Expectations coming into the season

This season was a different one for the Blue Jackets, they were expected to actually compete for a playoff spot this season. The 2020’s have not been kind to the Blue Jackets; they have been a bottom feeder in the league and have constantly been picking in the top 5. But this past season they finally showed something finishing just short of a playoff spot finishing the season with 89 points. Their main breakouts being Krill Marchenko, Adam Fantill, Kent Johnson, and late in the season the Blue Jackets may have finally found a goalie in Jet Greaves who was dominant in the final games of the regular season. Other big performances were from Zack Werenski, Sean Monahan(when healthy), and also Demitri Voronkov who started the season off very well but got quiet towards the end of the season. With all these young players coming into their own the Blue Jackets have now started to get some national attention in the wildcard race for this upcoming season. Now with this young core finally developing and some key veteran pieces it is a very important year for the Blue Jackets. 

Opening Night vs. the Predators 

To open up the season the Jackets traveled to Nashville to take on the Preds. Jet Greaves got the start to open up the season which is a big change as Elvis Merzlikins has been the long time starter for the Jackets. In the start Greaves was very good only letting in 2 goals on 32 shots being the main reason the game was close. On the offensive side it was not that good, the Jackets only scored one goal on 39 shots, Voronkov got the goal on a tip with assists from Damen Severson and Denton Mayeychuk. Mathiue Olivier almost had a goal but it was called back due to a very controversial goaltender interference call late in the second period.  Due to this Goaltender interference call the Jackets lost all momentum and struggled heavily on offense in the 3rd losing the game 2-1 and starting the season out 0-1-0.  

Second Game vs. the Wild 

For the second game of the season the Jackets traveled to St. Paul Minnesota to take on the Wild. This game was the exact opposite of the first game; it was all offense for both teams. Elvis Merzlikins got the start this night and played outstanding to say the least, only letting in 4 goals on a crazy 52 shots! But thankfully the offense was on it tonight scoring 7 goals on the night. Miles Wood opened up the scoring by scoring his first goal as a Blue Jacket, and then Krill Marckeno took over scoring a hat trick on the game and leading the Blue Jackets to the win. Zack Werenski and the captain Boone Jenner both got their first goals of the season and had a 3 point night each, with Boone getting his 200th career goal which is just amazing. Other big contributors were Demtri Voronkov and Adam Fantill both had 2 point nights. The Jackets however struggled a lot with penalties this game, having 8 total! This hurt the Blue Jackets a lot because all of Minnesota’s goals were on the Powerplay, so it is important that they figure that out going into the home opener against the New Jersey Devils.                    

Home Opener vs. New Jersey

The Blue Jackets in their home opener took on a divisional opponent in the New Jersey Devils. The Blue Jackets fresh off their first win of the season were looking to keep the momentum going against the Devils. The fans showed out packing nationwide arena. Sadly though the Jackets disappointed them losing in a 3-2 game. Jet Greaves got the start tonight and was overall very impressive again only letting in 2 goals on the night and continuing a nice streak of good goaltender play for the Jackets which is a very good sign for a team that has struggled heavily at that position the last couple of years.  But even with the good goaltending the devils defense was shut down and completely controlled the game. Timo Meier opened up the scoring on the powerplay giving the devils a 1 to nothing lead in a period mostly controlled by the Blue Jackets. Then in the 2nd period Krill Markenco continues his amazing start to the season by getting an amazing goal taking the puck away all by himself and getting a breakaway and putting the puck in the back of the net. Sadly this tie game did not stay tied for long because on another powerplay Dawson Mercer on a counterattack retook the lead for New Jersey. The rest of the game the Devils defense took over and just shut down the Jackets, Dawsen Mercer scored on the empty net to make it 3-1. Then late in garbage time Voronkov got a goal to try and make it interesting but it didn’t matter as the Devils defense was too much and the Jackets went down in their home opener. Now after a loss the Jackets move to play the Avalanche in a game where team legend Cam Atkinson will sign a one day contract to retire as a blue Jacket. 

Cam Atkinson’s retirement vs. the Colorado Avalanche

Before the game started for the Jackets, team legend Cam Atkinson, who spent 10 seasons with the Blue Jackets before getting traded to the Flyers, signed a 1 day contract so he could retire a Blue Jacket. The team had a retirement ceremony for Atkinson with him taking one final lap for the Blue Jackets before the game started and were able to give the team legend a proper send off. Now to the actual game, Elvis Merzlikins got the start for the Night, and overall he was probably the best player in the team last night in a 4-1 loss. The defense was decent at best with some questionable plays that resulted in goals for the Avalanche. Then the offense was God awful, they started off the scoring on the evening with a nice play that resulted in a goal for Ivan Provorov in his 700th career game but then after that the offense was just completely shut down. Special teams mainly the power play continues to struggle and looks very sloppy. The only good thing was Elvis because if he wasn’t playing as well as he did the score would have been way worse. 

Initial Thoughts on the beginning of the season 

So far the Blue Jackets have not been that good to start the season. The offense has struggled outside of one game vs Minnesota and has just looked sloppy struggling to get into the offensive zone. The defense has been decent but still pretty sloppy and has put themselves in bad positions which leads to goals against. Both the powerplay and penalty kill have been bad, the penalty kill being the reason for most goals against, and the powerplay somehow not looking like a powerplay with the Jackets being unable to set up anything and constantly lose the puck and generate no momentum. The only good thing about the team to start the season has been the goaltending with Elvis and Greaves being very good to start the season and keeping the struggling team in these games. So the Blue Jackets have a lot to work on to start the season, thankfully it is early in the year so they have time to get better, but so far it is not looking that good.