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Exactly Why Columbus Will Finish Dead Last |
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So the most recent article of mine had mentioned exactly why the Columbus Blue Jackets will win the Stanley Cup. Today's will present the exact opposite, and why they will finish 32nd overall of the 32 teams in the National Hockey League for the upcoming 2021-2022 NHL season.
Inexperienced and Immature
The core of the team is still looking for more games played in the major stage of the top market in the hockey world. The Blue Jackets' have a new bench boss with the departure of John Tortorella; a defensive turnover through a series of transactions; and veteran leadership coming off the books on the offense. The only thing that maintained itself over the summer was the goaltending trio of Jonas Korpisalo; Elvis Merzlikins; and Daniil Tarasov.
The Blue Jackets have a new coaching staff with the promotions of Brad Larsen and Steve McCarthy over the offeseason, plus the hirings of associate coach Pascal Vincent; and development coaches Derek Dorsett, Mark Letestu, and Brad Thiessen. Larsen was an assitant under Tortorella, but now has the regins for his first season as an NHL Head Coach. Vincent joined the organization in June after years with the Manitoba Moose; and Dorsett, Letestu, and Thiessen are former Blue Jackets players and current alumni.
The Blue Jackets bought youth this offseason, dealing Seth Jones to Chicago; Cam Atkinson to Philadelphia; and departures and retirments of forwards Mikko Koivu, Zac Dalpe, Mikhail Grigorenko, Ryan MacInnis, Stefan Matteau, Nick Foligno, Riley Nash, and Kole Sherwood; defensemen Michael Del Zotto, David Savard, and Adam Clendenning; and goalies Veinin Vehvilainen, and Brad Thiessen. Columbus added Jakub Voracek; Gregory Hoffman; Brendan Gaunce; Tyler Sikura; and Zac Rinaldo on offense; defensemen Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist; and goaltender Jean-Francois Berube.
On the defense, Jake Bean has only played 42 NHL games, earning 12 points; Boqvist has earned 29 points in 76 games; Andrew Peeke only 6 points in 33 games; Mikko Lethonen just 6 points in 26 games; and Gabriel Carlsson with 7 points in 37 games.*
The games played only pushes towards the most amount of games played by Zach Werenski at 335. At just 24, he has the keys to the franchise, and the experience he has carries the defense. If he crashes, the team crashes. The pressure on this kid in this market with the other kids can hurt a team more than help it at this point in the market.
With the defense so the young, the offesnive experience is not much better with the slumping Patrik Laine; the injured Max Domi; the returning Gustav Nyqvist; no number one center; and rookies Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakov could make the opening night roster. Laine had to sign a qualifying offer just to rebound from a difficult 2019-2021 run; Max Domi has become an injury problem in Columbus since the trade for Josh Anderson; Nyqvist is just getting back into the Columbus system alongside Jakub Voracek. Rookies are beating out the expreince in Sillinger and Chinakov, only just being drafted in the most recent drafts.
Tough Metro
The Flyers, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Hurricanes, Penguins, and Capitals all have seasoned at more successful winning coaches than the Jackets. All these teams also have more exceptional star talent in other positions of the ice. Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier headline the Flyers; the Islanders have been in the past two Stanley Cup semifinals; the Rangers have former Blue Jacket winger Artemi Panarin; the Devils just got Dougie Hamilton and Thomas Tatar; the Hurricanes have the Finnish forces in Jesperi Koktaniemi; Sebastian Aho; and Teuvo Terrivainen; the Penguins have Crosby and Malkin; and the Capitals have Ovechkin and Backstrom. The goaltending also is represented by Carter Hart and Martin Jones; Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorkin; Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier; Frederik Andersen and Anti Raanta; Tristian Jarry and Casey DeSmith; and Ilya Samsonsov and Vitek Vancek. These goalies are stronger than the trio in Columbus, except maybe Pittsburgh. This division is one the toughest in the league, and the Blue Jackets are in the retooling process.
Correcting the Past
After pushing all their chips into 2019, what better time to reset the roster when there is top stars in the upcoming drafts, including Shane Wright and Conor Bedard, when this team does not have a number one center on the roster. Trading Seth Jones is a strong start, and the rumors have been there all summer about Patrik Laine and Max Domi as next.
What say you?
More to come....
*all game and points stats are sourced from HockeyDB
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