2018-19 season: Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin. Bobrovsky may still resign however, it has been noted by the media that Artemi Panarin is not looking to resign long term in Columbus.

If the Blue Jackets lose both Panarin and Bobrovsky, they are a different team and may not make the playoffs. Without Panarin, Columbus lacks scoring depth after the second line. Without Bobrovsky, the Blue Jackets do not have an experienced starter. Yes, Joonas Korpisalo has been the back up for the last three seasons but he has still not shaped into the Starter that Columbus wants and needs.

The Columbus Blue Jackets did extend Head Coach John Tortorella today for two more seasons after 2018-19. Tortorella has a winning percentage of 58.8 percent over his three seasons as the coach of the Blue Jackets. He brought the Blue Jackets from last place in his first year to making the playoffs back to back years for the first time in Franchise History.

Have The Blue Jackets Gotten Better?

In my eyes, yes the Blue Jackets did get better. Columbus only added two forwards while losing three depth skaters and two rentals from last year’s Trade Deadline. With their two best players playing for a contract, Columbus could do some damage this year.

Additions

To strengthen the middle, Columbus added Riley Nash. At 29 years of age, Nash is coming off a career year where he set career highs in Goals, Assists, Points, Plus/Minus, and Even Strength Goals. Riley Nash is the guy that Columbus has been looking for to strengthen the bottom line and add scoring to places other than the first and second lines.

In addition, GM Jarmo Kekalainen signed Anthony Duclair for more scoring depth. After his time with Arizona and a brief stint with a crumbling Chicago team, this will be Duclair’s first real chance with a decent team. Duclair was signed to a one year deal worth $650,000. Last season, Anthony Duclair totaled 23 points in 56 games.

Subtractions

On defense, Ian Cole and Jack Johnson vacated their position to sign elsewhere. Cole with Colorado and Johnson with Pittsburgh. Last season Ian Cole played 67 games and tallied 20 points while Jack Johnson played 77 games and only amounted 11 points.

Matt Calvert was the only full-time forward that was not resigned. Calvert appeared in 69 games during 2017-18 and put up 15 assists with a total of 24 points. Mark Letestu and Thomas Vanek were rentals acquired by the Blue Jackets at last season’s deadline. Both were not resigned. Vanek scored 7 goals with 8 assists in his 19 games. Mark Letestu played in 20 games and totaled 4 points.

Where the Columbus Blue Jackets

A Net Gain of -10 does not look the greatest. But if you take into consideration that two of the forwards lost were not going to be kept anyways, the Net Gain becomes 9. If you think this Net Gain is still not good, you are somewhat right. The higher the Net Gain, the better the team could do. However, the Columbus Blue Jackets may not have gotten worse. By adding depth at center and scoring on the bottom 6 forward lines, the Blue Jackets have done all they can at the moment and could do more this season.

According to CapFriendly, the Blue Jackets have about $5.6 million in cap space. This is helpful especially throughout the season when the Jackets are All-In and begin to trade for deadline rentals. Columbus needs to do everything they can to help out Panarin and Bobrovsky. Even if the duo is not going to resign. Fans want winning seasons and this year may be the only year Columbus can do that.

To wrap things up, I see Columbus finishing second in the Metropolitan Division. This does not mean they are my cup favorites, I will get to that later on before the season starts, but they are up there for me. If I were a Blue Jackets fan, I would be excited about this year and anxious for the next.