When John Davidson and Jarmo Kekalainen talk about their philosophy for building the Blue Jackets, it manifests itself in a number of different ways.
One that doesn’t get talked about as much as others is the idea of internal competition and the relentless pursuit of being the next guy up.
They have keyed on drafting. They have made development — environment mixed with culture — a priority, and their partnership with the Cleveland Monsters has gone about as well as they could have hoped. Organizational depth has been a continuing process and it will never end, because the need to restock and reload follows teams around. Right now, the Blue Jackets are seeing it first-hand.
William Karlsson: lost in the expansion draft.
Sam Gagner: lost in free agency.
Boom. Two centers, two key forwards down.
Both players were fixtures in their bottom six and played “specialist” roles that gave John Tortorella more options than he knew what do with. And now that those players are gone, the Blue Jackets have had to rely on depth in different ways to fill holes in their lineup. It doesn’t look the same, it doesn’t pan out the same way, but you could make the argument that the results have been as good or better than they were at this point a year ago.
It’s because, in large part, the Blue Jackets have constructed a system in which players who get called up can contribute and thus stand a good chance of making a case to stay. No one wants to be the guy pushed out by a call-up, and on the flip side, no one wants to be the call-up who shows up for a game and is forgotten.
There’s a drive from within that’s pushing the Blue Jackets forward, ironically at a time when so many people (one of them wrote this piece) believe they need external help to get over the hump.
Sonny Milano makes the team out of camp and scores five goals in his first 11 games.
Oliver Bjorkstrand settles in and, once Josh Anderson signs and Boone Jenner returns, is playing some of his best hockey of the season.
Markus Hannikainen gets an opportunity this week and he’s playing like he wants to stick around.
Tyler Motte is called up from Cleveland after being a last-round cut in training camp, and what happens? He scores in his Blue Jackets debut. John Tortorella challenges him in practice, telling Motte “don’t give me a reason to play someone else” and gives him another shot two days later. Motte earns a spot on the Blue Jackets’ second line, and sure enough, he scores again.
It’s the same story on the back end.
How can Tortorella take Markus Nutivaara out of the lineup? When Gabriel Carlsson comes back from his upper body injury, he might have to earn his way back or wait for someone to play themselves out. The Blue Jackets played one of their quicker and sharper transition games on Thursday and Nutivaara played a key role.
Who the hell knows if this is sustainable? But one thing we do know is that the internal competition is the only carrot Tortorella needs. Play poorly, you sit. Play well, you stay in. And that goes for everyone.
"DARKNESS RISES..."
...And light to meet it. Right, Supreme Leader?
Here's the deal: I don't know if that's Snoke who says "darkness rises" before "and light to meet it" in the most recent teaser for The Last Jedi. Call me skeptical, and I might agree with you, but the two voices just don't sound like they're the same person. Who else could it be? Benecio Del Toro's mysterious DJ?
We're running low on options here, Ted.
[Sorry, that's a cheap Tommy Boy reference]
Maybe it's an editing quirk or a deliberate misdirect – which NEVER happens in a Star Wars trailer – but I'm going to stick to my guns here. That's not Snoke in the beginning, but it's definitely him who says "and light to meet it."
Am I alone here? Anyone?
YOU SHOULD BE READING
- The Blue Jackets' power play scored twice (!) last night against Florida.
- Josh Anderson, who scored two goals last night, is coming into his own.
- The Blue Jackets have nine wins in their first 13 games for the first time...ever.
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