Nick Foligno: Gone.
David Savard, too. And Riley Nash.
Boone Jenner? Injured, and done for the year. Zach Werenski? Same thing. Remember Gustav Nyquist? His season was over before it even started.
You know who's played more games with the Blue Jackets than Nyquist this season? Pierre-Luc Dubois. Eight goals and eight assists in 26 games with the Winnipeg Jets, by the way.
So just who are the Columbus Blue Jackets in a post-deadline 2020-2021 season - and what will it look like?
A six-game road trip begins Thursday, with two each against the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blue Jackets will then come home to Nationwide Arena for the remainder of the season, with the exception of a Saturday night in Raleigh for a May 1st game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | ||||
| Mon, Apr 12 |
|
CHICAGO | 7 PM | |||
| Thu, Apr 15 |
|
@ DALLAS | 8:30 PM | |||
| Sat, Apr 17 |
|
@ DALLAS | 8 PM | |||
| Mon, Apr 19 |
|
@ FLORIDA | 7 PM | |||
| Tue, Apr 20 |
|
@ FLORIDA | 7 PM | |||
| Thu, Apr 22 |
|
@ TAMPA BAY | 7 PM | |||
| Sun, Apr 25 |
|
@ TAMPA BAY | 7 PM | |||
| Tue, April 27 |
|
DETROIT | 7 PM | |||
| Sat, May 1 |
|
@ CAROLINA | 7 PM | |||
| Mon, May 3 |
|
NASHVILLE | 7 PM | |||
| Wed, May 5 |
|
NASHVILLE | 7 PM | |||
| Fri, May 7 |
|
DETROIT | 7 PM | |||
| Sat, May 8 |
|
DETROIT | 7 PM | |||
The final five home games come against the Nashville Predators (twice) and the Detroit Red Wings (thrice). The Blue Jackets are just 1-5-0 against the Preds this year, and the weekend debacle against the Red Wings two weeks ago was the spark that led to the fire sale in recent days.
Schedule considered, Columbus likely has somewhere between three and five wins left over the final stretch. The wins and losses don't matter too much at this point. In theory, the losses are actually more valuable: any win is only a feel-good moment, and doesn't mean much in the long-term plans of the franchise. Enough losses though, and the Blue Jackets may find themselves with one of the top picks in the upcoming draft.
All of this leaves the franchise and its decision makers with a choice of whether or not to "tank"? Last month, someone (...ahem...) brought up the idea of tanking. To some, it seemed a bit premature. Perhaps it was. The team was 10-12-6 at the time, but were playing at a level that would make one think they weren't as good as their recover said. (Note: when a team is playing worse than their record indicates and their record is still under .500, that's not good.)
The Blue Jackets now sit at 15-20-8. According to MoneyPuck, their playoff odds sit at 0.2%. HockeyReference is four-fold optimistic, giving them a tantalizing 0.8% chance at the postseason. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic projects Columbus to finish at an even 50 points on the season. That would extrapolate to 73 points over a typical 82-game regular season, which would be the Blue Jackets worst season since 2011-22. For another frame of reference, the inaugural team finished with 71 points.
| RANK | SEASON | TOTAL PTS | PPG | |
| Worst | 2001-02 | 57 (22-47-8-5) | 0.695 | |
| 2nd Worst | 2003-04 | 62 (25-45-8-4) | 0.756 | |
| 3rd Worst | 2011-12 | 65 (29-46-7) | 0.792 | |
| 4th Worst | 2002-03 | 69 (29-42-8-3) | 0.841 | |
| 5th Worst | 2000-01 | 71 (28-39-9-6) | 0.865 | |
| 6th Worst | 2020-21 | 72 (???) | 0.883 |
*points and points per game are based on current record
In a lost season, the best thing that a franchise can do is see what they've got with their younger players. The Blue Jackets will do just that. Alexandre Texier is someone to keep an eye on. He's been bounced around all three forward positions and across all four lines, but this could be the Blue Jackets opportunity to utilize him exclusively as a center - his natural position - for the remainder of the season. He's still just 21-years-old, a fact that is often lost in the shuffle given he's in his third season with the roster.
Texier had three goals in the first four games of the season and four goals in the first seven, but has not scored since late January. After missing two weeks in mid March, Texier has shown a bump in his game, and he's got assists in each of his last three games and has six points in his last nine games.
Another situation to watch involves Eric Robinson. Eligible for the Seattle Kraken in the upcoming expansion draft, Robinson has 11 points in 43 games this season. His speed is something to be desired, but the 25-year-old has struggled to find consistency in his NHL career. The final weeks of the season could be do-or-die for Robinson's future in Columbus.
Columbus also needs to see what they've really got with Kevin Stenlund. The 24-year-old has 20 points in 63 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets, and has five goals and five assists this season in 27 games. He continues to improve though, including on the faceoff dot: In 129 draws last season, Stenlund won 40%. In 170 this year, he's won over 48% of draws. This could be a chance for the Blue Jackets brass to see if he can be a 3rd or 4th line player for seasons to come.
There's one other thing to watch - and this one is not related to seeing what they've got when it comes to talent.
Patrik Laine. His goal in Saturday's loss to the Chicago Blackhawks was his first since March 11th, and it was the second longest streak of his career without a goal. The talent is there, but the 22-year-old has been moved around a bit in head coach John Tortorella's shake-ups. Does the team, as currently construed, have the right players around him? Or does general manager Jarmo Kekalainen need to be in the market for a complimentary player (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?) for the Finnish superstar this offseason?
The Blue Jackets may not have a playoff berth to fight for, but there's still plenty of intrigue and plenty of reasons to watch as a disappointing season comes to an end.
