Columbus Blue Jackets Off-Season Review (2024)
The Blue Jackets are likely done making moves, or at least, big ones, so it’s time to discuss their off-season. They have hired a GM, fired and not replaced their head coach, and had a rather slow free agency. Let’s discuss what happened.
Before we get to the rest of this article, the queer population living in Kakuma refugee Camp in Kenya need help. There are over 1,000 queer asylum seekers and refugees there, fleeing from discrimination. Unfortunately, their basic needs are not met and they cannot seek employment as it is illegal for queers there to have jobs. There is a fundraiser on Go Get Funding and if you are able, please financially support them, and whether you can give money or not, please share the fundraiser and get out the word. You can follow the organizers of this fundraiser on Twitter.
First, and most importantly, the Blue Jackets hired Don Waddell as General Manager. I wrote about this already and my thoughts on it, so I’ll just leave the link to it here. Since being hired, the most important thing he did was fire head coach Pascal Vincent, and has yet to replace him. I’ve been vocal in my displeasure with Vincent so I’m more than fine with his firing. It needed to happen. That said, some of the news regarding the coaching search has concerned me. Seemingly, Todd McLellan was their guy, the coach they wanted, which I’m fine with. That’s not what worries me. What’s concerning is that they failed to land him because they failed to agree to terms likely due to disagreements on how far the Blue Jackets are from being a playoff team. It seems McLellan believes the Blue Jackets are a few years off, the Blue Jackets think they’re much nearer. Basically, he wanted to be signed for the long term because he sees himself coming in as a rebuild coach. The Blue Jackets wanted a short-term deal because it’s believed that they think they’re on the verge of playoffs. That concerns me deeply. This team is nowhere near the playoffs. McLellan would be correct in thinking this team is years away from it. Here’s the thing, I do believe that they have a playoff-caliber offense (not a Cup contender offense, but good enough to get a win or two in the first round), but their defense is one of a tanking team. It’s Zach Werenski and a bunch of players who should, at best, be on the third line if not playing in a lower league. Even the one other player who’s not a third-liner on the blue line, Ivan Provorov is a defensive liability and doesn’t put up enough points to make up for it. No, Mateychuk and Jiříček are not saving this defense, at least right now. Jiříček has defensive play concerns (not ideal considering how poor everyone not named “Zach Werenski” is at defense on that blue line) and Mateychuk is good defensively, but he has at best, a second-pairing ceiling. Rookies with a second-pairing ceiling and the other being questionable defensively are not saving this blue line. At least this year or next year. As this roster stands, they’re very likely a bottom-five team. The only teams who I believe are definitively worse than the Blue Jackets are the Sharks and Ducks, and I view the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets to be a toss-up on who’s worse. This team will not be making the playoffs anytime in the next few years unless this blue line gets a serious upgrade defensively. When Severson is on our third line and Gudbranson is gone, that’s when we’re a playoff contender. Basically, as long as Severson is on our first line, this team is going to suck. So, all that to say, the delusion of the front office in thinking this team is close to being a playoff team is concerning to me. Feels a lot like Jarmo.
Moving on from coaching and front-office delusions, let’s talk about the draft. With the fourth overall pick, the Blue Jackets selected Cayden Lindstrom when Ivan Demidov was still on the board. From what we’ve been told, the scouting staff had him listed as the second-best player in the draft. Look, I know these guys are professionals and they have gotten us a lot of great young talent so I probably shouldn’t be questioning them, but I’m an arrogant sports writer so I’m going to do it anyway. I’m sorry, but how on earth they viewed him as the second-best player in the draft is beyond me. I don’t get it. Like, at all. That’s a truly baffling ranking and makes me question the scouting staff. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nowhere near as egregious as the Ducks selecting Beckett Sennecke at third-overall (I strongly believe they’ll end up regretting that big time), but it’s still baffling. There’s nothing in his game that screams to me “Should be the second-overall pick”. Demidov is a sure-fire superstar, while Lindstrom, quite simply, has the ceiling of a second-line center and I have heard and seen nothing that makes me think otherwise. Yes, a second-line center was a need, but taking a second-line center over a superstar is poor drafting. Unless he ends up being a superstar himself, I will continue to question the organization on this selection. This was the time to make a big swing and give Fantilli help. They didn’t.
In regard to the rest of the draft, they did fine. I really liked them selecting Charlie Elick but let’s be real, once you get outside the first round the chances of a selected player making the NHL fall drastically. It’s basically just a lottery ticket hoping you get an NHL player after the first 32 picks. So frankly, I don’t really get excited or upset about any pick after the first round. Once you get to the second round you’re just praying for luck. So, I don’t have any real commentary on the rest of the draft other than me liking them taking a swing on Elick.
Now, let me talk about something I do like because I don’t want to make things sound dire. I do believe in the direction the franchise is heading overall, I just don’t agree with many of the steps they’re taking to get there. One thing I do really like, though, is signing Sean Monahan. I’m going to be honest, I’m genuinely surprised at how so many are calling this a bad signing by the Blue Jackets. I don’t get it. This is a brilliant signing and one that will boost the organization. They need a top-line center while Fantilli adjusts to being an NHL center (he did struggle at the center position last year and I would expect a sophomore slump this year), and he can do that in a year the team is still rebuilding. Add to that chemistry with Gaudreau, that’s a huge bonus. Then there’s the fact that when Fantilli is ready to be the team’s top-line center (most likely the 2025-26 season), they’ll still need a second-line center because it’s unlikely Lindstrom is ready. His term is perfect to fill in the gap for Lindstrom on the second line (and Fantilli this upcoming season for top-line center). I would expect one more season for Lindstrom in the WHL, and one in the AHL, and then he’s not likely to be our second-line center immediately, so take out two more seasons (the second season due to sophomore slump) and then the fifth season of Monahan’s contract Lindstrom is hopefully available and ready to be the second-line center. It’s a contract meant to fill in the gap and does so on a realistic timeline. The term shouldn’t be of concern to anyone and I genuinely do not get the complaints of the term of the contract. I know I keep repeating myself about how I don’t get the complaints about this signing, but it’s because I’m genuinely baffled at where the criticisms are coming from. I have to assume it’s because either people don’t pay attention to the Blue Jackets or have unrealistic expectations of Lindstrom’s development. To be honest, it’s probably both. Unless you’re a Blue Jackets fan you probably don’t know anything about the organization and most hockey fans don’t know anything about player development. It’s a great deal and gives the offense a much-needed boost. I just wish that there had been an overhaul of the blue line to go along with the Monahan signing.
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EDIT: I forgot to link to the article about my thoughts on Don Waddell's hiring and has now been added.