let’s talk about the Blue Jackets… it’s bad.. real bad.

[domi28]

It's pretty clear that he assembled a core from 2013-2016, had a team that repeatedly made the playoffs from 2017-2020, and unfortunately had to blow it up due to three players leaving for greener pastures.

Unfortunately, they kept facing the eventual Cup winners in the 1st round each year.

But he showed he can draft and develop a team that is capable of repeatedly making the postseason. Hopefully some things he doesn't have control over (draft lottery, UFA decisions) don't go as badly this time.

Has he, though? Put together a top6 forward group and top4 dman group using Jarmo draft picks and you will be hard pressed to find enough guys that are going to wow people. Jarmo has shown he's great at selling high and buying low in trades but his drafting and developing are average at best. Yes, he finds an above average number of guys in the draft that make it to the NHL but most of them are tweeners or bottom pair / 4th line types of guys. It's the biggest reason I have zero confidence in Jarmo's ability to actually develop all the guys currently in the system that should be a great team in 3-4 years.

 

[HockeyVirus]

That seems a distinction without a difference.

Oh FFS, did you even read my second sentence? Gaudreau was not a "win now" move. Gudbranson was not a "win now" move. They were moves made with the knowledge that we are still developing, but we ALREADY HAVE most of the guys we need to draft.

Honest to f***ing G-d Almighty, people, there are stages of team development other than "established cup contender" and "BURN IT ALL DOWN", and THEY ARE NOT INHERENTLY BAD THINGS.

So you dispute this comment or are saying it is true and agree with t?

" Because he has made moves for both and the result is the team being too good to get a franchise level talent and too bad to ever be a legit playoff threat."

 

[islandersbob]

It's pretty clear that he assembled a core from 2013-2016, had a team that repeatedly made the playoffs from 2017-2020, and unfortunately had to blow it up due to three players leaving for greener pastures.

Unfortunately, they kept facing the eventual Cup winners in the 1st round each year.

But he showed he can draft and develop a team that is capable of repeatedly making the postseason. Hopefully some things he doesn't have control over (draft lottery, UFA decisions) don't go as badly this time.

That's Toronto Maple Leaf bullshit. If you want to be considered a good/great team, eventually you have to beat someone. Losing in the first round, to multiple different teams, year after year tells me that the team is somehow fundamentally flawed and that those flaws weren't corrected by the GM or coach.

IMO, Jarmo Kekalainen's MO is to be aggressive in getting the big name, whether they want to be in Columbus longterm or not.

Gaborik, Jones, Bobrovsky, Saad, Panarin, Duchene, Laine, Gaudreau. Could be an ownership thing though because I don't think Jeff Carter was a Kekalainen trade. Will their current young developing players be in Columbus long term or will they be traded for something big. I wonder what big name will be headed to Columbus for a struggling Sillinger.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

No

How many teams have an identity or direction in years 1 and 2 of a rebuild? Even when you get a Crosby/Ovechkin/Mcdavid level prospect in the draft, those teams usually don't get rounded out and have an identity or direction for at least a year or two. Last year was year 1 of the rebuild, they overachieved and missed out on the playoffs, signed Gaudreau and immediately the expectations around the league and city was if we can build off of last year, we should be a playoff team.... And then reality hit, this isn't so much of a retool that the FO sold us on, but a legitimate rebuild.


If the hockey gods actually decide to bless the Jackets with a top 3 pick, that kid will immediately have a better core surrounding them than any of Crosby/Ovechkin/Mcdavid/Matthews had.

I honestly didn't even realize they were rebuilding, I thought they just sucked. Why would a rebuilding team be paying a terrible goalie $6M per year until 2027? Gaudreau is going to be an anchor of a contract in a few years. These moves don't make sense to me. They're handcuffing themselves for when they'll be needing to pay their future young players big money.

 

[Viqsi]

So you dispute this comment or are saying it is true and agree with t?

" Because he has made moves for both and the result is the team being too good to get a franchise level talent and too bad to ever be a legit playoff threat."

...

Okay, I'll spell it out. He has not "made moves for both". Interpretations otherwise have been the result of small-minded and simple thinking about the nature of the Gaudreau pickup. Nobody with any sense or knowledge of the Jackets ever thought that meant we were suddenly going "win now". What we were seeing was "he wants to be here, and he will be handy once our kids have developed, so, okay, let's accept him."

