The Columbus Blue Jackets are still trying to answer the same question the rest of the league keeps asking: what exactly are they?
The short version is that the picture remains fuzzy. Since 2000, Columbus has put together nine winning seasons, reached the playoffs six times, made one run to the second round, and spent plenty of time dealing with the kind of disappointment that lingers. Their 847 regular-season wins sit 29th in the NHL, ahead of only the league’s more recent expansion and relocated clubs.
For a while, the clearest version of the Blue Jackets came under John Tortorella. Those teams were built to be miserable to play against, hanging around the wild-card race as a No. 7 or No. 8 seed and, in 2016-17, climbing all the way to a franchise-best No. 3 seed.
Now the franchise is in a different phase, and president and general manager Don Waddell is still sanding down the edges. Since the rebuild began in 2021, Columbus has moved from 59 points in 2022-23 to 92 points in 2025-26, with steady progress in between. The goal is obvious: end the playoff drought that has lasted since 2019-20.
This summer’s roster work has mostly been about targeted additions. Waddell added Ryan Lomberg, a fourth-line forward and 2023-24 Stanley Cup champion, along with goaltender Phoenix Copley. The Blue Jackets also brought back Owen Sillinger and Riley Bezeau.
The exits mattered more. Boone Jenner’s 13-year run in Columbus ended when the longtime captain signed with division rival Washington.
Zach Aston-Reese went to Philadelphia. Mason Marchment agreed to a five-year deal with San Jose.
That leaves another leadership question hanging over the roster. “No conversations yet on who the next captain will be, per Waddell.
They’ll discuss as the summer goes on and make a decision in camp. #CBJ”
And then there is Zach Werenski, who became the biggest storyline of the summer. With two years left on his contract, he was on the verge of becoming a Dallas Star - until he used the no-movement clause in his deal to block the move.
Werenski’s decision confirmed what he has been saying all along: he wants to stay in Columbus and see it through with the only franchise he has ever known. For now, anyway.
His future still hangs over everything. He is eligible to sign a long-term extension next summer, so this is far from settled.
Werenski was once seen as a possible successor to Jenner as captain, but that becomes a lot harder to picture with the uncertainty still in place. Unless Columbus chooses to go without a designated captain for at least a year, that path looks shaky.
The best-case scenario for the Blue Jackets is pretty straightforward: prove this group can make the playoffs and actually hold up when the games tighten in March and April. The team that opens camp in October cannot fade the way Columbus has in the last two seasons, and Werenski, coming off a Norris Trophy season, will need to be at his best when it matters most.
The noise around him only grew after his close friend Dylan Larkin, who has five years left on his own deal, asked for a trade from the Red Wings in June. That helped fuel the speculation around Werenski, which quickly turned into reports that Dallas was only blocked by his no-movement clause.
Suddenly, Columbus looked like a team that had to rebuild the rebuild.
Fair or not, that is the burden the Blue Jackets still carry. The skepticism around the league is real, and a lot of it has been earned. The fact that Werenski’s future instantly became a league-wide talking point says plenty about where Columbus still stands in the NHL pecking order.
Waddell had to check every possible angle if a player of Werenski’s caliber seemed unsure about the future. And if Werenski is still not committed to an extension next summer, this whole conversation will come back around again.
The trade talk also left some fans irritated, especially when Werenski’s initial refusal to go to Dallas was viewed as him wanting out and limiting Columbus’ return by only considering teams - rumored to be Tampa Bay or Toronto - that could not match what Dallas might have offered. That tension only eased once he and Waddell clarified the situation and shut down weeks of speculation.
At the heart of it all is credibility. Columbus is still trying to earn it in a league full of established contenders.
The recent champions show how that happens. Florida turned itself into a destination by reaching three Stanley Cup Finals and winning two titles.
Carolina may not have looked like a natural landing spot for stars like Mikko Rantanen, but eight straight playoff appearances built legitimacy before the championship finally came in June. Vegas arrived almost immediately, reaching three Stanley Cup Finals in nine seasons under four different coaches and missing the playoffs only once.
Columbus, by contrast, is a team people can talk themselves into believing in, but rarely one the league is forced to fear.
Until that changes, the Blue Jackets will keep living in that awkward middle ground: a team judged on what it might become, not what it has already proven.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Just Added Another Michigan Name Fans Will Debate
Josh Eernisse is the latest former Michigan Wolverines forward to enter the Blue Jackets orbit, a connection that always gets noticed in Columbus. After three seasons in Ann Arbor, where he helped Michigan reach two Frozen Fours and picked up both academic and athletic honors along the way, Eernisse has started the next step of his hockey career with a recent appearance at Columbus development camp.
The organization also has him lined up on a one-year contract for the 2026-27 season, which gives the Blue Jackets another name to track as they keep building out their pipeline. Eernisse arrives with the kind of college rsum that tends to travel well, and for a fan base that has already seen plenty of Michigan ties around the roster, the question now is how this one fits into the bigger picture. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Finally Got Clarity On A Tense Core Situation
For a stretch this summer, Kirill Marchenkos future was one of the more uneasy talking points around the Blue Jackets, but general manager Don Waddell has now made it clear the winger is staying put for the upcoming season. That comes with some welcome stability for Columbus, especially with Marchenko entering the final year of his contract and headed toward restricted free agency next summer.
Zach Werenski added to that sense of calm by saying he is happy to be back with the Blue Jackets after his own trade chatter had briefly put the spotlight on the teams core. Between Marchenkos status and Werenskis decision to remain in Columbus, the Jackets have at least answered two of the biggest questions hanging over the roster, even if the longer-term picture still has a few important pieces to sort out. [Read more 🡒]