The Blue Jackets’ first real pause of the season has arrived fast, and it comes with a built-in debate attached to it.
After splitting their first two games, the Jackets now have five days off before a back-to-back against the Penguins and Blues. When the schedule was first unveiled, that early break looked strange and drew a pretty negative reaction. Now that the season has started and the full picture is clearer, there’s at least a case to be made for both sides.
On the plus side, this is a chance for Adam Fantilli, Matthew Knies, and Emil Andrae to catch up. Don Waddell made training camp difficult from the start, with Fantilli signing his six-year, $82.5 million extension with just six days left in camp.
Then Knies and Andrae were acquired only two days before puck drop. That left Fantilli with little time to fully absorb Rick Bowness’ system or get his game fully up to speed in preseason action, while Knies and Andrae had to jump into a new setup after spending camp and preseason with another organization.
That’s two-thirds of the top line, plus a newly important piece of defensive depth, still figuring things out on the fly.
The break also gives the Jackets a chance to patch up the blue line. Damon Severson’s recovery from shoulder surgery was already expected to go down to the wire, but camp injuries to Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro made the situation much worse.
Suddenly, half of last year’s starting six was in the press box to open the season. Jake Christiansen has not earned much trust from the coaching staff either, as he’s averaged just over eight minutes between the first two games.
That made the need for help obvious, which is part of why Emil Andrae was included in the return for Kirill Marchenko. The good news is that Severson is expected back by Friday, and Provorov is also likely to return, especially after his incredible 375-game streak without missing a game due to injury before last week.
That would be a major lift for a team that has already allowed seven goals in two games.
There’s also the simple fact that the schedule and camp structure have made this kind of reset more necessary than usual. With the regular season expanding from 82 to 84 games, the new training camp restrictions left teams with just four preseason games and veterans limited to two apiece over a stretch of barely two weeks.
That did not leave much room for detail work, and plenty of things in drills went uncorrected. Now the Jackets have two games on the board and a little time to work with, which should give Bowness a better chance to drive home his vision.
Discipline is another area begging for attention. The Jackets have already been whistled for nine penalties in their first two games.
Against the Sabres, they managed to hold up. Against the Mammoth, it became a problem, especially in the third period when two power play goals helped wipe out any chance at a comeback.
Bowness has said change is coming, and now he gets an entire work week to clean that up.
Still, there’s a downside to having this break now instead of later.
It comes awfully early. In sports like football, the idea is usually to save the bye week for later, when recovery matters most.
And if the Jackets are already dealing with three serious injuries, you have to wonder what kind of wear and tear could be waiting down the road. A break in midwinter would have offered a better chance for not just the major injuries, but also the bumps and bruises that pile up over the grind of a season.
There’s also the matter of timing. It would not have been hard to find an opponent for Tuesday, then use the next few days to put changes into action and keep building from there.
Instead, the Jackets now face one of those long pauses that are rare later in the schedule, when back-to-backs stack up and true multi-day breaks become hard to find. A break like this in February might have been even more valuable if the team is in the middle of a playoff push.
And there’s no denying that the early season has already given the Jackets a few encouraging signs. Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson, two players the team badly needs to take a step, already have goals.
Fantilli and Knies have shown immediate chemistry. Emil Andrae, Carson Soucy, and Erik Gudbranson have all turned in surprisingly decent defensive performances.
The question is whether that momentum gets dulled by the time off, especially the Fantilli-Knies connection.
In the end, the break probably feels more useful than harmful. The Jackets have been exposed in a few spots, they’ve already been burned by penalties, and they’ve got new pieces trying to settle in.
They also got lit up at home in their second game, which ought to create some urgency all by itself. Bowness wants to install a new system, make adjustments from the first two games, and see that work show up on the ice.
The season has already started and stopped once. Now the challenge is making sure the pause leads somewhere better.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets May Have A Prospect Rising Faster Than Expected
Alessandro Di Iorio is giving Columbus something worth tracking in a hurry. The Blue Jackets picked him 94th overall, and the early returns with the Sarnia Sting have been encouraging, with the center already making an impact as the junior season opens and helping a team that looks sharper than it did a year ago.
Di Iorio is still wearing the captains letter for Sarnia, which matters almost as much as the production itself. For Columbus, the appeal is obvious: a prospect who is not only putting up offense, but also driving results in a bigger role and starting to look like more than a long-term project. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Suddenly Have A Pavel Zacha Decision They Wanted To Avoid
Pavel Zachas name has been in the Bruins trade conversation before, and the timing matters now. NHL insider Pierre LeBrun reported Boston weighed the idea of moving him in a potential deal that would have involved Kirill Marchenko and the Columbus Blue Jackets, though nothing came together. With one year left on his contract, Zacha is heading toward unrestricted free agency, which already put the Bruins in a delicate spot with a player they would rather not have to sort through midseason.
The larger issue is that Boston may not get a clean resolution anytime soon. Extension talks have stalled, and if the Bruins stumble this season while Zacha still lacks a new deal, the front office could be pushed back toward the same uncomfortable decision near the trade deadline. For Columbus, it is another reminder that Marchenkos name has been valuable enough to surface in bigger league conversations, even when those talks never get over the finish line. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Early Surge Comes With One Clear Warning Sign
The early returns around Columbus have been encouraging enough to justify a closer look, especially in the wake of the clubs recent games. Matthew Knies has fit in quickly on the top line and has already added to the offense, while the Blue Jackets are also leaning hard on their blue line depth as injuries have pushed young defensemen like Mateychuk into bigger minutes than anyone would prefer this early.
Zach Werenskis workload has been especially heavy, a reminder that the Jackets are still operating with an incomplete roster and some obvious strain points. It is still a very small sample, and the column makes clear that the picture should change as injured players filter back in, with Damon Severson among the names expected to help stabilize things if he gets through the week without any setbacks. [Read more 🡒]