<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="850" height="1000" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps.png" alt="" class="wp-image-84646" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps.png 850w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps-255x300.png 255w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps-768x904.png 768w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps-150x176.png 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps-300x353.png 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps-600x706.png 600w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CLB-Team-Projected-LineUps-696x819.png 696w" sizes="(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px"></a></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-last-season"><strong>LAST SEASON</strong></h2>



<p>The Columbus Blue Jackets were a pretty mediocre team in 2021–22. They finished 21st in the National Hockey League with a 37–38–7 record, missing the playoffs by 19 points and ultimately earning the right to select No. 12 in the 2022 NHL Draft (luckily, thanks to the lopsided Seth Jones trade with Chicago, the Blue Jackets also made the No. 6 selection this year).</p>



<p>The Blue Jackets scored their fair share of goals, finishing 14th in the league with 262. Unfortunately, they were also one of just five teams to allow 300 or more. While starting goaltender Elvis Merzlikins had a pretty solid year, backup Joonas Korpisalo struggled mightily in his 22 appearances and didn’t do his team many favors in its bid for a playoff spot.</p>



<p>Of course, Columbus’ shortcomings extended far beyond Korpisalo’s performance in goal. Patrik Laine, Boone Jenner, Adam Boqvist, Zach Werenski, and Alexandre Texier all missed significant time while recovering from injuries, and the team’s defensive personnel had all kinds of trouble in all situations. The Blue Jackets’ power-play (18.6 percent) and penalty-killing (78.6 percent) success rates fell short of the NHL-average marks.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="188"></div>



<p>Fear not: David Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, Corson Ceulemans, and Yegor Chinakhov collectively represent the Blue Jackets’ future. Even so, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen went to work this summer with the goal of bringing in some immediate help.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>KEY ADDITIONS &amp; DEPARTURES</strong></h2>



<p><strong>Additions</strong><br>Johnny Gaudreau, LW<br>Erik Gudbranson, D<br>Kirill Marchenko, RW<br>Mathieu Olivier, RW</p>



<p><strong>Departures</strong><br>Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW (SEA)<br>Alexandre Texier, C (Swiss)<br>Dean Kukan, D (Swiss)<br>Gabriel Carlsson, D (WSH)</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>OFFENSE</strong></h2>



<p>Left winger Johnny Gaudreau is a massive addition for the Blue Jackets and immediately becomes the team’s best player. He’s a premier forward in the National Hockey League and is capable of taking over games all by himself. It was also refreshing to see a top player actually <em>choose</em> Columbus on the open market, given how it’s often been the reverse in recent years – remember Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky?</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="136"></div>



<p>The Blue Jackets also signed right winger Patrik Laine to a four-year extension. While the $8.7 million cap hit seems a little high, Laine has been a ton of fun to watch ever since he arrived in Columbus and it’ll be fascinating to see whether he’s able to click with Gaudreau on the top line.</p>



<p>Unfortunately, to fit the hefty Gaudreau and Laine deals under the salary cap, the Blue Jackets had to ship Oliver Bjorkstrand off to the Seattle Kraken for pennies on the dollar. Bjorkstrand is an excellent top-six winger who just turned 27 and has four years left at a perfectly reasonable $5.4 million cap hit, and you can be sure the Blue Jackets would’ve preferred to move pending UFA Gustav Nyquist instead. But them’s the breaks.</p>



<p>Kirill Marchenko is a really interesting player – we’ll talk about him more in the “rookies” section – but his impending arrival doesn’t change the reality that is the Blue Jackets’ underwhelming center depth. With all due respect to team captain Boone Jenner and Columbus’ own Jack Roslovic, there might not be a bona fide top-six pivot on that roster. But that’s where Johnson and Sillinger come into play …</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="200"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>DEFENSE</strong></h2>



<p>Zach Werenski is a top-pairing offensive defenseman who is under contract for a very<em> </em>long time (just north of $9.5 million until 2028). Vladislav Gavrikov is a very capable two-way top-four lefty, but he’s also a pending UFA. Adam Boqvist only just turned 22 earlier this month and has sky-high potential. But that’s basically where it ends for the Blue Jackets on defense … at least, for now.</p>



<p>“Inexplicable” is a good word to describe Erik Gudbranson’s new four-year deal with Columbus. Gudbranson is on the wrong side of 30, he plays hard minutes, and he was still very much a bottom-pairing defender in his renaissance with the Calgary Flames last season. Now, he makes more than every Blue Jackets defenseman not named Werenski. Gudbranson is likeable and always puts forth an honest effort, but describing his track record as “spotty” would be an understatement. The Blue Jackets will be his eighth team in eight years.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="156"></div>



<p>There are some other interesting players on the Blue Jackets’ blueline – Jake Bean has some offensive talent, Andrew Peeke is solid in his own zone, and Nick Blankenburg gave it his all after signing as a free agent from the University of Michigan in the spring – but this team really needs Jiricek, Mateychuk, and Ceulemans to live up to their draft potential.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>GOALTENDING</strong></h2>



<p>Elvis Merzlikins is still “the man” between the pipes in Columbus, even if his 2021–22 season was probably the worst of his NHL career. The 28-year-old netminder posted a 27–23–7 record, a .907 save percentage, and two shutouts in 59 games, and, according to Evolving-Hockey, he allowed 6.54 more goals than expected. All in all, he wasn’t <em>great</em>, but he certainly didn’t fall off the face of the planet. He should be just fine throughout the duration of his new five-year, $5.4 million-AAV contract.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="148"></div>



