After the Blue Jackets suffered injury after injury and started the season 6-15-1, they have since gone on a 12-4-1 run that has gotten them remotely back in the playoff picture.
While there is still plenty of work to be done - they're 11 points out with three games in hand - the team's recent run has many optimistic the Jackets will crawl back into the playoffs by the end of the season.
There is certainly time to accomplish such a feat, but as of now I wouldn't be too optimistic, and that has more to do with how the team is playing than how far out they are.
Why do I say that? Well, let's take a look at the team's underlying numbers at the beginning of the year and see how they compare to now when the team is enjoying some success.
As you can see, the Jackets were below 50% in both 5 vs 5 shot attempts and scoring chances to start the season. They've actually been even worse in both categories since December 1, yet have basically the opposite record, which isn't likely to last.
In reality the team hasn't been playing well at all, but that has been masked by some timely goals and Sergei Bobrovsky bailing the team out more often than not. That's not a sustainable way to win chunks of games over time, and we'll start to see that if things don't change.
Getting a couple more bodies back from injury would help, but I think it's on the coaches and some lineup decisions as much as anything.
Regardless of who deserves the blame, the Jackets won't be playing playoff hockey if they don't improve considerably in the 2nd half of the season.
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