Happy December all,
As the hockey season continues the accelerated and condensed scheduling due to the Olympics and holiday breaks, the Blue Jackets have completed a quarter of their regular season for 2026. At the time of writing this piece, the Jackets are coming off the road warrior fight night from Newark, New Jersey and are 12-9-5 with a 0.558 winning percentage and 29 points in 26 games.
Columbus has come back from last season crashing into the earth this season defining mediocrity in the middling eastern conference. One night, any given team is looking at the postseason, and the next they are scouting the top of this elite 2026 draft.
12 wins ties them with Florida and Toronto in the East, with Buffalo only having 11 behind them for the basement.
7 regulation wins has the franchise as the bottom feeder with Philadelphia.
9 regulation losses equates with Washington, New Jersey, Ottawa, and Montreal in the middle of the pack.
5 overtime losses ties them for the most with Pittsburgh.
78 goals has the club at 22nd in league scoring.
85 goals against has the club 13th in league.
Columbus and St. Louis are the only teams with 5 home wins.
Columbus has 7 road wins, same with Jersey, Ottawa, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Washington, Anaheim, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.
Offense - D-
With injuries, the depth isn’t there and won’t repeat what last year was.
Defense - C-
Werenski is legit and will keep this group from getting worse. Mateychuk is developing the right way. The Provorov woes are early, but will die down.
Goaltending - B
Greaves has been great, and Merzlikins has rebounded after tragedies.
Special Teams - F
Not even close to good.
Even Strength - D
There’s production and it’s one of the better ones analytically according to NHL Edge.
Management — C
While standing still, the depth isn’t the same and is not winning like it was a decade ago.
Pipeline — B-
Cayden Lindstrom and Jackson Smith are next level prospects, the rest is mediocre at this point in the season.
What is ahead? The new year looming brings trade deadline rumors, contract extensions, and staff turnover. Here’s who could be available and is already appearing on some boards around the league:
Coyle
Jenner
Gudbranson
Aston-Reese
Gaunce
Fedotov
Smith
Fasching
Owen Sillinger
Mayo
Sawchekno
Chinakov
McKown
Williams
Svozil
Pyyhita
Ceulemans
Malatesta
Keifer Sherwood — return to hometown? Kole Sherwood has a stint here before going to Ottawa. Th
.png){kind=spacer}