Excellent, great, good and fine.
It's easy to tier the Blue Jackets forward groups. You have one of the best in Artemi Panarin, and after that, you have a downward slope where the amount of players only seems to get larger.
They also seem to oscillate from tier to tier, which makes the Blue Jackets all the more difficult to grade as a whole.
Which veteran is going to produce? Who's going to fall out of John Tortorella's favor? Are certain players going to be leaned on during key moments, or are we going to see a truly balanced group of lines?
The variables for the forwards should frustrate fans, while the other units are more sure-fire. This group feels like it could do anything, from score the most goals in the league to not scoring for a week. But that's the best part of this group – the potential puts them in a stratosphere we haven't encountered before.
What's New:
Looking at the forward group, the only new additions are Riley Nash and Anthony Duclair. They're both going to provide great value for what they are as players, and both can pitch in offensively, making this truly a four-line team. That's the stark advantage the Blue Jackets will have over many of their opponents: they'll be able to throw any line out there, and they should expect to drive play and create offense.
What's Great:
This is an easy one. The first line of the Blue Jackets should be one of the better first lines in the NHL if they continue on what they built a year ago. Artemi Panarin is all-world, Cam Atkinson is above-average and if Pierre-Luc Dubois continues his ascent, he could end up as one of the best young forwards in the NHL by season's end.
Toss that line in with the depth they have, and you begin to understand why everyone is so bullish on the Blue Jackets.
What's Concerning:
It should concern some that the Blue Jackets are planning to prominently play a couple of guys that are on the wrong side of 30 that have mega-contracts. That should give some pause. Nick Foligno has proven that he can more than handle his own, but if Brandon Dubinsky begins drawing tough assignments consistently, he will find himself in the dog house.
If both don't perform, who can replace those minutes? That should concern Blue Jackets fans leaning on the idea of the team's depth – is it truly as strong as everyone believes?
What To Watch:
I would keep an eye on how each center stacks up in the grand scheme of things. Outside of Dubois, it shouldn't be a surprise to see any of those players moving throughout the lineup. Alex Wennberg, Dubinsky, and Nash are going to be in a "battle royale" of sorts. All can be playmakers if need be, but it doesn't feel like any of them will make a difference. The first forward that truly impresses is going to get a major leg up and subsequently more points throughout the season.
How They Stack Up:
Not necessarily the best, but I wouldn't stack them up as the worst either. I am a bit more wishy-washy on this forward core than many. Panarin drags this team to a better graded out ranking than other forward groups, and the fact that they have Duclair and a player like Sonny Milano in their bottom six shows that they'll be able to play with most forwards. Whether they make it out as one cohesive unit that carries their own weight will be the true test.
