It’s fair to ask where the Columbus Blue Jackets are headed under Don Waddell, because the picture in front of them looks rougher now than it did when he arrived.
Waddell took over on May 24, 2024, with the Blue Jackets coming off a season that left them at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, 10 points behind the next closest team. They were also sitting on the #4 overall pick in the draft, which was just a month away. Even with that ugly finish, there was still some real optimism around the organization.
That hope came from the young core already in place. Columbus had finally landed its long-coveted franchise center the summer before, selecting Adam Fantilli third overall. The club also had one of the stronger prospect pools in the league, plus a handful of promising young players already on the NHL roster.
Before tragedy changed everything, Johnny Gaudreau led the team in scoring. His death before the next season is something no roster can simply absorb and move past.
Even so, Waddell did manage to piece together a competitive team in the moment. The issue is what came after that.
So far, he hasn’t built on it.
The roster he inherited had plenty of young talent worth protecting and developing. Kirill Marchenko scored 23 goals and finished third on the team with 42 points.
Dmitri Voronkov added 18 goals and finished fifth on the team with 34 points. Fantilli was there, along with Cole Sillinger, Alexandre Texier, Egor Chinakhov, Kent Johnson, and David Jiricek.
Every one of them was under 25, and several were the kind of players Columbus had spent years trying to find through the draft.
There was more coming, too, with prospects like Denton Mateychuk and Gavin Brindley in the pipeline. For any new general manager, the job was simple: get the most out of that group. That meant either turning them into the next wave of core players or using them to bring back real top-end talent.
Instead, only 5 of the 10 names listed above are still around. Voronkov is among them, but he appears to be in the doghouse and on his way out the door, which is a strange place for a player who has been one of the most consistently productive pieces during Waddell’s time in Columbus.
The bigger question is what all of those young assets actually turned into. Did the Blue Jackets land a high-end scorer or a top-pairing shutdown defenseman in return? That’s the conversation still hanging over this roster.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Suddenly Face Bench Uncertainty On Game Night
Rick Bowness was absent from the Blue Jackets game against the Tampa Bay Lightning because of an illness, leaving Columbus to adjust on the fly for a night when the bench looked a little different than usual. In his second season with the club, Bowness has brought plenty of experience to a young roster, and his presence behind the bench is usually part of the teams nightly routine.
Don Granato handled the coaching duties in Bowness place, giving Columbus a different voice in a game that already carried the usual stakes of an Eastern Conference matchup. For a team trying to keep its footing, any late change behind the bench adds another layer to manage, especially when it involves the NHLs oldest head coach being out of action on game night. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Let Another Home Game Slip Away In Brutal Third Period
Another home game got away from the Blue Jackets on a night when they had chances to settle in and build something against Tampa Bay. Columbus managed just one goal, from Matthew Knies, while Brandon Hagel powered the Lightning attack with two goals and an assist and Nikita Kucherov set the table with two helpers in a 3-1 loss that left the building with the familiar feeling of a missed opportunity.
Dennis Hildeby backed up the win with 28 saves, and the game stayed within reach long enough for Columbus to believe it could still turn. Instead, the third period tilted the wrong way, and the Blue Jackets were left to sort through another frustrating finish against a division opponent that did enough in the key moments to leave Columbus searching for answers. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Suddenly Need Answers On Sean Monahan
Sean Monahans night ended early in Tampa, and the Blue Jackets suddenly have another injury situation to sort through. The veteran forward had one assist in 9:58 of ice time before leaving the game against the Lightning with an upper-body injury, a development that came in a 3-1 loss Columbus could ill afford as it tried to keep pace.
The immediate concern now is how long Monahan might be unavailable and what it means for a lineup that already had to adjust on the fly. Columbus did not have him back for the rest of the game, and with the team looking for stability up front, any absence from a center with his experience would force another round of shuffling at a time when the Blue Jackets need answers more than they need another question. [Read more 🡒]