Yesterday, The Athletic published a piece projecting which NHL teams they think will compete for a Stanley Cup in 2028.
Arbitrary? Yes. Subjective? Very. One man's opinion? Absolutely. But it shouldn't be a huge surprise that the Columbus Blue Jackets were picked with the 27th-worst odds of attaining the futuristic target. Put another way, if things break nicely, this organization can make a jump from 29th in the standings today to 27th most likely to win a championship in four seasons.
I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek. I, for the record, am more optimistic about the future of this organization. But it's easy to understand why the lack of optimism permeates, both in Ohio and league-wide. As it stands today, the Blue Jackets (37 points) are twice as close to last place in the NHL (30) than they are to the Eastern Conference second Wild Card spot (53). The organization overpromised this offseason and is underdelivering on ownership's public expectations. In a few months, it will likely (and deservedly) mean the end of this front office's decade-plus command of the roster. I'm good with that. But it doesn't mean that the next 36 games can be wasted.
And they're being wasted.
Pascal Vincent insists that Adam Fantilli being moved to the wing in favor of Boone Jenner was not punitive and is "not gonna affect his development whatsoever." What are we talking about? If Jenner were moved to a Stanley Cup contending team (which, for the record, I think would be good asset management), he would almost certainly slot in as a middle-six winger. In the midst of a rebuild/retool/whatever this is, how can one justify playing Jenner at center when Fantilli is right there? If he were getting caved in on a nightly basis against superior competition, I could understand the want to protect him. But that's not happening. He's figuring out the league, and he will be better for the ups and downs that come along with being a young and inexperienced top-six center.
Similarly, defenseman David Jiricek has been held out of the lineup for the past four games as a healthy scratch. If the Blue Jackets spent the preseason explaining that they would be managing his load, as the Anaheim Ducks did with Leo Carlsson, the decision would be defendable. Instead, reports indicated that Blue Jackets management told the AHL All-Star to get a full-time place in Columbus, then have held him out of the lineup eight times, limited his ice to 14:47 in the 36 games he's played, and yo-yo'ed him back and forth to Cleveland.
To put a finer point on this, Jarmo Kekalainen literally said just two days ago that "he earned his spot on our team" and that "if he's not in the lineup then we want him playing. We don't want him sitting in the press box eating popcorn 'cause he's not gonna get any better doing that". That night, he sat in the press box eating popcorn. What are we talking about?
#CBJ sticking w same lineup tonight vs. #LetsGoOilers, which means rookie D David Jiricek will be a healthy scratch for the eighth time this season.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) January 23, 2024
He hasn't played an #NHL game in two weeks (Jan. 9).
Strange development approach for the fifth-worst team in the league.
In Vincent's defense, there are examples of young players who are clearly progressing in the right direction. Cole Sillinger, Yegor Chinakhov, Kirill Marchenko, and Adam Boqvist all appear to be better than last year. Dmitri Voronkov is a rookie, but I'm mostly pleased with his handling this season. Kent Johnson is probably more-or-less flat year-over-year, but that would be nitpicky. That's where the listing of compliments ends.
At the end of the day, I don't think the Fantilli/Jiricek moves are terrible in a vacuum. If this were a team fighting for a playoff berth, and scratching Jiricek and playing Fantilli on the wing gave the club their best chance to win meaningful games, that would be a compelling argument. Unfortunately for those in charge, it's not reality. This team has nine regulation wins in 46 games, tied for the fewest in the NHL with San Jose and Chicago. Both of those teams, in case you haven't been paying attention, are (correctly) in full-blown rebuild mode. If that number doubled to 18, they would be quasi-competitive. For a team that is unironically terrible, putting its most promising young players in suboptimal positions to grow and develop is negligent. Full stop.
There will likely be staffing changes after the season. I'm not sure how ownership can justify sitting by idly while a rudderless team drifts further into deep waters. But that doesn't solve much for the next few months. Hopefully, the team's young players can develop despite these bizarre and inconsistent personnel decisions, but you'll have to forgive me for lacking optimism.
