The Blue Jackets are built to be bigger, tougher and more reliable in their own end, but that blueprint only works if the goals still come. Right now, Conor Garland is one of the players who has to help make that happen.
Columbus brought Garland in from the Vancouver Canucks just before last spring’s NHL trade deadline, hoping he’d add juice to the middle six and chip in some secondary scoring. He delivered a burst right away. After being held off the board in his first game, Garland scored four goals in his next two, flashing the speed and tenacity that made him such an attractive deadline target.
That early surge hasn’t held up. Garland managed only one goal and three points over the final 18 Blue Jackets games last season, and that slide didn’t help Columbus in its push to hold onto a playoff spot.
This season has opened with even less encouragement. Garland has been parked on the fourth line, despite the fact that this team badly needs offense. For a player signed for six more seasons, including this one, at a $6 million AAV, that’s a problem.
The number looks especially heavy when you consider where he sits in the lineup financially: Garland is the fifth-highest paid forward on the Blue Jackets roster. Having that kind of salary on the fourth line is not where Columbus wants to be.
The bigger concern is what has happened to the way he drives play. For most of his career, Garland has been a useful puck-possession winger, finishing with an on-ice CORSI% of at least 54% every season until last year, according to MoneyPuck.
In 2023-24, that number climbed to 59%, the same season he scored 20 goals and 47 points. That’s the kind of second-line production the Blue Jackets were after.
He has never been an elite scorer, but he has usually been good for secondary offense while holding his own in all three zones. What stands out now is less the lack of points than the drop in the underlying numbers that usually travel with his game.
Through Columbus’ first two games, Garland has just three shot attempts, none of them on goal, and a 47% CORSI, with most of his minutes coming on the fourth line. At 30, the question is whether this is just a slow start or something more.
So far in his Blue Jackets stint, Garland has played 23 games and posted five goals, seven points and a minus-6 rating while averaging around 13 minutes a night. That line looks even thinner when you strip away the four-goal burst that greeted him after the trade.
If Columbus wants to stay in the hunt, Garland has to rediscover the game that made him valuable in the first place. The Blue Jackets need him back as a 40-50 point player, at minimum, and that starts with energy, basic details and a bigger impact from the bottom of the lineup. Thursday night will be another chance to see whether that turn is coming.
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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
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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
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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 🡒]