2013 Columbus Blue Jackets Preview

This is the first season of the post-Rick Nash era. The team finally hit rock bottom and they decided to trade away their "star" player and start over again. Now, I like Rick Nash a lot. It was nice having a high calibur player on the team but ultimately, I think Rick Nash was bad for the team.

Why you ask? He's not the kind of guy you want as the best player on your team. Rick Nash is a very talented no. 2 for a team. He's about the equal to what Malkin is to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He does a good job, you love him but you want him paired up with Sidney Crosby, not being the anchor to your franchise. That's what Rick Nash was to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He had the appearance of being a franchise player but he really just convinced the team that they had this chance of competing for the last 5 years when they really didn't. They were asking Nash to be a guy to carry the team on his shoulders and make the playoffs every year when he's the guy that should be backing up the guy that is carrying the team on his shoulders.

So Nash is gone and the roster is in bad shape but I find myself happier as a fan of the team. The pressure is off, this team isn't competing, it's rebuilding. This team knows what it is now an they seem to be acting accordingly. The fans seem to be breathing a sigh of relief and I'm hoping it produces a better on ice product as a result.

Centers:

Derick Brassard is back as the top center on the team. Brassard is what he is. He's slightly above average as a defender. He doesn't get a lot of points but he plays pretty hard. Artem Anisimov came over in the Nash trade with the Rangers. He's another solid center. The bottom of the order is Ryan Johansen and Mark Letstu.

You won't see a lot of points coming from the centers this year. Brassard is the only one that managed more than 40 last season. I think goal production is going to be tough all over the team but I think this is a very talent poor position for the team. No one is really a stand out player at all.

Right Wing:

I expect R.J. Umberger to get the captain slot this year. He's the local boy that came home to the team several years ago. He's also the most productive offensive player goal wise left on the team. If the Blue Jackets are going to garner any kind of success, Umberger is probably going to have to lead the way and score on a level he's never really shown a capacity for. I expect he'll be a rock solid player as always and be a good captain for the team.

Jared Boll, Cam Atkinson and Derek Dorsett round out this position. These guys might manage 10 goals between them all year. And that's a big might. Atkinson did managed 14 pts. in 27 games which isn't an awful pace to keep. He has some breakout potential if he stays healthy. But the season hasn't start and he's battling injuries already.

Left Wing:

This is actually probably the deepest position on the team as Vinny Propsal and Nick Foligno are good contributors and probably two of the stronger offensive players the team has. This position is rounded out by Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Russell. Dubinsky came over in the Nash trade and I think he has the potential to be a solid addition to the team.

Like I said, I think this is the deepest position on the team. I think a good amount of the offense is going to have to come from this side of the ice.

Defense:

Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski and Fredor Tyutin are all good defenders if you ask me. Wisniewski brings a toughness to the team that is greatly needed. Nikita Nikitin, John Moore and Adrian Aucoin round out the staff. The sad thing is the defense on average have more points than the offense. That should worry a lot of people about the kind of firepower this team is packing on any given night.

I actually think they have an underrated defensive unit. Players like Johnson and Wisniewski would be welcome additions to almost any team. It feels like this is one of the few positions where it doesn't feel like they have castoffs filling out the roster.

Goalie:

Sergie Bobrovsky comes to town from the Flyers to replace the much maligned Steve Mason. This is a move I actually really liked for the team. Bobrovsky is a legit NHL calibur goalie who won't give up some of the ridiculous goals that Mason does. Bobrovsky did have a bit of a rough season last year but he is still young. My hope is that his struggles last year were more of an aberration than anything else. I'm being cautiously optimistic with this signing.

The fact of the matter is, Steve Mason was a big part of the problem with the team over the last 3 seasons. On a fluke, he had a really great season between the pipes and the team waited about 2 seasons too many to see if he could capture the magic.

All Bobrovsky needs to do here is be mediocre. As long as he's not giving up trash goals like Mason was, I think he'll be a nice upgrade. He might not be a long term solution but I think he can be serviceable for the next few years at least.

Overall Thoughts:

My guess is this team goes 8-34-6 this year for a meager 22 pts. in the Western Conference. I think that earns them the worst record in the NHL and a top draft pick. This team just lacks the firepower on offense and the schedule itself is going to present a huge problem for them. They're playing only Western Conference teams so they'll constantly be traveling huge distances. This team is further east than just about anyone else and I think the travel is going to wear them out especially with 3 or 4 games a week.

This team just doesn't have the depth and the fortitude to battle this kind of challenging schedule. I think this team is going to labor to get the puck in the back of the net 2 times a game. This team would need to score 96 goals to average 2 goals a game. I'm not sure I see 96 goals of offense here.

If this team somehow won 15 games I think it would be an absolute miracle. But I think the W/L record isn't that important this year. I think if the team plays hard and stays entertaining that the fans will be patient with them this year.