 

[VivaLasVegas]

What the hell do you think the Davidson/Kekalainen/Tortorella hiring was?

Honest to f***ing G-d, folks, at least do a little research before pontificating on our franchise, why don't you...

Oh, I watched all that. Changing the porter, steward and chef on the Titanic. Columbus needs a new owner. Not Worthington Industries or whoever owns it now.

 

[Viqsi]

Oh, I watched all that. Changing the porter, steward and chef on the Titanic. Columbus needs a new owner. Not Worthington Industries or whoever owns it now.

JP Mac, as an owner, has basically conducted himself thusly: let hockey experts make hiring decisions, let the team spend, and otherwise generally get the hell out of the way. Acting like he's a bad owner is basically flailing about trying to find something else to blame rather than making a rational analysis.

 

[CBJx614]

I honestly didn't even realize they were rebuilding, I thought they just sucked. Why would a rebuilding team be paying a terrible goalie $6M per year until 2027? Gaudreau is going to be an anchor of a contract in a few years. These moves don't make sense to me. They're handcuffing themselves for when they'll be needing to pay their future young players big money.

They traded Savard and Foligno for 1sts, Atkinson for Voracek, Dubois for Laine and Roslovic, and Jones for 2 1sts(Sillinger and Jiricek), Boqvist and a 2nd that was immediately used to acquire Bean.

Doesn't exactly scream contender. What happened was the team played way above expectations last year, the first year of our rebuild, and then they added Gaudreau unexpectedly in the off-season so everyone suddenly thought this team could potentially compete for a playoff spot. When in reality this team is still 2-3 years away from truly becoming a playoff contender.

Goaltenders are also super streaky, I don't think many goalies in the NHL would be able to last playing in front of 4 AHL level dmen every night.

 

[BB88]

I honestly didn't even realize they were rebuilding, I thought they just sucked. Why would a rebuilding team be paying a terrible goalie $6M per year until 2027? Gaudreau is going to be an anchor of a contract in a few years. These moves don't make sense to me. They're handcuffing themselves for when they'll be needing to pay their future young players big money.

How did you not know they are rebuilding?

They had to trade PLD& Jones during the same season.
They had 3 1st round picks in 2021 and 2 in 2022.
They’ve drafted 3 C’s with their high picks and 3 Dmen with their high picks. There’s some plan for you.

Gaudreau signing is similar to Rangers signing Panarin. This was always a development year for them but on top of it they’ve run into major injury troubles.

Cap isn’t going to be an issue with Columbus prospect pool. They already have one of the deepest prospects pools in the league and could be adding another top5 into the mix and last time I checked ELC’s run for 3 years.

 

[Viqsi]

How did you not know they are rebuilding?

Because people love to pontificate about teams they don't have the slightest clue about in the hopes that it makes them look smart when in fact all they're doing is joining in on a pile-on.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

JP Mac, as an owner, has basically conducted himself thusly: let hockey experts make hiring decisions, let the team spend, and otherwise generally get the hell out of the way. Acting like he's a bad owner is basically flailing about trying to find something else to blame rather than making a rational analysis.

OK, let me know if this starts working.

 

[Viqsi]

OK, let me know if this starts working.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions by trying to get the last word with this sort of "whatever, so THERE" type posting. It's nice to know I haven't completely lost the ability to read people.

yes, this is slight hypocricy on my part, but then again, when it comes to folks trying to play the "we know your team better than you do" card, I kind of don't care

 

[BB88]

Because people love to pontificate about teams they don't have the slightest clue about in the hopes that it makes them look smart when in fact all they're doing is joining in on a pile-on.

Yeah.

People just look at the standings and think typical Columbus.

& ignore everything else

 

[majormajor]

I honestly didn't even realize they were rebuilding, I thought they just sucked. Why would a rebuilding team be paying a terrible goalie $6M per year until 2027? Gaudreau is going to be an anchor of a contract in a few years. These moves don't make sense to me. They're handcuffing themselves for when they'll be needing to pay their future young players big money.

Johnny Gaudreau is going to be better than every player on your team in three years. Every team should want to sign that deal, same as the rebuilding Rangers wanting Panarin.

The Jackets have poor centers and most of their NHL D are injured, it doesn't matter whether you want to rebuild or not, you will be bad.

