New on Sports Illustrated: The Fight to Survive Rages on as Battered Blue Jackets Chase Playoff Spot

-

Columbus has been marred with injuries from the get-go—and to key players, too. The team is still in the postseason hunt, but it's only going to get harder from here.

OK, Columbus Blue Jackets fans: the hockey world will stop laughing at your injury-related misery. It’s easy to feel bad for you guys because the Blue Jackets have a darn good hockey team and deserve a break from the injury ninja.

The Blue Jackets have made the post-season just five times in the past 18 seasons and despite having to replace a few of the franchise’s greatest players this past summer, the team quickly began to close in on appearance No. 6. From Dec. 1 until Jan. 31, the Blue Jackets had the third-best record in the NHL with a 16-5-4 run and just 49 goals against in 25 games (the fewest allowed in that span). Since then? The Blue Jackets have gone 4-4-6 in the past 14 games with a minus-seven goal differential, making them a pure mid-pack team. If it wasn’t for a league-leading 14 overtime losses this season, this conversation would be significantly different.

Why, exactly? Per

NHLInjuryViz, a website that tracks player injuries, only the Pittsburgh Penguins have been marred more by injury this season, with 18 players missing time with the Blue Jackets this season. Since Friday, goaltender Elvis Merzlikins and forwards Riley Nash and Oliver Bjorkstrand have sustained injuries, with Bjorkstrand ending his season early with a fractured ankle. Seth Jones, Josh Anderson and Alexandre Texier are out long-term and if they return, it won’t be until just before the playoffs at best. It digs deeper than that, but eight players currently sit on the injured reserve. Cam Atkinson’s original return date is creeping up, so that’s a bonus, at least.

***

More From The Hockey News:
* Was David Ayres a godsend or an embarrassment for the NHL? Probably both
* The fight to survive rages on as battered Blue Jackets chase playoff spot
* Muzzin’s injury a nightmare for Leafs, who need blue line to be greater than sum of its parts
* Rebuild or reload? For Wild GM Bill Guerin, the answer isn’t black or white

***

An ideal world wouldn’t have Stefan Matteau and Nathan Gerbe playing top-six minutes, and the top line of Gustav Nyquist, Boone Jenner and Nick Foligno is definitely on the lower side of the hockey spectrum. But the Blue Jackets are a good team: even though the team seems to rarely operate with a full NHL-quality roster, Columbus has figured out how to get points in the title race. With 65 games under their belt, the Blue Jackets sit second in the wild-card race with three games in hand over their three closest competitors. Merzlikins, the man that gave the team new life in January with a 9-2-0 record and three shutouts, is out for an undisclosed time, but Joonas Korpisalo was fantastic prior to an injury of his own. The Blue Jackets have been able to rely on their goaltending in a year where that was the biggest question, and that’s important.

Columbus didn’t make a splash on deadline day, acquiring Devin Shore from Anaheim and a conditional seventh-round pick from Arizona. So GM Jarmo Kekalainen must be content with the group he’s assembled for coach John Tortorella and didn’t go the aggressive route he did a year ago to acquire Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchene. The Blue Jackets didn’t have a lot of pieces to offer, anyway, especially since they’re missing their second- and third-round picks this season. The Blue Jackets have a whopping $23 million in open cap space with $30 million tied up among players on injured reserve, and thanks to a plethora of AHL call-ups, 12 of the 24 players currently on the roster (including two on emergency loan) make less than a million dollars. To say the roster is just a shell of what it could be is an understatement.

Despite that, the Blue Jackets still have a good statistical chance at the playoffs. Reality may have different plans. The Blue Jackets have struggled to seal the deal in regulation recently and new long-term injuries aren’t going to make the ride any smoother. When most of your original top six and two of your best defensemen aren’t set to return anytime soon, good luck. So while they’ve remained alive now, it’s getting over the hump that’s going to be the issue. The Metropolitan Division’s playoff race is very close with just six points separating Pittsburgh in second and Carolina in sixth, so the Blue Jackets need to find a bit of urgency down the stretch. The Blue Jackets are the most thrashed group of the bunch, and in Columbus’ 17 remaining games, only four are against teams not currently in a playoff spot. Boston, Washington and Tampa Bay (twice) are still on the docket. Nothing about this gets easier.

If it all falls through, Columbus has a legitimate excuse for missing the playoffs in a year that wasn’t expected to be this successful, anyways. If the Jackets do make it and can recover most of the original lineup, we could have another playoff upset on our hands.

Want more in-depth features and analysis? Subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New on Sports Illustrated: NBA Draft Big Board 3.0: Top 80 Prospect Rankings

-
Image
Ranking the top 80 players in the 2021 NBA draft with the NCAA tournament in the rearview. View the original article to see embedded media. With three months until draft night and the NBA’s regular season winding down , the league at large has begun shifting full focus to the off-season. Players have until May 30 to declare as early entrants for the draft, after which point the predraft process will open up in full, leading up to the combine and lottery at the end of June . Our Big Board is long overdue for an update, and fully expanded out to 80 prospects as we all attempt to make sense of the big picture moving forward. As usual, the Big Board is primarily based on my personal evaluations from both live viewings and on film, in many cases dating back several years. The rankings also incorporate feedback and opinions I glean from NBA executives, scouts, and others around the industry. This is not a mock draft, and team fit is not considered, but it is also intended to be somewhat
Read more

New on Sports Illustrated: The Patriots’ Post-Brady Era Begins Now

-
Image
In Mac Jones, Bill Belichick drafted a Round 1 quarterback for the first time ever—and looks to usher in a return to dominance. Of course the first time Bill Belichick drafts a first-round quarterback, it’s one for whom he could get an unvarnished scouting report from good buddy Nick Saban —and without even having to do any draft-day maneuvering. Now, the post-Tom Brady era in New England really begins. The Patriots treated 2020 as something of a gap year, with a league-high eight opt-outs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a starting quarterback, Cam Newton, who didn't sign with the team until June. They were, for the first time in two decades, mediocre, but that 7–9 record bought them the ticket to a fresh start: the No. 15 pick, which they used Thursday night on Alabama QB Mac Jones. The oft-cited statistic that Belichick had never drafted a QB higher than pick No. 62—used on Jimmy Garoppolo in 2014—was inherently flawed, given that Belichick had Brady as a starter for 19 of
Read more

New on Sports Illustrated: NCAA Board of Governors Unanimously Votes to Extend Mark Emmert’s Contract

-
Despite recent controversy, the NCAA Board of Governors voted unanimously to extend Mark Emmert's contract through 2025. The NCAA Board of Governors unanimously voted to extend president Mark Emmert's contract through Dec. 31, 2025. The news was announced Tuesday as a one-line news item buried within a larger update after the board's quarterly meeting. He's the fifth president in NCAA history and has been in the role since 2010. Emmert previously held high-ranking roles at Washington, LSU, Connecticut and Montana State. His base salary is reportedly $2.7 million.  Within the announcement, the Board reaffirmed its commitment to updating name, image and likeness rules. Dellenger: Inside the Hidden Industry of Name, Image and Likeness and the Changing World for College Athletes Emmert came under fire after disparities were shown between the men's and women's college basketball tournaments this year, specifically the weight room. Prior to the public backlash,
Read more