COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Blue Jackets:
1 Item No.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin Kris LetangThe couple played their first game together Pittsburgh PenguinsBlu-ray discs were made available on October 16, 2006, the same day that Twitter was created. Pluto was also downgraded to a planet.
Blue JacketsCenter Cole SillingerHe was just three years old. Rookie winger Kent JohnsonIt was only two days before turning four.
The Penguins are an extreme example — the only other three players with that much time together in major team sports are Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees — but the Blue Jackets’ early schedule this season has highlighted what it means to have a veteran club.
The Blue Jackets are third-youngest club within the league. NHLThe average age of this season was 25.7. That’s not a surprise given the steps GM Jarmo Kekalainen began undertaking two years ago to rebuild — err, restart — the organization.
But there’s another way to measure the Blue Jackets’ relative youth, and it’s something that’s been glaring in early-season games against Carolina, Tampa Bay, St. LouisPittsburgh on Saturday.
Blue Jackets captain Boone JennerHe is currently in his 10th season at Columbus. Zach WerenskiHe is now in his seventh. Goaltender Joonas KorpisaloHe is now entering his fifth season. Those are the only Blue Jackets players who are entering their fifth full season.
Five players are in their first season: Johnny Gaudreau, Mathieu Olivier Erik GudbransonJohnson and Nick BlankenburgThe following were the players who saw little action in the final season.
Six other Columbus players are currently in their second season. Jakub Voracek, Yegor Chinakhov, Sillinger, Justin Danforth, Sean Kuraly, Andrew Peeke Jake Bean.
That’s 12 of the 18 players in the starting lineup on Saturday vs. Pittsburgh that have been Blue Jackets for a little more than one season or less.
While most of the Blue Jackets’ clubs have been through significant ups and downs on the ice and have played thousands of games together and developed intuitive reads and interactions, the Blue Jackets are still getting to know one another.
Always the best graphic of each day #NHL rosters get set.#CBJ getting older, folks. This is the fourth-youngest league team. https://t.co/jgRpWkS1g7
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 11, 2022
Former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella used to refer to it as having “scars” from the tough lessons of the NHL.
“That’s the goal. That’s what we’re trying to build here,” said veteran winger Gus Nyquist, in his fourth season with the Blue Jackets. His NHL career began in Detroit, where he spent eight seasons. Red Wings were the league’s most veteran club.
“You grow closer and closer, like a little family,” Nyquist said. “That’s how it goes. You grow as a team and you start trusting every guy out there because you know what you’re going to get from them every night.”
The Blue Jackets had that nucleus of veteran players before Kekalainen made the call to “restart” at the 2021 trade deadline. Within a matter of months, the entire process was completed. Nick Foligno, Cam Atkinson, David Savard Seth JonesThey were traded.
And now the cycle begins again, with Johnson, Sillinger and Chinakhov seen as major pieces in the Blue Jackets’ future, with more young help — most notably defenseman David Jiricek — on the way in a year or so.
In the meantime there will be growing pains.
Tampa Bay has eight players that have been with the team for at least six years, including a player who was drafted in 2008. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov Victor HedmanThey have been playing together for ten years.
Carolina, which pulled away from the Jackets in the season opener, has a cluster of players — Jordan Staal, Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho, Brett Pesce Teuvo Teravainen — who have been teammates for seven seasons.
NashvilleSt. Louis and St. Louis have similar nuclei who have bonded over years of playing together. And then there’s Pittsburgh, where Crosby, Malkin Letang have played together since most of the Blue Jackets players were in elementary school, and others (Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Brian DumoulinTogether, they have shared the seven previous seasons.
This was evident Saturday when the Penguins took a 3-1 lead over the Blue Jackets in the second quarter and didn’t let up. They won the game 6-3 when the Jackets failed to act defensively in the final quarter.
“You see it in the little details,” said Voracek, who spent nine years with PhiladelphiaBefore his return to Columbus in the summer 2021.
“You might not see it right away, but it’s there at the important parts of the season, at the big moments in games. Those little plays, little details. This was the case on the power play in Philly. It was automatic. The guys were always right where they needed to be. There was not even a half-foot between the right and left. We know how it moved.”
Voracek, 33 years old, sat in his locker in the corner in the dressing room this week. Voracek was there once before, when the Blue Jackets were constructing something special with Rick Nash. Derick BrassardSteve Mason, Voracek, and other people, but it never became a reality.
