"They’re going to avenge that series loss to the Pens."
"They’re a trendy pick with the experts!"
"This is the time to go all-in on hockey in Columbus."
Well, shit. I swore I'd never be That Guy. You know the guy who watches a little bit of playoff hockey, gets swept up in the local team’s run, and refuses to shut up about it for the next few weeks? That Guy.
But that's exactly who I was heading into the 2014-15 season.
That playoff series lit a spark inside of me. A steady flow of PBR and karaoke bravado fanned the flames. Getting an internship with the team dumped gasoline on the fire. The resulting takes were so hot that I just had to tell my non-hockey-watching friends. Repeatedly. And never shut up about it.
Can you blame me?
"It’s finally going to happen this year."
(Narrator voice: It didn’t)
A campaign marred with injuries whose spots were filled by waiver claims brought the 2014-15 Blue Jackets cratering back down to earth. They couldn’t score. They couldn’t defend. They couldn’t stay healthy. They couldn’t win. They couldn’t even tank! Two incredible hot streaks – 10-1-1 in December and 15-1-1 to finish the season – took them out of the Connor McDavid sweepstakes.
(But let’s not kid ourselves – nothing can stop Shitty Oilers Lottery Voodoo)
Jack Skille, Jeremy Morin and Brian Gibbons saw extended action. In 98 combined games, they combined for just 19 points. Human Charging Penalty Corey Tropp played 61 (!!!) games. Jordan Leopold’s daughter couldn’t take it anymore. A team that seemed destined for greatness plunged into irrelevance.
It's easy to be paranoid and give entirely too much credence to coincidental parallels between that squad and this one, but…
A promising team that got knocked off by the Penguins in the first round? Check. Pre-season injuries to Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky? Check. A young forward holding out through camp at the advice of his agent, with animosity bleeding into the public eye? Check.
And yet, after attending a few preseason games and playing a few games of NHL on my Xbox, I’m back in full-on That Guy mode.
No, not *that* Guy…
"It’s finally going to happen this year."
It’s easy to get fixated on the parallels and look past all the growth that’s happened since then.
For example, I’m no longer downing PBRs, and my karaoke days are likely in the rear-view as well. Instead, I’m sipping on a CBC Bodhi. The most recent thing on my credit card statement is a candle from Bath and Body Works. (Okay, it was six candles, shut up). I went from that internship to a full-time role in the NFL, then one in the NHL, then left the sports industry entirely, eager to return to the city I love and dive into a non-sports job that allows me to have a life outside of the office. I'd like to think that's an improvement.
Likewise, Cam Atkinson has improved markedly each year. So has Alexander Wennberg, going from 20 points in 2014-15 to 59 last season.
Jack Johnson and David Savard, miscast as the top pair on that team, are now one of the league’s best second pairings. That’s a distinction they (and the Blue Jackets) perhaps owe to that 2014-15 team’s misfortunes.
That 15-1-1 finish pushed the Blue Jackets back to eighth in the 2015 draft, a pick they used on a guy named Zach Werenski. His blueline partner, Seth Jones – a rare blend of size, skating ability, skill and smarts – came over in a one-for-one trade for Ryan Johansen, the breakout star of that 2013-14 team.
The new guy ain't so bad, either.
WARNING: #CBJ pic.twitter.com/nYnmJc8vvE
— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) September 29, 2017
He wouldn’t be here without Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, and Tropp, all from that 2014-15 team, who got the Jackets two years of Brandon Saad, and, in turn, the Breadman.
This isn’t a top-heavy team, either. Ryan Murray may be the best third-pairing defenseman in the league, capable of moving up in the event of an injury. Nick Foligno bounced back after a tough campaign last season, and provides John Tortorella with a high-end Swiss-army knife.
Matt Calvert’s still out here hustling and scoring memorable shorthanded goals.
Oliver Bjorkstrand was dynamic in his second stint with the team last season, and hasn’t had much trouble scoring at any level so far in his career. Sonny Milano may be on the verge of putting it all together, as he cracks the opening night roster. Last year’s third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois is set to join him. Lukas Sedlak and Markus Nutivaara should make strides this year after coming out of nowhere to make the roster last season.
And of course, it helps to have a goalie who can do this:
Sergei Bobrovsky? Good. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/K8TGMsTbUU
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 1, 2017
Maybe all that struggle was worth it. Maybe it’s time to be That Guy again.
"No, really, It’s finally going to happen this year."
This isn’t a team that scraped its way into the playoffs and unexpectedly put up a fight. This was one of the best teams in the league last season – chock full of youth – that’s back with another year of experience, pissed off and looking for vengeance, regression be damned. This isn’t Blue Jackets Hockey™ anymore. It hasn’t been for a while.
Go ahead, temper your expectations. Tell yourself that the center depth just isn’t there, or that they’re going to dearly miss Sam Gagner, Scott Hartnell and William Karlsson. You may be right! But where’s the fun in that? That’s the safe play – and that’s not what this team is about.
Why should you be That Guy? Because, as Torts would say, Safe is Death.
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