After an eventful offseason, the forward lineups are going to look are little different this year. There are a few players such as Laine and Gaudreau who are almost certain to play on a particular line, but for many of the others, it is relatively unknown. This Blue Jackets team is full of young up and comers mixed with a few aging veterans that may see production drop-offs in the near future, making it hard to know exactly where each player will play.
BEST OFFSEASON IN CBJ HISTORY AND ITS NOT EVEN CLOSE.
— Nasher (@TheNasher61) July 22, 2022
LETS BUZZ. @BlueJacketsNHL
One note to make is that these projections are only what it may look like in the beginning of the season. Between injuries, young players stepping up, and coaches tweaking the lineups in order to find better playstyle matches, its impossible to know what the lineups may morph into throughout the course of the season.
Also, there is the assumption, when it comes to point total production, that said player will have played 75 or more games in order to reach the projected point total range. If they are unable to play that many games, then the projection would have to be converted to points per game in order to judge the accuracy of it. Some of these players have a fairly lengthy injury history and it may be unlikely that they play 75 or more games in the upcoming season.
| LINE | LEFT WING | PROJ. | CENTER | PROJ. | RIGHT WING | PROJ. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LINE 1 | Johnny Gaudreau | 100-105 | Boone Jenner | 45-55 | Patrik Laine | 70-85 |
| LINE 2 | Jakub Voracek | 50-60 | Jack Roslovic | 50-60 | Gus Nyquist | 40-50 |
| LINE 3 | Alexandre Texier | 35-45 | Cole Sillinger | 35-40 | Yegor Chinakhov | 25-30 |
| LINE 4 | Kent Johnson | 30-40 | Sean Kuraly | 15-25 | Rotation | 10-15 |
The first line is likely set, other than the possibility that Jenner gets bumped off of it if one of the young guns has had a spectacular offseason. However, it is more likely that Jenner starts the year as the 1C and coach Larsen plays around with that spot throughout the year until he finds the combo he likes best. And that combo may very well end up including Jenner, after all.
The second line seems fairly secure as well, being held down by high producing veterans. Some of the up-and-comers will undoubtedly spend time on the second line due to injuries and exceeding expectations. But it will likely look like this to start the year.
The only possible surprise for some will be that we have Johnson projected on the fourth line to start out. That is due to the caution that Larsen showed when dolling out the 19-year-old forward's minutes in his nine game intro to NHL play, at the end of last season. Johnson did end up having a good game against Czechia in the WJCs as well as the fact that he had a lot of near assists that didn't pan out due to teammates not finishing at the goal. However, he did fail to wow us in the manner in which many expected. If he had gone bonkers at the WJCs he may have forced the coaching staff's hand and they may have had to put him a little higher in the lineup. He didn't end up doing that though, so he will likely start out on the fourth line.
The last spot on the fourth line is anyone's guess, but an educated one is that it will be either Olivier, Bemstrom, or Danforth, do to the investment the team made in each of those players. The team gave up a fourth-round pick to acquire Olivier, and they signed Bemstrom and Danforth to extensions.
This is largely a thought exercise due to not being at practice and hearing what the coaches are thinking and planning. Though there are certainly reasons that each player has been projected in each of these roster spots. We will have to wait until the much-anticipated start to the season in order to find out for sure.
