With the Blue Jackets firmly out of the playoff race, the most exciting thing to watch down the stretch is the development of their young players.
At the forefront of that is Marko Dano, who has been improving steadily, and is well on his way to establishing himself as a top-6 forward at the NHL level.
He, along with a couple other young guns, put forth a great effort in a shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Some thoughts:
1) Marko Dano is quickly becoming one of Columbus' best players on a nightly basis. He's been doing extremely well in possession of late, and has been piling up shots and hits in bunches. Last night he was finally rewarded for his efforts, as he scored a beautiful snipe, and also recorded an assist en route to a 5-4 win. Dano's final stat line: one goal, one assist, three shots, one hit, and a game-high 71CF% despite 40% offensive zone starts. He's really flourishing on a line with Scott Hartnell and Alex Wennberg.
2) Speaking of Wennberg, he has certainly had his struggles this season but he's slowly starting to turn it around. Wennberg tallied a pair of assists, the shootout winner, and owned a 67CF% (only behind Dano) while starting 33% of his shifts in the offensive zone and logging almost 20 minutes of ice. He's really starting to play with some confidence, and it's showing up on the scoresheet. He has three points and 10SOG in his last five games.
3) Keeping with the kids, Ryan Murray was no slouch in his return to the lineup. Playing over 20 minutes, a good chunk of which against Jordan Eberle's line, Murray posted a respectable 48CF% (middle of the pack for Columbus). It'll be interested to see how heavily Todd Richards relies upon him down the stretch here, because I know the Jackets want to give him legitimate minutes and see just how far along he is in terms of development.
4) Scott Hartnell has goals in three consecutive games (four in that span) and has 11SOG in that time. I think the challenge of playing with a couple rookies (Dano/Wennberg) is as good for him as it is for the kids to have that veteran to lean on. This has been a disastrous year for Columbus, but it's still had its positives.
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