Players must be good enough that they are able to remain in the NHL. The player must also be committed to staying in Columbus long enough to help roots develop. Furthermore, the Blue Jackets must foster an organization that is attractive to retain players. Let’s be clear: all of these have been issues at different times in Columbus.
The Blue Jackets believe they have the talent to make the playoffs this season, but they’re just in the nascent stage of growing together as an organization. The growing pains are, well, painful, as Saturday’s embarrassing loss to Pittsburgh showed.
“You can see where it’s going here, right?” Voracek said. “I’ll probably be gone by then, but everything is going to be happening here. You can just see it.”
Item No. 2: Blankenburg’s big move
With all of the buzz generated by Blue Jackets rookie defenseman Nick Blankenburg, it’s worth revisiting the moment when his hockey career took a surprising and dramatic turn.
It happened about a month into the 2016-17 season, when Blankenburg — after being cut by two North American Hockey League clubs — was playing midget hockey for Victory Honda, a Tier I elite program out of Detroit. That’s the same level as the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets.
Blankenburg, 18, was the oldest player on the club and no more than a second-line forward … until Victory played at a showcase tournament in Pittsburgh.
“We had one defenseman get hurt and another get kicked off the team,” Blankenburg said. “So we had only four defensemen and we still had two games to play (in the tournament).
“Our coach (Brian Burke) came into the room and said ‘Does anybody want to play D? We could really use somebody.’ Everybody kind of looked around, but nobody said anything. So I raised my hand and said, ‘Sure, I’ll go back there.’”
Blankenburg played these two games and then returned to forward for the next two weeks until the blue line was hit once again. One player was hurt, another joined a major junior programme, and the third quit.
“So I went back on defense and played well for a couple of games,” Blankenburg said. “And then coach Burke and I decided that we should probably be considering switching to D full time.
“It’s crazy how things work out.”
Burke, who is still coaching Victory Honda today, said Blankenburg’s transformation was instantly staggering.
“I told him, ‘Look, if you really don’t want to do this, I’m not going to make you do it,’” Burke told The AthleticThis week. “But he talked to his parents about it and came back the next day and said ‘I’m in. I’ll do it.’
“Really, to be honest, the world truly and literally opened up for him right from that point on. On the ice, things started to happen for him. He just started gaining more confidence and having more and more success.”
brb watching the Blanks celly again pic.twitter.com/Q0x4mU6BaV
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2022
Blankenburg, who was one level below Canadian junior major programs, joined the Okotoks Oilers in the Alberta Junior Hockey League one year later. That’s where a scout for the University of Michigan noticed him and how Blankenburg made his way to Ann Arbor, where he slowly started to generate NHL interest in a four-year run with the Wolverines.
After Blankenburg declined offers from other clubs, the Blue Jackets signed Blankenburg as an undrafted free agent in spring 2013. He was healthy for three of the season’s first three games after getting his first taste of the NHL in late last season.
But since he’s come into the lineup, Blankenburg has been one of the Blue Jackets’ best players; certainly one of their best defensemen. None of this happens if Blankenburg didn’t heed his coach’s call.
“It’s a great story,” Burke said. “Nobody could have predicted the success that’s come his way.”
Item No. 3: Snacks
• Injured right winger Patrik Leine(elbow), continues to skate and shoot hockey pucks, adding more power each day. The Jackets are sticking with the original timeline for recovery — three to four weeks — but it’s looking more likely that Laine will make the trip to Finland for two games against ColoradoNovember 4-5. After an afternoon game in New Jersey, Oct. 30, the Blue Jackets will leave for Helsinki next weekend.
• The NHL allows clubs participating in the Global Series games to bring along an extra goaltender. Joonas Corpisalo, who underwent hip surgery in April, has not played in a game but is hopeful to make it, most likely as the third goalie. Elvis Merzlikins Daniil Tarasov. Korpisalo was raised in Pori (Finland), a city on the coast about 90 minutes west Tampere. This is where the games will take place.
• The Blue Jackets released their “Reverse Retro” sweater this week. They will wear them at six home games this season: Nov. 23rd vs. Montreal, Dec. 4 vs. Detroit, Dec. 9 vs. Calgary, Dec. 27 vs. BuffaloJan. 16 vs. New York Rangers, Jan. 31 vs. Washington.
