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Bluejackets offseason outlook


yave1964

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2016-17 A QUICK LOOK BACK: Columbus-Blue-Jackets-captain-Nick-Folig

Wow was the year before a disaster. They began with a 7 game losing steak that saw coach Richards fired, saw John tortorella come in and the team in chaos for much of the year. Not much was expected last season.

  Instead, lightning in a bottle occured, Sergei Bobrovsky was healthy all year and played like a God winning the Vezina as the leagues best goalie and Torts won the Adams award as the leagues best coach as he pushed every button the right way. Zach Werenski was brilliant as a rookie and was a finalist for the Calder trophy. Nick Foligno was a man on a mission out to prove that he was among the leagues best power forwards. Boone Jenner sacrificed scoring for team play. That may summarize the team, those two words, sacrifice and team. Everything broke right, Seth Jones looks like a blueline fixture, Wennberg was brilliant in the middle. and Cam Atkinson became a star before our eyes. Brandon Saad scored his usual 50ish points like punching a clock, Sam Gagner resurrected his career and was a power play specialist. Dubinsky was his usual hard self sacrificing and hitting everything.

Team. Sacrifice. 

 

As for what went wrong, the list is short. Ryan Murray continues to struggle to live up to his billing as the number two pick in his draft year. Matt Calvert was invisible for long stretches. Oliver Bjorkstrand struggled to get his career started.

 

They finished a brilliant 50-24-8 for the best record in team history and 4th best in all of hockey but because of the screwed up playoff format they drew the Penguins in the first round and lost to the eventual champs.

 

FREE AGENTS:

 

Sam Gagner resurected his career in Columbus and will get paid. The odds are Columbus does not have the cap space to lock him up so he is likely to move on.

 

Role players Kyle quincey and Lauri Korpikoski will be looking for work elsewhere after coming at the deadline and doing nothing.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS:

 

1) HOLY CRAP, PANARIN FOR SAAD?????

 

Okay maybe not exactly a question just shock that they were able to do this move. There were a few more moveable pieces but getting Panarin fills the desperate need for a true number one center who can score in bunches. Nothing against Saad but he is redundant as a winger and easily replaced, probably by Bjorkstrand this year, the kid oozes offense. 

 

This move allows Panarin to slot into the 1C and Wennberg the 2C slot where he should be more comfortable and Dubinsky into the 3C slot and last years prize prospect Pierre-Luc Dubois to begin his career on the wing where there is less pressure on a young kid. It sends a statement that the Jackets are for real.

 

2) ARE THEY DONE TRADING?

 

They so far have pulled off the Panarin deal and gave up their first to the Knights to protect Josh Anderson and rumors are that they are looking at Ilya Kovalchuk from the KHL/NJD. Adding him on a short term deal would be amazing. Right now after the creative way they protected the players who matter and added Panarin I would not discount any rumor.

 

3) ARE THEY CURRENTLY A STANLEY CUP CONTENDER?

 

Toughest question of all. Every single thing broke right last year until they drew the Pens in the first round which was absurd. But the truth is if you are going to get into the finals you have to learn to beat teams like Pittsburgh and Washington first. 

 

  The moves they have made so far show they understand that they simply cannot sit on their laurels, that they have to actively attack things and continuously move forward. I think that if every thing broke wrong they are still a playoff contender and Nashville, a 16 seed made it to the finals so yeah, using the basis of if you make the playoffs you have a chance they have a chance. I believe that last year taught this young skilled and hard hitting team what it takes to win.

 

So they are a likely playoff team that is improved this year with the additions of Panarin, Dubois and Bjorgstrand to the forward ranks. It still likely comes down to Bob but if he plays like last year with the new additions anything is possible.

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Quick edit:

 

Yes I am aware that Panarin has played on the wing in Chicago but Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has made it clear that he believes that Panarin can play center and it was one of the reasons he made the deal, was Panarins overall athleticism. 

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