2013-2014 Columbus Blue Jackets Preview

What a difference a season can make. Last season, I took a rather pessimistic few of the team in the wake of Rick Nash getting traded. I thought they were on the right track but just lacked the talent to win a lot of games. Well, the Jackets went out there and proved me wrong. After a really slow start, the Jackets came alive behind Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky and finished the season 24-17-7 and missed the playoffs by a single point. Missing the playoffs was a disappointment but this was probably the most successful season the team has had W/L wise.

This is a big season for the Jackets as they move to the Eastern Conference with the Detroit Red Wings. This means a lighter travel schedule with fewer trips out west. I also tend to think of the Eastern Conference as the weaker conference. The East usually seems top heavy with 2-4 teams a season and then a huge drop off. The bottom half of the conference is usually really bad and the 7th and 8th seeds are usually highly mediocre teams that just happened to win more than the other mediocre teams. I think this is a good conference for the Jackets as there will be more chances to sneak in with subpar teams on a more consistent basis.

They let Vinny Prospal go due to what I think was mostly cap concerns and his age in the offseason. He was the team's leading scorer last season with 12 goals and 18 assists. They went out and filled that void by adding Nathan Horton from the Boston Bruins. Horton has a good track record as being a solid offensive player and he should settle into being a big threat on the second line. Columbus also added Curtis McElhinney to backup Bob in the net. Overall, a quiet offseason as far as entrances and exits go. Columbus did make a splash by signing a ton of players long term and showing a commitment to keeping the good pieces in town. So let's break this team down piece by piece.


CENTER:


Welcome to town Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. You both came in and you decided you wanted to be here. You didn't pout like Jeff Carter and then dog it until the team traded you. You joined up and you immediately went about changing the loser culture that had infected this team. You never quit when the team got down in a game and you were the leaders of the gritty hardball style the Jackets played. Dubinsky rightfully had an A on his jersey by the end of the seasson.

Ryan Johansen and Derek MacKeinze fill out this position for the Blue Jackets. All four of the centers were pretty productive. Dubinsky and Anisimov struggled with some injuries but still managed to be towards the top of the team as far as points go. Johansen managed a respectable 12 points last season despite mostly being a 3rd or 4th line guy. He's only 21 years old and he could really become a good player as he continues to mature into adulthood. I think you'll continue to see respectable numbers out of this squad. Lots of good passes from this group will set up the wings for some open shots. I feel confident in this position this year.

RIGHT WING:

What do we have here? Why it's a legit star in Marian Gaborik and he seems happy to be in Columbus. Gaborik came to Columbus at the trade deadline to help out a struggling offense and chipped in 8 points in 12 games. Gaborik has some pretty great offensive seasons under his belt. He can be that guy that gets you 30+ goals in a season. If you look at the two trades with the New York Rangers, you essentially traded Rick Nash for Marian Gaborik and I think the Blue Jackets win the trade in that regard.

Your other RW guys are Nathan Horton, Mark Letestu, Blake Comeau and Jared Boll. I think Gaborik, Horton and Letestu are going to be a nasty combination here. You have a guy that get you 30+ goals in Gaborik and behind him you have two guys that have shown the ability to get you 20+ goals in Horton and Letestu. Seriously, we're talking about some crazy depth there if 70 goals are coming from a single position and as mentioned with the centers, there are really good centers paired with these guys that can pass really well. I'm thinking back over all the years of the Blue Jackets and I don't ever recall them having this kind of offensive depth... EVER. Jared Boll is the enforcer on the squad. He's gotten better in that role over time but I don't think he's great at it. I think you're looking at a good position for the team here. I think you could see a lot of offense from these guys.

LEFT WING:

RJ Umberger, Matt Calvert, Nick Foligno and Cam Atkinson will be taking up the left side of the ice this season. This group doesn't wow you like the C or RW position do at first glance. They all made solid contributions across the board though. I think you'll see these guys do similar this year. You won't see any of these guys put up numbers that will blow you away or anything. I think we're looking at good solid contribution over a course of a season that keeps the team chugging along.

I think the difference between this year and years past is that you used to have a team filled from top to bottom of these mid-range contributors. Now, you have these guys complimenting really good talent and they can settle into the role they were meant for. I think you'll see a lot of Umberger, Calvert and Foligno setting up some good shots and getting some goals when teams are trying to stop someone else. I think you'll see this crew excel at being a support group this season.

DEFENSE:

I credit Jack Johnson, alongside Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, as being one of the guys that really changed the culture of the Jackets. He brings that hardworking, never say die attitude that the team developed last year. He also chipped in 19 points and was a really good defensive passer. James Wisnieski continued his struggles with the injury bug but was also really good when he was on the ice.

The defense is rounded out by Fedor Tyutin, Tim Erixon, Nikita Nikitin, Dalton Prout and Ryan Murray. This is where my doubts about the team start to set in just a little bit. I thought the defense played well for the most part last season. They weren't spectacular or anything like that though. I think they let too many shots get to Bob in the net and the team has a downright disaster in a lot of games where they had to use Steve Mason in the net. I think the real question here is, will the defense be just good enough to make a run at the playoffs? Once the Jackets started rolling last season, yes, they were just good enough to keep the team winning. But that was also a result of Bob being absolutely brilliant in the net.

What I do know for sure about this squad is there's some excellent passers in the group. Johnson, Wisnieski and Tyutin can absolutely change the scope of any game with a well timed pass that leads to a goal. Those three are also gritty and tough defenders. They aren't afraid to mix it up and to lay some guys out on the boards. I think this group is the key to a playoff push this year. They need to be better than average if the team wants to push for better than an 8 seed.

GOALIE:

All hail to the king Sergie Bobrovsky the Veniza Trophy winner. Bob as he's been nicknamed in  Columbus was a wall in the net last season. He had a mere 2.00 GAA and a SV% of .932 while chalking up 4 shutouts in 38 games. Needless to say, people weren't scoring often against the Jackets down the stretch. Now the question is, what will Bob do for an encore?

Even if he takes a likely step backwards, I think the team is built to anticipate that. The team has a much stronger punch on offense so they can compensate if Bob starts giving up a little closer to the league average on goals. If he stays a little more consistent to what he did last year, then this team is just going to start steamrolling some teams.My expectation is he'll take a step backwards but he's not going to fall apart like Mason did after his big season with the team.

Curtis McElhinney joins the Jackets as the primary backup to Bob. Curtis is a huge upgrade to what Mason was last season. He's logged a decent amount of minutes with teams like Calgary, Anaheim and Ottawa in the past and he performed well enough in those games. The Jackets just need a goalie that can keep the team afloat so they don't run Bob into the ground during the season. I think Curtis is a good fit for that equation.

THE VERDICT:

I've been a Blue Jackets fan since they came to town in 2000. Needless to say, I've taken quite a beating from the team over the years. The eternal pessimist in me wants to think that the team is going to disappoint this year. But the objective look at the numbers and the attitudes of the players thus far is telling me something else entirely. I'm going to put the pessimist aside this year and say that the Blue Jackets are going to continue what they started last season.

The Blue Jackets are going to enter the weaker Eastern Conference and make an immediate splash there. My prediction is that the team wins a franchise record 46 games, rack up 102 points and enter the playoffs as the 5th seed. So let's hope I didn't just horribly curse the team.