The Blue Jackets have already played four pre-season games; two against the St. Louis Blues, one against the Boston Bruins and one against the Nashville Predators. They have gone 1-2-1 in those four games which really means nothing. The big thing worry about in pre-season in my opinion are the younger players and those veterans on the outside trying to make the team. It doesn’t really matter what kind of pre-season Brandon Saad has or Nick Foligno has, these players have spots on the team, have been through this before and know how to get ready for the season.

The big standout this pre-season has been Markus Nutivaara. He's getting a long look and has been playing well.

#CBJ Markus Nutivaara w/ 13:58 of even strength TOI vs NSH, +21/-7 in Corsi (75%). 19:25 TOI all situations, up to 65:43 total in preseason.

— Jeremy Crowe (@307x) September 30, 2016

Nutivaara had a fantastic season in the SM-Liiga. He scored 22 points in 56 games and was really strong possession player. This season will be his first in North America and he is making a case to spend it with the Blue Jackets. He is a left handed shot which puts him behind Ryan Murray, Zach Werenski and Jack Johnson on the depth chart. There has been some discussion of playing Johnson with Werenski which would open up a spot on the left side. The Jackets do have four right handed shot defencemen in Seth Jones, David Savard, Dalton Prout and Cody Goloubef. If Nutivaara can out play Prout and Goloubef he could possibly make the team and play on the third pair alongside David Savard. Prout would likely be the seventh defencemen in that scenario with Goloubef placed on waivers and hopefully sent down to Cleveland.

The Blue Jackets have already cut 15 players from camp. Vitali Abramov, Sam Ruopp, Kole Sherwood, and Calvin Thurkauf were returned to their junior teams. Francis Beauvillier, Jeremy Brodeur, Stephen Gibson, Patrick Dwyer, Frank Hora, Michael Houser, Darby Llewellyn and Lucas Peressini were all released from their tryout contracts. Dante Salitruo, Nick Moutrey and Justin Scott were assigned to the Monsters. No real surprises here. None of the young players were going to make the team, so it’s best to send them back to junior where that season has already started. Personally I would have liked to have seen Salitruo get a longer look, but he's going to spend the season in Cleveland so it’s good to get him down there and training with his team.

Finally, Sam Gagner’s a pretty good player.

FILTHY. pic.twitter.com/hJS1Jq6MAO

— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) September 27, 2016

You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot

Join the Discussion: » 4 Comments » Post New Comment

» Blue Jackets extend John Tortorella

» Blue Jackets extend Hockey Operations Staff

» Thoughts on the Blue Jackets Traverse City roster

» How the Blue Jackets can get more national coverage

» Just how bad is the Blue Jackets prospect system?