Zach Werenski may not be passing the eye test for everybody right now, but the numbers paint a much different picture for the Blue Jackets’ top defenseman.
With Columbus trying to find its “A” game early in the season, Werenski has taken plenty of heat around CBJ social media. The main criticism is familiar: he has not looked quite like himself, and at times he has seemed to default to the safer play instead of pushing the pace and creating offense.
That much is fair. But once you dig into what he’s actually done through seven games, the case against him gets pretty thin.
Start with the production. Over the last two seasons, when he fully broke out as an elite NHL defenseman, Werenski has played 156 games and piled up 163 points, including 55 goals.
That works out to a 1.04 point-per-game pace. This year, he’s already tied for the team lead with six points, all assists, in seven games.
Four of those helpers have been primary assists, too.
That matters because Columbus has only scored 17 goals so far. Werenski has had a hand in more than a third of them, and he’s been the primary setup man on nearly a quarter of the team’s offense. For a player supposedly off his game, that’s a pretty loud contribution.
The plus-minus also looks strong. Werenski leads the Blue Jackets at plus-7, which is three better than his defense partner and five ahead of anyone else on the roster. That stat doesn’t carry the same weight it used to, but even when you go deeper than that, the underlying picture still holds up.
According to MoneyPuck.com, Werenski has a 47% CORSI rating, a number that lines up with how heavily he’s being used. He’s on the ice for 48% of the team’s minutes, which is a massive workload.
He’s also starting 18.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone, a rate that’s 4% higher than any other season in his career. With injuries on the blue line, Rick Bowness and his staff are leaning hard on their No. 1 defenseman.
And while the CORSI number is below his career standard - he has never finished below 50% - the Blue Jackets are still controlling play with him on the ice. Columbus has a 57.1% goal percentage when Werenski is out there, which suggests the team is getting out of its own end and finishing on the right side of the ice when he’s on the job.
So yes, the eye test can leave you wanting more. Werenski has looked a little casual at times, with and without the puck, and he can appear worn down.
But that probably isn’t a mystery. He is averaging 29:22 per game through seven contests, about two and a half minutes more than he’s typically logged over the previous three years.
That also makes him the NHL’s heaviest-used skater right now, with Buffalo’s Owen Power second at 26:45.
The workload explains a lot. And the usage should change once Ivan Provorov is healthy again. When that happens, Werenski’s minutes should come down, his defensive-zone burden should lighten, and he should get back to doing what he does best: driving the offense.
Even now, though, he’s doing plenty of that already.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Reunion With Marchenko Turns Into Another Ugly Night
Kirill Marchenkos return to Nationwide Arena gave Columbus one more familiar face to track in a game that already had enough firepower to keep the building on edge. The Blue Jackets got goals from Jake Christiansen and Charlie Coyle, but Toronto matched them with a steady stream of offense, turning the night into another one of those games where every push seemed to invite an answer.
Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Easton Cowan and Jack Roslovic all found the net for the Maple Leafs, adding to a scoreboard that kept changing and kept the home side chasing. The late-stage frustration only grew as Toronto picked up another milestone moment in the process, leaving Columbus with little comfort beyond a few bright spots in a game that never settled down. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Suddenly Have A Blue-Line Problem Blue Jackets Fans Will Notice
The Maple Leafs blue line took a hit during their game against Columbus when veteran defenseman Jake McCabe left with a facial injury in the first period. McCabe, who has been skating on Torontos top pairing, was ruled out for the rest of the night, adding to a defensive group that is already working around injuries and shuffling roles.
Toronto has been leaning on depth more than it would like, with Chris Tanev out on a week-to-week basis and Troy Stecher stepping into the second pairing. For Blue Jackets fans, it is the kind of early-season roster wrinkle worth watching because any more strain on Torontos defense could change how the Leafs manage matchups and minutes the next time these teams meet. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Should Watch This Penguins Trade Twist Closely
The Penguins are again weighing whether to move Rickard Rakell as they keep reshaping their roster around younger pieces, and that is the sort of development Blue Jackets fans should keep an eye on. Rakell has not met expectations this season, but Pittsburgh still has to balance that with the fact that he has produced solid scoring before and remains under contract beyond this year, which gives the situation a little more layers than a simple deadline dump.
For Columbus, the intrigue is less about the Penguins direction and more about where a name like Rakell could surface if Pittsburgh decides to shop him before the deadline. Previous trade talks around him went nowhere, and the Penguins are said to be looking for a sensible return rather than simply taking the first offer, so this may not move quickly. Still, with Pittsburgh open to changing course and a veteran scorer on the block, it is the kind of storyline that can ripple beyond one division and into conversations the Blue Jackets have to watch closely. [Read more 🡒]