Usually in this space, I try to come up with one major topic or point and run with it. About 1,000 words later, I think I’ve made a good point, though I suspect some of you might not agree.
But today, I think I’m going a bit of a different direction, with a few rapid-fire thoughts on the Columbus Blue Jackets right now. That’s right, it’s a true SvoNotebook!
This is what happens when it’s the holiday season, I suppose, but consider this an emptying out the notebook edition of SvoNotes.
Trade Talk
It appears the Columbus Blue Jackets want to make a trade to add a top-six forward, perhaps a center.
Well, duh.
Ha, I don’t say that to pick on Sam Blazer for putting that piece together. But this has been a major plot point for this team dating back to early in the offseason, and the reality appears to be this team doesn’t appear any closer to that acquisition than it was a few months ago.
The result, I think, has been seen on the ice. The Blue Jackets put together a team that is, for lack of better word, kind of weirdly constructed, leading to continued tweaking of the lines by head coach John Tortorella.
Thinking about it, the team essentially had to break camp with Pierre-Luc Dubois, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Sonny Milano in the lineup. Ideally, the latter two are top-six wingers because of the type of game they play, while Dubois is ... well, he could be a center or a wing and has bounced between the two. He seems to be crafting a foothold now that he's 20 games into his NHL career, but he's still a 19-year-old who is learning the pro game and will thus go through ups and downs.
Bjorkstrand has been occasionally brilliant and largely solid, a welcome progression for the squad. And Milano started like gangbusters and has been inconsistent enough with his defensive play that he's now alternating between a healthy scratch and totally miscast fourth-liner.
But the reality is there's just not enough spots for those guys to really fit where they would be in a perfect world, especially when you figure the presence of wingers Artemi Panarin, Cam Atkinson, Josh Anderson, Booner Jenner, Tyler Motte, etc. Essentially, there's too many wingers and not enough centers, and that's even with someone who's been a winger the past few years now generally playing at center in Nick Foligno.
So, to me, this team is oddly put together at the moment, which is going to result in a few players playing out of position (Foligno, who's effort could never be faulted but is on pace for 12 goals and 31 points) and others simply because of the numbers stuck in an odd-man-out sort of purgatory (Milano).
In other words, it's a roster yearning for a trade down the middle. It won't come easy and it won't likely come cheap. But for a team that seems to legitimately harbor strong playoff hopes, it's a move that eventually has to be and probably will be made.
Ahead Of The Game
Here's a fun chart I saw on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
NHL standings points differential vs. this time last season. The sky is falling in Montreal while Dallas continues to chill where they were last year. pic.twitter.com/rm5VQ8rSWh
— Jordan Dix (@jordan_dix) November 21, 2017
When I said the Jackets harbor legitimate playoff hopes, here's another way to think about it. Last year, the team had by far the best season in franchise history – and this year's team is ahead of that pace as it reaches 25 percent of the year gone by.
Of course, I don't think another 16-game winning streak is in the cards, either. But for Jackets fans, seeing the team put together what appears to be strong back-to-back seasons is uncharted – and awesome – territory.
Speaking of that word awesome, look who's second in the current projections when it comes to winning the Stanley Cup.
Updated projected standings and probabilities for the three games on the schedule tonight: https://t.co/3rTEvYwHGo pic.twitter.com/eFhXTqTYOv
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) November 21, 2017
Do those numbers mean a lot right now? Not particularly. But I remember seeing them rise and rise for the Cleveland Indians two seasons ago, and that turned out pretty well for the Erie Warriors.
Where's Joonas?
Not literally, of course. I'm pretty sure he's been going to practice and living in his Columbus abode, as usual.
But it has been a while – since a Nov. 7 loss to Nashville – since the backup goaltender has seen the ice in a game. In the meantime, Sergei Bobrovsky has started five straight games, giving him 17 starts on the season to Korpisalo's four.
It's not a huge deal now – Columbus just finished up a stretch of just three games in 10 days, so it's not like Bob is gasping for air at this point – but I also feel like few NHL coaches want their starting goaltender on pace to start 66 games before what they hope is a grueling playoff run. (Only Edmonton's Cam Talbot with 73 started more than that number a season ago.)
Again, some of this is because of the Jackets' recent schedule, and I would expect Korpisalo to stand between the pipes at some point in the upcoming run of four games in seven days to end November. But it's also fair to point our Korpisalo's stat line (1-3-0, 3.28 GAA, .896 save percentage, minus-1.84 GSAA) hasn't knocked the socks off of anyone to this point. He's also in a difficult spot, as a 23-year-old playing less than once a week at the moment and trying to stay sharp through it all.
It's enough to make me wonder if this team looks at making a move for a veteran netminder. I think Korpisalo has the tools to be a No. 1 at some point, so I'm not saying it's time to give up on him. But it is worth asking if he or the team is best served with him in his current role.
