No matter what, the Columbus Blue Jackets have been a fun team this season.
That much, the majority of people can agree on. Hell, if you mentioned before the season that this team would be four points out of a playoff spot on Mar. 24, everyone signs up for that.
From having a less than one percent chance of making the playoffs around training camp to where this team is today, the journey throughout the season has been one word: Fun.
Hockey is back! pic.twitter.com/2pA41Vrh7o
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) October 2, 2024
Columbus has defied the odds since day one with how they've rallied and come together even more so around the loss of Johnny Gaudreau.
Head coach Dean Evason, who is absolutely worthy of garnering Jack Adams votes for Coach of the Year consideration, has pushed all the right buttons to get everything he can out of his group. He might not win it, and one can argue Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery already has it wrapped up and should, but Evason's impact is not overlooked.
The Blue Jackets offense, one of the worst last season (2.85 GF/GP, 25th), has been among the best this year (3.14, 11th). Forget for a second the inexplicable scoring drought over the previous few weeks — more on that in a bit.
For just the second time in franchise history, the Blue Jackets have at least five 20-goal scorers, matching the 2018-19 club. That club had seven total players with 20-plus goal campaigns including trade deadline acquisitions Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel.
It's still possible for Mathieu Olivier (16) to become the sixth 20-goal scorer this season with 13 games left to play.
Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins has turned in a fine season, making the second-most starts of his career with 46 (56, 2021-22) and having the second-most wins in his career with 22 (27, 2021-22). He has a 3.04 goals against average, improved from 3.45 last season. Questions still loom about the Blue Jackets' net going forward but there's been more stability this season compared to the previous few years.
So, what happens if this team misses the playoffs, whether by one point or 10 points? With the losses piling up — the Jackets have dropped six in a row (0-5-1) — the jarring drop-off might be surprising, especially with how they're losing.
This time of year, the cream begins to rise to the top. The playoffs are still a month away but as any player and coach will tell you, these are all playoff games. All the finer details are even more evident — checking, defense, star goaltending — particularly amongst those deeper teams with Stanley Cup playoff experience and the elite few with Cup aspirations.
The latest slump is not exactly a shock.
On Presidents' Day Weekend, we outlined the remaining schedule with the Blue Jackets having to contend with the likes of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and several inner-division matchups.
In March, the Jackets are 2-7-1. They beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-3 at the Stadium Series on Mar. 1 and beat the Rangers 7-3 at Madison Square Garden on Mar. 9.
Columbus hasn't won a game in over two weeks, but they're still in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, albeit with the gap between the last playoff spot and where they sit in the standings increasing.
Since that seven-goal output at the Rangers, the Jackets have been shut out three times including against those same Rangers on Mar. 15.
A top-10 scoring offense at home (3.62, 6th), the Blue Jackets went 0-3-1 on their last homestand, getting shut out in three of them and scoring one goal in a game in which they had 46 shots on goal and outshot the New Jersey Devils 24-3 in the third period.
They scored three against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday but played one of their worst games during the stretch, losing 6-3, as accentuated by Evason in the postgame.
Evason: "Tonight, we forced the issue. We cheated, got on the wrong sides of things and lost sides of pucks, wrong sides of people and consequently it ended up in our net. That's not how you play the game. That's not how we play the game." #CBJ
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) March 22, 2025
It could be a blend of the moment getting a little too big for one of the youngest clubs in the NHL and it can also be that the team peaked a little early. They still have a chance to get off the schnied and crack the tournament, too.
Looking through the lens of the previous Blue Jackets seasons, we've all heard the talk about how these games matter for the future. That the future is bright and that's especially true in this sense. The frustration of losses piling up is not lost on anyone, especially the team itself. How these losses have compiled is oddly reminiscent of their Nov. 1-12 stretch in which they also suffered through an 0-5-1 slump, not scoring more than two goals in any game during that stretch.
The frustration of losses piling up all at once and during this time in the schedule is understandable as it feels like their grasp on a playoff spot is becoming ever more unlikely. But would it be any better if the team was mixing in wins with more regularity and still missing out?
The optics of missing out are noticeable either way, but it doesn't have to paint the picture of the season as a whole. It'll primarily be up to what the organization does this offseason and how everyone performs next season with raised expectations, no matter what happens in the final 13 regular-season games.
But it certainly would be a victory for everyone — especially this group — to be among the final 16 teams with a chance, if for no reason other than experience and getting a taste of hopefully more that awaits.
Columbus gets a boost for Monday's matchup against the Islanders as Sean Monahan (wrist) and Erik Gudbranson (shoulder) are expected to return to the lineup.
#CBJ desperately need a win tonight on Long Island, but that's been a tall task in recent years.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 24, 2025
The Jackets are 0-5-1 in their last 6 and 1-8-1 in their last 10 on the road vs #Isles.
UBS Arena is the only active NHL rink in which #CBJ (0-5-1, outscored 27-10) have never won.
Since losing Monahan in January, the Blue Jackets power play is dead-last in the league and just 4-for-51 (7.8%).
From the start of the season until that Jan. 7 game in which Monahan was injured and left the game at Pittsburgh — the Jackets were 2-for-2 on the power play in that game — the power play was 10th in the league (23.9%). They could also use Cole Sillinger who hasn’t played since Feb. 28 when he left with an upper-body injury.
Columbus has fought through a lot this season. The final 13 games with a fighter's punch?
It should be fun.
