2009-2010 Columbus Blue Jackets Preview

The Blue Jackets entered the NHL in 2000 as the league’s most recent expansion franchise. Despite playing in a city dominated by Ohio State football, the CBJ have built a strong following in the last decade as the only major professional team in town. Furthermore, Nationwide Arena is one of the truly great venues in the NHL and the Blue Jackets routinely draw large crowds to the city’s brand new Arena District. This is a team on the rise: Can they continue to progress towards a championship?

Looking Back at 2008-2009

Last season was easily the best season in franchise history. That’s because the Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the first time! Buoyed by a big season from captain Rick Nash, who scored 40 goals, and the emergence of rookie goalie Steve Mason, the Blue Jackets managed to finish fourth in the extremely difficult Central Division.

The good news was that their 92 points earned them the 7th seed in the Western Playoff bracket. The bad news was that their 7th place finish earned them a difficult first round matchup with the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, who promptly swept the Jackets out of the playoffs. Despite the disappointing ending, it was still a great season in Columbus.

The Offseason

The Blue Jackets didn’t make any major acquisitions this offseason, choosing instead to focus on retaining their most important players. Columbus re-signed Nash, their franchise player, to an eight year extension and also extended young star Derek Brassard. As Nash was the heart and soul of the franchise, it was an extremely important and successful offseason.

The Blue Jackets also said goodbye to long time checking center Manny Malhotra. However, rugged forward Sammi Pahlsson was quickly signed to fill his roster spot and he will bring a lot of hustle and grit to Central Ohio. The Jackets also brought in a solid backup netminder to give Mason a breather as Mattheiu Garon was signed to a two year deal after performing well as Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup during Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup run. However, there were few major changes and this is largely the same team that took Columbus to the playoffs in 2008-2009. That means that management believes that their young team is ready to take another step forward this season.

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2009-2010 Outlook

For the first time in franchise history, Columbus might have three lines that can consistently put the puck in the net. The most dangerous unit will likely be Brassard centering Nash and shifty Kristian Huselius, who scored 21 goals last year. However, the second unit of RJ Umberger-Antoine Vermette-Jacub Voracek features three solid scorers and should prove to be a threat as well. Ohio State product Umberger is especially dangerous as a goal scorer, having potted 26 in his first season back in Columbus last year. On top of all of that skill, rookie Nikita Filatov, the 6 th pick in the 2008 draft, appears ready for a full-time role at the NHL level and should add some scoring touch next to Pahlsson and aging sniper Frederick Modin once he returns from injury. Columbus has a strong set of forwards which should score plenty of goals this year and with this much talent I can’t imagine the CBJ repeating last year’s putrid power play performance, which saw them finish dead last in the entire NHL!

That’s good news, because the Blue Jackets don’t really have an offensive-minded group of defensemen. A full year of health from Rosti Klesla would help their powerplay dearly, because monstrous defensive specialist Fedor Tyutin was the unit’s top scorer in 2008-2009 with 34 points. In fact, I would argue that Klesla’s progression into an offensive weapon is key for the Blue Jackets to truly compete with the heavyweights in their division. However, this group is very strong in their own end and should do a great job clearing the front of the net for Steve Mason.

Speaking of Mason, the 2008-2009 Calder Trophy winner as the NHL’s Most Outstanding Rookie (and a finalist for the Vezina Trophy!) had a very heavy workload last year, having played in 61 of the last 67 games for the CBJ! Mason had ten shutouts to lead the league and was one of the absolute best at his position in hockey. With Garon now in the fold, Mason can take the occasional breather and shouldn’t wear down like he appeared to during last year’s playoffs. Expect the Blue Jackets to have one of the league’s strongest goaltending situations.

PREDICTION: The Blue Jackets appear to have finally put together a strong team that is built to contend on a consistent basis. They have solid defensemen and a great goaltender. Furthermore, their offense runs three lines deep up front and should score even more this fall as the younger stars improve. That’s great news, because Rick Nash is one of the league’s most dangerous players and has carried the offensive load for far too long on his own.

Unfortunately, the CBJ play in the Central Division, which sent four teams to the playoffs last season and appears to be one of the toughest divisions in hockey again in 2009-2010. Don’t expect Columbus to compete for the division title because Chicago and Detroit are just too strong but a 3 rd place finish and another playoff berth is very likely. This time, the Blue Jackets actually have a good chance of winning a few playoff games and might even be able to move into the second round as long as they don’t run into Chicago or Detroit early.

By Matt Baxendall
DFN Sports & ProHockey-fans.com Staff Writer

Feel your team is underrated? Tell Matt Baxendell why at matt.baxendell@gmail.com

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