The Columbus Blue Jackets embarked on their last Western road trip of the season hoping to play spoiler to teams fighting for playoff positioning. With two games left on that trip, the team is licking their wounds after a couple of sound defeats.
The Blue Jackets are 0-2-1 on their trip after a 4-3 OT loss to the Red Wings, a 6-1 loss to the Avalanche and a 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights. They could have won in Detroit. They got completely dominated in Colorado and in Vegas.
That leaves just 11 games left to play in this season where the Blue Jackets are limping to the finish line. With seven NHL regulars out of their lineup, they’ve had to dress several AHL players. The games are playing out as you might expect given the disparity in experience.
We thought this would be the right time to open the Blue Jackets’ mailbag to see what’s on the mind of the fans. Even though their playoff fate has been long decided, the team is expected to be mathematically eliminated from postseason contention this week. The real stuff will begin after these 11 games are played out.
We took to X, formerly Twitter, and asked fans to submit their questions. There will be no holding back in any of these answers. Given what the Blue Jackets need to do over the course of time, some of these answers will be brutally honest as they will need to make several difficult decisions if they want to get where they want to go. Let’s dive in.
Blue Jackets’ March Mailbag
Let’s start with a topic that had multiple questions submitted.
Q: Wondering why in a lost season, coach Pascal Vincent refuses to give the younger players more ice time? At the same time putting Boone Jenner’s at risk with the minutes he’s playing. -Ron Jackson
Q: How much of a waste is this season’s homes stretch if they keep playing Jenner 24 minutes a night and Dmitri Voronkov 10 minutes? -Eric Seeds
A: This has been a hot item amongst the fanbase for basically most of the season. It’s a lost season. Why not balance out the ice time? Right now, I think there’s a couple things going on.
First and foremost, with seven regulars out of the lineup, they barely have enough bodies to ice 20 skaters. So that limits what Vincent can do in terms of what all he wants to do. He would love to spread the ice time around. But at the same time, the players have to earn it.
While it’s easy to just say put the youth out there, it’s not as simple as that. Anyone who watched the games on Friday and Saturday saw many of the young players have their ice time limited. Why? They were being dominated against much better competition. Vincent has a fine line in deciding just rolling lines or protecting guys in certain situations.
In saying that, the top line was completely invisible on Saturday night in Vegas. The line of Jenner, Johnny Gaudreau and Alex Nylander combined for zero shots on goal. ZERO. But they were still run out there with the most time on ice.
For me, this is a head coach who trusts Jenner the most of anyone on the team. The team is watching his ice time closely too. They have communication about how he’s feeling and if anything needs dialed back.
Is Vincent refusing to give ice time? Not necessarily. But the players are telling him who’s playing well and who’s not. He will play the youth if they show they’re not being dominated every time they’re out there. And is this season a waste? Yes and no. Yes in the sense that they fell way short of their goals. But also no because they saw firsthand what needs addressed. If they fail to address those issues, then yes it’s a complete waste of time.
Q: Do you see some of their RFA’s being allowed to walk? -Howard
A: I can see that happening, yes. Let’s list out who is not a pending UFA and you will see how much business needs taken care of this offseason.
- Alex Texier
- Kirill Marchenko
- Cole Sillinger
- Yegor Chinakhov
- Carson Meyer
- Alex Nylander
- Jake Bean
- Jake Christiansen
- Kent Johnson
- Nick Blankenburg
- Jet Greaves
This is not an all-inclusive list. It’s reasonable to believe not everyone on this list will be back with the Blue Jackets. Whether it’s allowing them to walk or an offseason trade, the new GM will be involved in this process.
For me, the five must haves on the above list are Marchenko, Sillinger, Chinakhov, Johnson and Greaves. I would put Texier, Nylander and Blankenburg in the next tier and then go from there. Since the new GM will decide what they think, it’s possible they view certain players differently than Jarmo Kekalainen did. I would not be surprised to see 1-2 names above not be Blue Jackets next season.
Q: How much stock are we putting in Rick Nash for GM? Is Team Canada a test run? -Travis Weaver
A: I’m seeing all the posts about Nash and if he’ll become the next GM. I’m not there yet. While I believe his eventual goal is to be a GM in the NHL, he’s still relatively new to the front office. While he’s been in a front-office role since 2019, he has not been an assistant GM or GM of an NHL team to date. The Blue Jackets need someone with experience given where they’re at.
