The Columbus Blue Jackets have an abundance of players who are deserving of an NHL job in each position. While training camp will get a majority of the players sorted fairly quickly, there will be some tough decisions that take until the end of preseason for management to make. As a result, certain players who belong on the opening night roster will miss out, and there are three candidates that immediately come to mind.
Nick Blankenburg
Nick Blankenburg is one of the organization’s most versatile defensemen, and he has a great work ethic as well. His play has been a bright spot during the past two seasons despite his undersized frame. He’s a legitimate NHL-caliber defenseman and he has an underdog story that makes it hard not to root for his success. As a result, he’s quickly become a fan favorite in Columbus.
The additions of Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov have made the defensive core a major logjam and as a result, a deserving player will likely start the season with the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL). Given his waiver exemption, Blankenburg unfortunately gets the short end of the stick as he’s more likely to be sent down since he can’t be taken by another organization. Surely the Blue Jackets would love to have him in the lineup over a player like Erik Gudbranson or Jake Bean given the current circumstances, but it’s difficult to do so when it may cost you the other player and weaken the team’s depth.
David Jiricek
In the same vein as Blankenburg, David Jiricek will have difficulty cracking the opening night roster since he’s on an entry-level contract and there are some highly-paid, older players blocking his route to the NHL. He is the future of the Blue Jackets defense and he proved last season that he belongs in a league higher than the AHL. Unfortunately, there are just too many players fighting for too few spots and as a result, his full-time NHL career will likely have to wait. If the Blue Jackets sustain an abundance of injuries once again on the blue line though, Jiricek should be the first player who gets called up. He’s ready to play at the NHL level, and arguably as soon as he gets there he’ll be one of the organization’s best defensemen right out of the gate.
Yegor Chinakhov
Yegor Chinakhov’s career has followed such a strange trajectory that it makes sense that there’s uncertainty about where he’ll be playing next season. He went from being undrafted to a surprise first-round pick to Gagarin Cup champion in the Kontinental Hockey League before ultimately finding himself in the NHL during the 2021-22 season. Unfortunately for him, he’s now been passed on the depth chart by forwards like Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko, which makes it difficult for him to get onto an essentially already full roster.
At 22 years old, Chinakhov has plenty of time to develop into a full-time NHL player. He’s been solid when in the Blue Jackets lineup, but not exceptional while others have immediately impressed when given an opportunity. When he did play with Cleveland, he played at a very high level as well. He’s ready for the NHL, but there’s no room for him at this point which will likely force him out of the opening night roster.
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Jarmo Kekalainen and new head coach Pascal Vincent certainly have a lot of options to pick through for the opening night roster. If the best players made it every season, it would be much simpler, however, contracts come into play which makes the decision a little more difficult. Deserving players are going to work hard and come up just short while players that slightly outperform will get the spot due to the lack of flexibility of their contract. It happens to essentially every team in the NHL every season, but unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, there will be quite a few examples of it in their organization this season.