 

[majormajor]

It's funny to be getting shit from Penguins fans about the Jackets season. The Jackets are just starting to follow the Penguins' trademarked path of sucking balls in every superstar's draft year that they could reasonably suck in.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Johnny Gaudreau is going to be better than every player on your team in three years. Every team should want to sign that deal, same as the rebuilding Rangers wanting Panarin.

The Jackets have poor centers and most of their NHL D are injured, it doesn't matter whether you want to rebuild or not, you will be bad.

What do the penguins have anything to do with it. Yes they're old and will be bad soon, but they're also the most successful team of the era and have been good for nearly twenty years. Weird take.

 

[Viqsi]

It's funny to be getting shit from Penguins fans about the Jackets season. The Jackets are just starting to follow the Penguins' trademarked path of sucking balls in every superstar's draft year that they could reasonably suck in.

Jealousy. We're potentially stealing their bit.

 

[Crede777]

What do the penguins have anything to do with it. Yes they're old and will be bad soon, but they're also the most successful team of the era and have been good for nearly twenty years. Weird take.

They are relevant since their success is a direct result of them being bad and picking 1st or 2nd overall from 2003-2006.

The hope is that the Jackets can similarly get the 1st pick this year and build off that. That said, I don't think the Pens model of building is the one that the Jackets are seeking to emulate. I think it's more like Colorado who flip flopped between top picks and being competitive depending on the year.

 

[beowulf]

Been a weird one, I think most people expected more so far. Does not help them that two guys they are supposed to count on as two of their best players have both missed half the games, Laine and Werenski. And of course goaltending continues to be an issue for them.

 

[ViD]

Been a weird one, I think most people expected more so far. Does not help them that two guys they are supposed to count on as two of their best players have both missed half the games, Laine and Werenski. And of course goaltending continues to be an issue for them.

We still have most of our D corps injured plus we signed Gudbranson who’s got the worst extended stats in the entire league

 

[Chainshot]

Yeah.

People just look at the standings and think typical Columbus.

& ignore everything else

The Jackets are certainly validation of "what will happen if you take out 2/3rds of a team's defensemen via injury". Losing Werenski alone is a massive hit, but adding in three other guys means everyone else is playing up the lineup and getting minutes they are likely going to struggle with. I'm sure they would rather have Gudbranson at 18-ish minutes than over 20 minutes or having rotated 12 different defensemen into the lineup.

 

[Beau Knows]

I certainly didn't think they'd be this bad. The Gudbranson move was bizarre. Don't know why anyone is knocking the Gaudreau acquisition though, even if the Jackets take a few years to become competitive again, he'll still be there. You don't get many chances to add a player like that to your team.

 

[BoneDocUK]

They traded Savard and Foligno for 1sts, Atkinson for Voracek, Dubois for Laine and Roslovic, and Jones for 2 1sts(Sillinger and Jiricek), Boqvist and a 2nd that was immediately used to acquire Bean.

Doesn't exactly scream contender. What happened was the team played way above expectations last year, the first year of our rebuild, and then they added Gaudreau unexpectedly in the off-season so everyone suddenly thought this team could potentially compete for a playoff spot. When in reality this team is still 2-3 years away from truly becoming a playoff contender.

Goaltenders are also super streaky, I don't think many goalies in the NHL would be able to last playing in front of 4 AHL level dmen every night.

Yep, although Hellebuyck did it for years.

I don't watch a lot of CBJ games, but have a soft spot for the team and several of their current lineup and enjoyed their 2019 run.

I guess I'm finding it hard to work out who they are and who they're aiming to be given the rebuilding narrative -- in a perfect world, what do CBJ fans want the team to look like? How do you want them to play?

At the moment it seems like a weird mix of high-end skill and just barely hanging on, in a hellishly hard division. It must be immensely frustrating to watch?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Should have traded Panarin/Bob and not gone big game hunting in 2019, but I can understand why they didn’t, they needed some semblance of a playoff run.

They literally gave up nothing in their “big game” hunting. The players/picks they gave up have had almost no impact on the teams they’re at.

At best they were getting one late first for panarin. Bobrovsky had a NMC and would have refused to move mid season.

It was either staying pat or make a push. They made a push. I wouldn’t go back on that decision.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I miss the HItchcock Jacket days - Nash, Boll, Commodore, ZHerdev, Leclaire and that guy that took a slapshot in the nuts for Philly. They were a lovable group of hopeful losers that hustled.

First time I have ever seen nik Zherdev and the word hustle together without “doesn’t” in between them.