What do we know about the 2024-25 Columbus Blue Jackets?
They're resilient. We knew that much before the team hit the ice and they displayed as much in their home opener against the Florida Panthers when they honored fallen teammate Johnny Gaudreau.
They can be hard to play against. The Blue Jackets had their first winning October since 2021-22 under then-first-year head coach Brad Larsen. The club has hired three head coaches since the last time they finished above .500 in the opening month of the season, going 5-3-1. Through the first 14 games, the Blue Jackets have been in just about all of them, save for a few lopsided results.
#CBJ have recorded points in 4-straight games (3-0-1) to finish the month of October at 5-3-1.
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) October 31, 2024
The .611 points percentage is the 4th-highest for the month in franchise history, trailing only .682 in Oct. 2007 (7-3-1), .667 in Oct. 2017 (8-4-0) and .625 in Oct. 2021 (5-3-0).
The 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets was a one-goal game in the second period before the Jets sped away. At 14-1-0, they haven't lost since that meeting. The Washington Capitals never had any trouble with the Jackets en route to a 7-2 win the next night.
During its California road trip, Columbus couldn't solve Vitek Vanecek who is only 2-5-1 on the season but is a perfect 7-0-0 (.950 SV%, 1.55 GAA) against Columbus in his career. Vanecek made a career-high 49 saves in the 2-1 overtime win on Nov. 5. Against the Los Angeles Kings, the Blue Jackets scored first again but L.A. scored three in the third period to seal a 5-2 win.
The next night, Columbus outshot the Ducks 40-30 and had a majority of the scoring chances but couldn't get many goals by John Gibson, who made his season debut off emergency appendectomy surgery in September, as the Ducks won 4-2.
The Kings game is one in which head coach Dean Evason and his players liked parts of their game but turnovers led to goals. Against the Sharks and Ducks, they were probably due a better fate but this is part of the game.
In October, the Blue Jackets scored seemingly at will, setting franchise records for goals with 33 tallies through the club's first eight games.
#CBJ have scored 6 goals in each of the last two home games (also 6-2 W vs. Toronto on Oct. 22), marking just the 2nd time in franchise history they have scored 6 or more goals in consecutive home games (Apr. 6-16, 2024 vs. Philadelphia and Carolina).
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) October 29, 2024
As Evason alluded to after Sunday's loss to the Ducks, goal scoring is streaky and now it's streaky in the bad way.
"Goal scoring's funny," Evason said. "It goes in streaks that a few weeks back, we couldn't miss and pucks were finding their way in. We were getting some bounces and all that good stuff. Now it's gone the other way a little bit."
In the three games in California, at 5x5, #CBJ had more shot attempts (182-123), shots on goal (87-59) and high-danger chances (38-21) than their opponents and lost all three games.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) November 11, 2024
Good news: CBJ has the puck. They're creating. But when you don't finish, you're not very happy.
Goaltending is still among the larger question marks with this club. We wondered how Elvis Merzlikins would respond in a big year for him after a tumultuous season in which he dealt with injuries, illness, and on-ice struggles. President and general manager Don Waddell alluded over the offseason to wanting to do everything they could to get the most out of him. He also acknowledged the unlikely event of a trade because no team would take that contract.
Per MoneyPuck, Elvis Merzlikins is 48th among all goalies with a -1.8 goals saved above expected in 5v5 situations. Daniil Tarasov is 59th at -3.0.
The Jackets want to get a win on their five game road trip and Tuesday is the final chance as they take on the Seattle Kraken at 10:00 p.m. ET. They'll battle the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arena on Friday night and they'll travel to Montreal to take on the Canadiens on Saturday night.