Nash being named as the GM of Team Canada is a testament to how he’s thought of for sure. He’s rising among the ranks. I just don’t think it’s time yet on an NHL GM role. But since we’re on the topic. I will give you all one name to keep on the radar. I’m not saying he’s the favorite or anything like that. But the clues right now cannot be ignored. Watch Mark Hunter in London. The Knights connections on the Blue Jackets are obvious. There are folks in the hockey world who believe he would be very interested in the GM job. It’s too early to declare anything right now. But keep Hunter in the back of your mind for future reference. I’d watch their playoff run in the OHL. As soon as that’s done, this could be worth watching.
Q: At some point in time, we need to see progress from the Jackets as they will draft in the top-6 again. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new GM makes a blockbuster value for value trade that revamps the entire roster. If he can move some of those albatross contracts, that would be a huge plus. -Lester Watson
A: Not only wouldn’t I be surprised, I’m expecting it, Lester. Something has to give to jolt this roster forward.
Q: Do you think the Damon Severson signing looks like a mistake at this point and why did they sign him to that term? It seems excessive. -Marty Callahan
A: I’m not ready to call it a mistake yet after just one season. But there is a chance it could prove to be one later. I’ve chatted with Severson this season about his time with the Devils when they were building up. The money quote from him about how they went to the next level was “trimming the fat” off the roster. The Blue Jackets are about to enter that stage where they have to trim some of that fat. With the proper moves, he can still provide stability on the right side. If the next couple seasons are repeats of this one, then yeah it was a mistake.
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Q: Why aren’t they hiring a search firm to help with the GM search? Should we be concerned about that? -Peter Klaven
A: I’m not concerned about that. There are many paths to finding the right person for the job. They have plenty of candidates to choose from. Search firms like most things have their advantages and disadvantages. While it is common for teams to use them, not everyone does. It depends on the individual situation and what their goals are in their search. For me, the team knows the kind of candidate they want to hire and have a sense of who’s interested.
Q: Which Blue Jackets players have given you the most agita this season? Please be honest and candid if you dare. -Ed Helinski
A: If I dare? Is that a challenge, Ed? Ha! Honestly in recent memory, there hasn’t been too much of that. Most players I talk to are generous with their time and are insightful. This season especially, I don’t recall a time where there was anything over the top. It’s a good locker room in that sense. In the past though? Not a player, but on occasion John Tortorella would do that. But then again he doesn’t care for the media all that much so it’s not surprising.
Q: Do you get the sense that Voronkov will return to the KHL or stay in Columbus next season? -Mark Froling
A: I haven’t seen or heard anything that he’s looking to bolt. He is under contract for next season. Until proven otherwise, I believe he’ll be on the Blue Jackets.
Q: Status on Adam Fantilli?
A: Still nothing definitive from the team. At last check, he hadn’t begun skating. With Davidson’s comments that he doesn’t want Fantilli back until he’s 100%, I can see a scenario that he’s done for the season. We’re not there yet though. My gut says if he has his way and recovery is in a good spot, he’d try to play a few games before the season is up. We’ll see though.
Let’s end this with a tough but fair question.
Q: Our front office has been a laughingstock. Davidson and Mike Priest are leading the GM search. Why should any fan have confidence they will get this right? The Blue Jackets’ next five years depends on it. -Brett Lantz
A: That last sentence is spot on. The Blue Jackets must absolutely get this one right. Their future depends on it. The front office performance hasn’t been good enough there’s no question about that. Why should any fan have confidence? It is a fair question whether they want to admit it or not. Ultimately, it’s results that matter and they haven’t delivered lately. If there are two things that fans can hang their hat on here, it’s this. Number one, they know what’s at stake. This won’t be rushed. They’ll talk to many people. They know the pressure that’s on them. The fact that this won’t be an overnight process is a good thing. Second, Davidson has been part of teams that has enjoyed success. Although it took the Blues time to win a Stanley Cup, they did it thanks in part to Davidson’s time there. He has experience and has seen a lot of things. The fact that he fired one of his best friends in Kekalainen showed he was willing to put that aside in the name of business. But the front office will be judged on this hire 100%.
Thank you for all the great questions. Just 11 more games until a very interesting offseason comes for the Blue Jackets. The question isn’t if there will be changes. But it will be how many and how big?