The Columbus Blue Jackets swung the biggest trade of the offseason to make a good team better.
Brandon Saad was shipped back to his original squad in Chicago in exchange for Russian studmuffin Artemi Panarin. Panarin has two 30-goal, 70-point seasons under his belt in the NHL, 20 more than Saad has ever had in a single season.
Columbus already had a good team on their hands.
Does this make them great?
Notable Additions: Artemi Panarin (trade, Left Winger)
Notable Subtractions: Brandon Saad (trade, Left Winger), Sam Gagner (free agency, Center), Scott Hartnell (FA, Winger), William Karlsson (expansion draft, Center), Kyle Quincey (FA, Defenseman), Anton Forsberg (trade, Goaltender)
Injuries: Boone Jenner (back, day-to-day)
Best-Case Scenario: The Blue Jackets put any skepticism that last year was a fluke to bed. That win streak was not a lucky hot streak propelling them to the playoffs, it was a sign of things to come.
Sergei Bobrovsky remains healthy and makes a run at another Vezina trophy. He wins 40 games and nearly replicates last season’s incredible performance. 41-17-5 with a 2.06 goals-against average and .931 save percentage is not easily duplicated, but that’s why they pay Bob the big bucks.
The Bread Man gives the Jackets a second elite goal-scoring threat. Cam Atkinson needed help, and he got it in the form of one of the most creative players in the world. Artemi Panarin challenges Rick Nash’s single-season points mark in franchise history (79).
Atkinson puts up another 30-goal season. Nick Foligno halts his “every-other-year” streak and puts up big numbers again.
The team challenges Pittsburgh for the Division lead. Regardless of where they land, they need only one thing. A playoff series win. They have yet to get one in their franchise history.
This is the year.
Worst-Case Scenario: This is most certainly NOT the year.
John Tortorella wears out his welcome as he ha everywhere else he’s gone. What, you thought he was a “changed coach” because he actually won some games with a young team? Do you remember last year when the players had to ask him to stop being so mean to them?
Remember when he inexplicably benched both members of his third defensive pair, including trade deadline acquisition Kyle Quincey, to play minor-league caliber Scott Harrington and Gabriel Carlsson?
Remember his inexplicable benchings of star player Brandon Saad against the Penguins? Yeah, that’s nothing new. This guy once dressed Kris Newbury over Brad Richards in a Rangers playoff game. Who is Kris Newbury, you ask? Exactly. Also playing that game: Michael Haley and Arron Asham.
Run out of town that season: future Stanley Cup Champion Marian Gaborik.
So Sean Avery had some things to say about former #TBLightning coach John Tortorella. https://t.co/LGzwGRbFk2 pic.twitter.com/G1tvsU1hla
— En-Lightning (@TBEnLightning) September 23, 2017
John Tortorella in February of 2016 admitted he “screwed up” with Saad. “You know what he is as a player- two-time Stanley Cup winner- but I still think he has a lot to learn about the game, and I lost him.”
To clarify. Brandon Saad is 24 and has won more Stanley Cups already than John Tortorella, yet he still “has a lot to learn.”
What hockey coach platitude garbage.
Think this can’t happen again? Remember when he ran Ryan Johansen out of town? Yeah, he brought Seth Jones back for him, but then Johansen led the Predators to the Stanley Cup.
Here’s a fun fact: John Tortorella has made it to the second round four times in 14 seasons as a head coach. He has reached the Conference Finals twice.
So yes, he won the Jack Adams last year. But that does not mean he is all of a sudden incapable of imploding, as he has done time and time again.
What Will Probably Happen: Okay, now that the John Tortorella roast session is over, let’s move on.
For what it’s worth, Torts is growing as a coach. He is gradually incorporating analytics in his evaluation after seeing the kind of success it has brought friend and former assistant Mike Sullivan with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He gets the most out of his players in the effort department. It’s his own baffling decision-making that gets in his way.
John Tortorella wins Jack Adams Award as #NHL's Coach of the Year. Torts: "I'm not sure I'd be up here if the media voted on it."
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 22, 2017
This team will be towards the top of the Metro Division. They are not as strong as the Penguins on paper, but they are a dark horse for the division title.
The top two lines are good. Very good. The bottom two lines are less good. Sonny Milano will likely shift between the second and third lines depending on the center. He would likely jump down to the third line if Brandon Dubinsky centers Nick Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Also on the third line will be Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Jackets’ 3rd overall pick from 2016. Dubois had 55 points in 48 regular season games in the QMJHL last season, and added 22 points in 19 playoff games.
The true strength of the Blue Jackets will be their defensive core, headlined by Seth Jones and Zach Werenski. Jones was an NHL all-star last season, registering 42 points as a 22-year-old. Werenski notched 47 points in his rookie year and was a finalist for the Calder Trophy.
Going up against the likes of Patrick Laine and Auston Matthews is unfair- apples to oranges and all that- but Werenski made it clear that he is going to be a star in this league.
Here’s the bottom line. The “Oh, good for the Blue Jackets” attitude is gone. Whatever goodwill they had built for themselves as the losing franchise for 17 years is gone. The Blue Jackets have something on their shoulders that they have almost never had before: expectation.
It’s no longer good enough to make it. A roster this talented needs to win. The Jackets have the talent to hang with the Washingtons and Pittsburghs of the world.
Put it to use.
Win.
Last season’s winning streak has fixated a spotlight right on CBJ. They started last season an astonishing 27-5-4. They were a .500 team the rest of the season at 23-19-3. With no streak coming- at least, not to that degree- how will they find a middle ground?
Projected finish: 2nd in the Metro Division.
With the Capitals getting markedly worse this offseason, they will take a bit of a tumble in the standings. Pittsburgh will take the Division by a narrow margin.
But this season is a failure if they do not make it out of the first round. That’s the measure for the next few years.
If they fail to win a series again, the season is a waste. That may be extreme, but that’s the measuring stick of a winning team.
Just win, baby.
