32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets

Though unlikely they make the playoffs, Columbus hopes they can at least present a challenge to other teams as they get closer to the end of their rebuild

Team: Columbus Blue Jackets

GM: Miguel Vtown

Power Ranking Placement: 27/32 in league, 7/8 in division, 12/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

Dmitri Orlov, D - 84 OV

Tyson Barrie, D - 83 OV

Jeff Skinner, C/W - 82 OV

Trevor Lewis, C/W - 79 OV

Marc Staal, D - 78 OV

Significant Subtractions:

Scott Wedgewood, G - 81 OV

Michael Stone, D - 79 OV

Shai Buium, D - Prospect

Offseason grade: B

The Columbus Blue Jackets’ goal this off-season was simply hitting the cap floor. They added the players they needed to do that and were able to get assets in return for contracts that may not have been the greatest, like Jeff Skinner and Tyson Barrie. The nice thing about both of these players is that they were cap dumps, but both players have shown the capacity to have very good seasons, so what was a cap dump could actually turn into solid assets for the Jackets in the near future. They also signed Dmitri Orlov for 3 years for less than 5M, which could be a steal in a couple of years once the potential that this team has starts to really materialize. The one move I wasn’t a huge fan of was trading away Shai Buium, but Hugo Alnefelt has potential and could be pretty solid. I just personally prefer Buium, but there isn’t really much more to my distaste for the trade than that. The Blue Jackets did exactly what they needed to do, they added to the cap floor, got slightly better, and lost minimal assets, so there isn’t much against them I can say. So, overall, they didn’t do a bad job, but they didn’t do anything spectacular either, but they didn’t need to. 

Projected Lineup: 

Athanasiou - Hintz - Skinner

McGinn - Bozak - Raffl

Lewis - Sillinger - Sprong

Blais - D. Ryan - Paquette

-

Orlov - Barrie

Boqvist - Brodie

Staal - Bortuzzo

-

Raanta

Knight

Quote from the GM:

GM Miguel Vtown was very matter of fact when asked about the upcoming season, stating, "I’m still trying to make this team my own after inheriting this dumpster fire of a team. Most of the moves that were made this off-season were to get to the bottom of the cap without spending the team’s money. This is obviously still a rebuilding team but we should give a challenge to any opponent we face.” 

Season Expectations: Rebuild

The Columbus Blue Jackets are a team that hasn’t been able to find success in recent times, missing the playoffs in the last 3 years. They finished 24th last season and 19th before. Now, the Blue Jackets are coming off of somewhat of a soft rebuild. In the past few years, they’ve been able to acquire Roope Hintz, Spencer Knight, Adam Boqvist, Cole Sillinger, Joakim Kemell, Owen Pickering, etc., and so they’ve built a strong core with players you can build a team around. They’ve added players like Skinner, Barrie, and Orlov which should help improve their performance this season. However, they’re still one of the lesser teams in the Metropolitan division alongside Pittsburgh and, to a lesser extent, the Rangers. This year is a bit of a gap year for the Blue Jackets where they are definitely on the rise, but a lot of their players will be coming into their own in the next year or so, so for now, I don’t expect them to be competitive, but I agree with GMMV in that the team he was put in charge of was not particularly very good, and he’s done well to improve the team to the best of his ability, but they’ll still need a bit more time before they’re in the mix for a playoff spot.

Tomorrow (most likely), we’ll be taking a look at the Dallas Stars. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-chicago-blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-colorado-avalanche