NHL Preview - Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets

2015-16 season: 34-40-8, 76 points	Head Coach: John Tortorella (2015)
8th Place Metro Division	General Manager: Jarmo Kekalainen (2013)
15th Place Eastern Conference	AHL Affiliate: Cleveland Monsters ECHL Affiliate:
Cap Space: $3,817,859

Team News

• Traded LW Kerby Rychel to Toronto for D Scott Harrington and a conditional 5th RD draft pick in 2017

Players Lost in the Offseason

POS.	Player	New Team	Contract
LW	Rene Bourque	Colorado Avalanche	PTO
C	Michael Chaput	Vancouver Canucks	1 year, $575,000
RW	Jared Boll	Anaheim Ducks	2 years, $1,800,000
D	Fedor Tyutin	Colorado Avalanche	1 year, $2,000,000
D	Justin Falk	Buffalo Sabres	1 year, $650,000
D	Michael Paliotta	New York Rangers	1 year, $575,000

Incoming Free Agents

POS.	Player	Old Team	Contract
C	Sam Gagner	Philadelphia Flyers	1 year, $650,000
C	Jarret Stoll	Minnesota Wild	PTO
RW	Mike Brown	Montreal Canadiens	PTO

2016 Draft Picks

RD	Pick No.	POS.	Name	Junior/College/Club Team
1	3	LW	Pierre-Luc Dubois	Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
2	34	D	Andrew Peeke	Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)
3	65	RW	Vitaly Abromov	Gadineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
6	155	G	Peter Thome	Aberdeen Wings (NAHL)
7	185	LW	Calvin Thurkauf	Kelown Rockets (WHL)

Top Three Prospects

POS	Name	Draft Info	Current Team
LW	Pierre-Luc Dubois	2016 1st RD (3)	C.B. Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
G	Oscar Dansk	2012 2nd RD (31)	AHL/ECHL
G	Anton Forsberg	2011 7th RD (188)	AHL/ECHL

Projected Lineup

Forwards

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	(A) Boone Jenner	23	Canada	2018 (RFA)
C	(A) Brandon Dubinsky	30	USA	2021
RW	Cam Atkinson	27	USA	2018
LW	Scott Hartnell	34	Canada	2019
C	Alexander Wennberg	22	Sweden	2017 (RFA)
RW	Brandon Saad	23	USA	2021
LW	Matt Calvert	26	Canada	2018
C	William Karlsson	23	Sweden	2018 (RFA)
RW	(C) Nick Foligno	28	USA	2021
LW	Josh Anderson	22	Canada	2017 (RFA)
C	Gregory Campbell	32	Canada	2017
RW	Oliver Bjorkstrand	21	Denmark	2018 (RFA)

Defensemen

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
D	Ryan Murray	23	Canada	2018
D	Seth Jones	21	USA	2022
D	Jack Johnson	29	USA	2018
D	David Savard	25	Canada	2021
D	Zachary Werenski	19	USA	2019 (RFA)
D	Dalton Prout	26	Canada	2018

Goalies

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
G	Sergei Bobrovsky	28	Russia	2019
G	Curtis McElhinney	33	Canada	2017

Extra Skaters

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
C	Sam Gagner	27	Canada	2017
LW	David Clarkson	32	Canada	2020
D	Cody Goloubef	26	Canada	2017

Season Outlook

• At the beginning of the 2015-16 season, Columbus fired head coach Todd Richards after a slow start and hired the loose cannon of a coach that is John Tortorella.  He very quickly implemented his patented system of blocking shots and sacrificing one's body.  The results of Torts at the helm of the Blue Jackets were quick and not very good.  They ranked near the bottom of the league in Corsi For (attempted shots + blocks + misses) and nearly all offensive categories.  One would think that the team would exchange offense for a lock-down defensive system, but this was not the case.  They were not good at suppressing shots, ranking even worse in Corsi Against than Corsi For, and were next-to-last in goals against.  It's hard to imagine Columbus having gotten better over the offseason too, which could be bad news for Blue Jackets' fans.

CAT.	Goals For	Goals Against	PP %	PK %	PDO	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi For %	oZS%	dZS%
Stat	219	252	17.34	81.00	99.4	4357	4797	47.6	48.7	51.3
Blue Jackets’ Rank	18th	30th	22nd	19th	23rd	23rd	27th	24th	28th	28th

PDO= Even Strength Shooting Percentage + Even Strength Save Percentage

Corsi For= Shots + Blocks + Misses while in possession of puck

Crosi Against= Shots + Blocks + Misses while not in possession of puck

Corsi For %= Corsi For/(Corsi For+Corsi Against) -> Above 50% means that team controls play

oZS% = Offensive Zone Start Percentage

dZS% = Defensive Zone Start Percentage

• Columbus' roster remains basically the same as it was last season.  The only real move involved adding center Sam Gagner, who probably won't even be in the lineup on most nights. I struggle to find where this team will find wins and don't think they'll improve over last year. They have shockingly little talent compared to the amount of money spent on this roster.  They have David Clarkson making over $5,000,000 per season until 2020 and he most likely won't even dress regularly.  After trading center Ryan Johansen for defenseman Seth Jones, the Blue Jackets are stuck with Brandon Dubinsky as their first line center and his talent is not warranting of that lineup position.  Basically, Tortorella has gotten his way and the roster has his hand prints all over it.  He has been known to very quickly run a team into that ground and I think his tenure in Columbus will be no different.  They should consider cutting bait and running away as quickly as possible.  Just two season ago, Columbus made the playoffs and was on an upward trend and now it seems that they're moving in the opposite direction.  Even in the season when they made the playoffs, they just barely had a positive goal differential.  They still have not addressed this struggle with not scoring enough goals andn until they do that, they probably will not make the playoffs.

Breakout Candidate:

• C Alexander Wennberg - In his second season in the NHL, Wennberg scored 40 points in 69 games and made quite a name for himself.  This year he should have the opportunity to center the second line of Scott Hartnell and Brandon Saad.  Look for Wennberg's point totals to be in the 50's-60's this year.

Regression Candidate:

• LW Scott Hartnell - Hartnell only had 49 points in 79 games, his lowest points total since 2009-10. This year will be Hartnell's age-34 season and he has played a very aggressive and rough game over his career, the type of game that doesn't survive long-term.  I think he will take another step back.

Bounceback Candidate:

• LW Nick Foligno - Foligno scored only 12 goals last year after netting 31 the previous season. While I don't think he will ever get back to his 31 goal levels, Foligno should be a 20 goal scorer every season.  I think that he will get back to that mark.

*All statistics and information come from: rosterresource.com, thehockeywriters.com, hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and generalfanager.com