#CBJ release their “reverse retro” sweater to be worn six times this season. Montreal, Nov. 23rd will be the first game to wear the new duds. pic.twitter.com/fHXYIHQucl
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 20, 2022
• After a slow start to the season, second-line center Jack RoslovicHe has been a difference-maker once again. He might have been the Blue Jackets’ best player in Saturday’s loss to the Penguins, scoring his first goal of the season on a short-handed breakaway and later assisting on Kent Johnson’s first NHL goal. One other thing to note about Roslovic’s play so far this season: He’s been the club’s second-most reliable player on faceoffs, with a 52.1 percent win rate that’s second only to Boone Jenner (64.9 percent).
• Second-year center Cole Sillinger is off to a slow start. Let’s not call it a sophomore slump just yet, but Sillinger is pointless through six games with only seven shots on goal. Larsen’s ice time has been cut, as Roslovic is drawing more and Sillinger is drawing less in recent matches. In the Nashville win, he played less than 10 minutes (9.47).
• A retired NHL scout reached out this week with an interesting thought after watching Blankenburg’s recent games. He thought of Duvie Westcott, a long-forgotten Blue Jackets defenseman (2001-02 to 2008-08), when he was small and undrafted. Cloud State. Blankenburg may have been more skilled, but Westcott was more physically fit. Older Blue Jackets fans will no doubt remember Westcott’s beatdown of Detroit’s Sean Avery during the 2002-03 season. After three seasons in Germany, Westcott was concussed in the NHL. He retired in 2015.
• Blankenburg and Voracek connected on a beautiful goal in the Blue Jackets’ comeback win over Nashville, with Blankenburg attacking through the right circle after Voracek won a puck battle high in the zone and delivered a perfect pass. Voracek, who is just a few seats away from Blankenburg in their dressing room, has been impressed. Others have compared Blankenburg to St. Louis’ Torey Krug or Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon, but Voracek went a different direction. “That’s the natural instincts of that player,” Voracek said of Blankenburg’s game-winning goal. “There’s no reason for him to not have a career just like Kris Letang’s, in my opinion. That’s what I said to him (after the match). The work that he’s put in, how much better he got over the summer … that’s impressive. His timing is amazing. That’s really what it’s all about.”
• Jenner will play his 596th NHL game today when the Blue Jackets play in the Garden, putting him fifth on the franchise list. He should surpass David Savard (597) and be within striking distance of Nick Foligno (599) by the end this week. He’s on pace to play his 600th game on Nov. 5 in Tampere, Finland, joining only two other Blue Jackets to have played in 600 games for the franchise: Rick Nash (674) and Cam Atkinson (627).
• Zach Werenski’s goal last week vs. Vancouver was the 77th of his career, moving him past Nikolay Zherdev and into 10th place on the franchise’s all-time list. Werenski is the top Columbus defenseman.
• Winger Kirill Marchenko has started his AHL career with a four-game point streak. He has 4-2-6 and a plus-5 rating heading into today’s matchup between AHL Cleveland and Lehigh Valley. He has also had 10 shots on goal, and a shootout goal. Marchenko was a player on the line with Carson Meyer and Brendan Gaunce, center.
• Defenseman David Jiricek has three assists in the last two games for AHL Cleveland. He’s played on the right side of the Monsters’ top pair with Gavin Bayreuther to his left, putting up a plus-4 rating so far this season. The AHL tracks time on ice by player, but doesn’t make the information public. The AHL office this week said the numbers aren’t public because the league doesn’t trust their accuracy, but they’re in the process of working on a solution.
• Winger Emil Bemstrom had two more goals Saturday for AHL Cleveland, including the OT game winner. That’s four goals in four games this season and six in eight career AHL games.
• The NHL waiver wire provided a blast from the past this week when Philadelphia claimed winger Lukas SedlakColorado waivers. Sedlak was a Blue Jackets player for six seasons, with three seasons in NHL (2016-17 to 2018-19), before he signed to play in Russia. After three seasons playing in the KHL, Sedlak signed for the Avs and was then able to return to the NHL. Now he’s reunited with Tortorella in Philly.
• Don’t look now, but the supposedly awful Flyers are fast out of the gate (4-1-0) under Tortorella. You can clearly see the difference in their play by just watching two periods this week. Recent seasons saw the Flyers play in slow motion. This year’s club does everything at full throttle.
(Photo of Nick Blankenburg skating against Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin: Aaron Doster / USA Today)
