The Blue Jackets are already halfway through the preseason, and the first two exhibition games have painted a pretty clear early picture: the defense has shown up, the offense has barely existed, and Carson Soucy looks like he could fit what this team needs on the back end.
Columbus opened with a 1-0 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night, then followed that with a 5-1 loss to an NHL-heavy Buffalo Sabres roster. The Jackets have dressed very little NHL talent in either game. In Buffalo, there were only four players in the lineup who can reasonably be expected to make the opening night roster, and only Dmitri Voronkov looks like someone who could land in the top half of the lineup.
With the Cleveland Monsters beginning training camp today, more roster cuts should be coming quickly, possibly even this morning. The Blue Jackets have only five days to get roster compliant before the regular season begins next Thursday.
Even with mostly AHL lineups, there’s still a lot to take from what’s happened so far.
The first takeaway is simple: defense still travels.
Against Detroit, Columbus kept the Red Wings off the board through 60 minutes, overtime and three shootout attempts. No goals allowed, no margin for error needed. That’s the cleanest path to a win, and it fits the idea Rick Bowness laid out last week - scoring isn’t always under your control, but defending well is.
That has to remain a major priority for this group. Every player who wants to stick around is going to have to do the work without the puck, and Monday’s result was a good reminder of why.
The other side of that coin is the offense, and right now it’s been almost completely absent. Through two preseason games, the Blue Jackets have scored just once, on a late Corson Ceulemans goal in the loss to Buffalo. Ceulemans is a defenseman, which only sharpens the point: this team needs more from its forwards.
Yes, these games have been played mostly with lineups full of players who are likely headed to a lower level for the season. Still, it’s hard not to notice that Columbus hasn’t even scraped together a greasy goal yet. That’s something to keep an eye on as the last two preseason games bring more NHL regulars into the mix.
If this team is going to make a real push, it needs scoring. Finding it could be the difference between a playoff spot and another season on the outside looking in.
And then there’s Soucy.
He has only appeared in one game so far, but his presence stands out in the best possible way. He looks like exactly the kind of defenseman the Blue Jackets could use on the third pair: big, steady and reliable. He also brings something this blue line could use a lot more of - a little bite.
Soucy hit on Zellweger. Zellweger needed help getting to the room #LetsGoBuffalo #CBJ pic.twitter.com/z2Lc68G9K8
- Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) September 23, 2026
We hope Olen Zellweger is okay. But that’s the sort of edge Columbus could use more often from its defense. If the Blue Jackets can find a way to sign Carson for this season, he’d make a useful depth addition.
Columbus is back Thursday night at Nationwide against the Pittsburgh Penguins, then wraps up the preseason in Detroit on Saturday. Final roster decisions are due Sunday.
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Blue Jackets Preseason Win Now Carries An Uncomfortable Sabres Fallout
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Buffalo heads into the next stretch of its exhibition schedule against the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins with two defensemen suddenly at the center of concern. Mattias Samuelsson is out week-to-week, while Olen Zellweger is in concussion protocol, turning a routine preseason checkpoint into an early test of the Sabres depth and their ability to keep moving through the schedule. [Read more 🡒]