<p>Joonas Korpisalo, on the other hand, is coming off an <em>extremely </em>challenging year. The big Finn <meta charset="utf-8">— who is 15 days younger than Merzlikins — went 7–11–0 in 22 appearances, and his .877 save percentage ranked last among all goaltenders with at least 15 games played last season. He was, however, playing through a hip injury that eventually required season-ending surgery. After earning a $2.8 million salary in both the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, Korpisalo signed a one-year, $1.3 million deal with the Blue Jackets in May and will have the chance to redeem himself in 2022–23 now that he’s back to full health.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coaching"><strong>COACHING</strong></h2>



<p>Brad Larsen is entering his second year as head coach of the Blue Jackets after spending the previous seven seasons as an assistant under Todd Richards and John Tortorella. The 45-year-old from Nakusp, British Columbia has a lot to work on with his group in the wake of last year’s defensive struggles.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="156"></div>



<p>Larsen’s staff will also have to reconfigure the team’s forward and defense combinations to account for the arrivals of Gaudreau and Gudbranson, as well as the loss of Bjorkstrand. Gudbranson thrived last year <meta charset="utf-8">in Calgary with Darryl Sutter at the helm, but can Larsen find the same success in managing the veteran defender? Which center should play with Gaudreau? Should Sillinger, Johnson, and Yegor Chinakhov start higher in the lineup this year? Larsen’s staff will have to answer all these questions, and more.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><meta charset="utf-8"><strong>ROOKIES</strong></h2>



<p>We’ll kick things off with Marchenko, who finally signed his entry-level deal with Columbus in May after spending his first four post-draft years in Russia. The 22-year-old right wing emerged over the past two seasons as a legit top-six forward for <meta charset="utf-8">SKA St. Petersburg, an impressive feat for a player of his age in the Kontinental Hockey League.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="6" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="141"></div>



<p>Chinakhov is another young Russian winger with a ton of offensive skill. He’s not really a “rookie” anymore — he played 62 NHL games with Columbus last year — but he’s only just scratched the surface of what he can do in the NHL. Expect Chinakhov to see some PP time with Gaudreau, Laine, and/or Jakub Voracek this season.</p>



<p>Finally, we’ll take a look at the two players who made the jump from the University of Michigan to the NHL late last season: Johnson and Blankenburg. Columbus selected Johnson with the No. 5 pick in 2021, and he more than lived up to that billing over two seasons with the Wolverines; Blankenburg is a tiny right-handed defender who was a ball of energy on the ice in his cup of coffee with Columbus in the spring.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="7" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="136"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-burning-questions"><strong>BURNING QUESTIONS</strong></h2>



<p><strong>1. How will Johnny Gaudreau handle his shift to a new team?</strong> Gaudreau has only ever known the Calgary Flames, and he was fortunate enough to play on an outstanding line with Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm last season. We’re not saying Gaudreau didn’t play a huge part in that line being one of the NHL’s most dominant combinations, but he’s not going to have the same players around him in Columbus – for better, or for worse. While the Flames’ old first line was a dominant two-way unit, we might see Gaudreau revert to his 2018-era high-octane all-offense self with the Blue Jackets.</p>



<p><strong>2. Can Cole Sillinger take another step?</strong> Not many 18-year-olds are capable of putting up with the rigors of a full NHL season, but Sillinger didn’t seem to mind. The 6-foot-2, 203-pound center racked up 16 goals and 31 points in 79 games last year, and there’s a chance he might see some plum minutes alongside Gaudreau and/or Laine in 2022–23. The Blue Jackets need someone to come in and seize that No. 1 center spot. Step right up, Sillinger.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="8" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="184"></div>



<p><strong>3. What, exactly, <em>is </em>Boone Jenner?</strong> For a while, it looked like Boone Jenner had pretty much settled in as a bottom-six center. The veteran forward peaked with 30 goals way back in 2015–16 but failed to even reach 20 in any of the next five seasons, bottoming out at just 11 in 70 games with Columbus in 2019–20. But, after being named captain last fall, Jenner exploded with 23 goals and 44 points in just 59 games while averaging a career-best 20:28 per night. Jenner is a meat-and-potatoes guy who might not be the best fit next to Gaudreau, but he’ll be able to hit 40 points again in a full season…right?</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>PREDICTION</strong></h2>



<p>Gaudreau will make the Blue Jackets more competitive, although we would’ve liked to have seen him on a line with Bjorkstrand. Alas, a Gaudreau–Laine duo sounds pretty lethal. But the Blue Jackets’ defensive group still leaves a lot to be desired, particularly if Larsen and Kekalainen envision Gudbranson in a top-four role. At this stage in his career, Gudbranson is strictly a bottom-pairing option – but he’s not being paid like one, and his contract might’ve cost the Blue Jackets one of their top forwards.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="9" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="198"></div>



<p>Both Merzlikins and Korpisalo should be better, and the young ‘uns will likely take some steps forward, but the Blue Jackets aren’t quite ready to return to the playoffs. Still, that prospect pool is as exciting as any in the league, so be sure to keep an eye on Columbus going forward.</p>



<p>_____</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pointsbet-canada-is-live-in-ontario"><strong><a href="https://bit.ly/3x7bwRl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">POINTSBET CANADA IS LIVE IN ONTARIO</a></strong></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PointsBet-Ontario-1024x576.jpeg" alt=""></figure>



<p>PointsBet Canada has officially launched in Ontario!&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/3x7bwRl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Get more details right here!</a></p>
