Don Waddell doesn’t sound like a general manager hunting for a splash. He sounds like a GM who believes the Blue Jackets already have enough in the room to push forward, if the right pieces keep moving in the right direction.
That was the theme running through the second part of his preseason conversation: no appetite for a roster tear-up, confidence in the group’s depth, and a clear belief that the organization is past the point of looking for excuses. The bigger question now is whether Columbus can turn that belief into something more than another near miss.
Waddell said that if the Blue Jackets don’t trade anyone off the current roster, he doesn’t see a glaring hole. He pointed to the club’s depth among its top two lines and noted the late-season additions of Conor Garland and Mason Marchment before saying, “We’re going to continue talking about it of course, but as of now, we think we’re in pretty good shape that way.”
The roster has also changed in ways that should make Columbus harder to deal with. Boone Jenner and Mason Marchment are gone, while Valeri Nichushkin and Ryan Lomberg are in. Waddell believes that combination fits what the team wants to be: fast, organized and tougher to handle on the walls.
He said speed is always part of the conversation when the Jackets add players, and he tied the team’s identity directly to the work Rick Bowness did after taking over. The defensive numbers improved, and Waddell made it clear he expects that to carry over.
“If you play the right way and play as a unit of five, our goals-against got better after Rick took over. I think that’s going to be a mainstay for our team,” he said.
Scoring, though, remains the hard part. Waddell didn’t sugarcoat that.
Defense can be built and repeated; goals are harder to promise. Still, he thinks Columbus can build on what it already showed and benefit from a full summer of work.
Bowness has been deeply involved in that process. Waddell said he talks to the coach about five times a week, and that Bowness spent the summer in regular contact with players, making sure they knew what camp would look like.
He also said Bowness has been meeting with the coaching staff weekly through Microsoft Teams, and that all the coaches were in the building as of the day of the conversation, starting at 9 in the morning. “Preparation-wise, we’re going to be in as good a shape as we’ve ever been,” Waddell said.
The shortened camp and trimmed preseason have forced the Jackets to think carefully about how they’ll evaluate players. Waddell said the staff has spent the last three weeks discussing it and will keep doing so. One of the later preseason games will feature roughly half the opening-night lineup, while veteran participation rules mean the rest of the exhibition schedule will require some juggling.
That also opens the door for younger players to make their case. Waddell specifically mentioned Jack Williams and Luca Del Bel Belluz, saying Bowness doesn’t know them yet and that the staff wants to give them a chance to win jobs. He also brought up Isac Lundström being out and the need to understand the team’s depth if call-ups become necessary.
The biggest decision, though, may have been the one Waddell didn’t make: a major shake-up. After two straight seasons of falling short of the playoffs, he said the Jackets were close enough that wholesale changes didn’t feel necessary.
He contrasted this situation with one where the team had finished 80 points and been well off the pace. Instead, Columbus was “knocking on the door in the last couple games both seasons.”
That, in Waddell’s view, is why the organization stayed the course. The young players need to get better.
The new additions need to fit. If both happen, he thinks the team is better.
The final message was about where the franchise stands now. Waddell said ownership has given the organization every resource it needs, and he stressed that the group is done leaning on outside factors.
He pointed to the coaching change last year, the assistant changes this year and the airplane situation, saying ownership backed all of it. The club is now in the process of buying its own plane.
“There are no excuses,” Waddell said. With the facility, the support and the roster as it stands, he made the point plain: “It’s up to us to go get the job done now.”
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