Training camp is a time of opportunity.
It’s a blank slate, a fresh start, a (insert your favorite sports cliche here). The dawn of a new season is met with unfettered optimism by all 31 NHL teams and over the next three weeks, coaches and GMs will ideally move from a state of uncertainty to something more refined. Many camp rosters begin with 50-plus players, but teams will need to halve that number (and then some) by the week of the season opener.
And for many players who have designs on upsetting their team’s roster decisions, that window of opportunity can quickly close if they don’t control what they can control. In some instances, it doesn’t matter — the other guy was simply better.
The Blue Jackets, as you know, made plenty of headlines a season ago. There were no firings in the season’s first week and the level of panic was a fraction of what it had been the year before. John Tortorella put his stamp on the club beginning with a rigorous training camp and kept them laser-focused throughout a monotonous marathon of a season. They finished with 108 points. That's really good.
It’s no easy task, especially when underperforming teams look up at U.S. Thanksgiving and have a general idea that they're done. Looking ahead is human nature and at times unavoidable, but the Blue Jackets managed to keep their eyes from wandering down the page.
But now is the time for Tortorella to hammer home his most prized message: what you did last year no longer matters. It has no bearing on what lies ahead. Despite the optimism born from the Blue Jackets’ 50-win season in 2016-17, Tortorella quickly reminded them that all their hard work resulted in a postseason stay of 10 days.
Not good enough for him, not good enough for the organization. Their window’s open and it’s time to jump through it. No excuses.
This year’s training camp is marked by several focal point stories, and in this space, we’ll tackle a few of them one-by-one and figure out what it means in the short term and in the big picture.
Paging Josh Anderson
On the surface, nothing about Josh Anderson's performance in 2016-17 screamed “future training camp holdout.” He scored 17 goals — a modest and solid rookie season — but was often plagued by inconsistency and went long stretches without scoring. The Blue Jackets benefited from Anderson when he was on top of his game, as his quickness and tenacity on the forecheck added a valuable element on their third line, but it wasn’t always that way.
Anderson is an important part of their present and future, let’s not forget that, but one would think there to be more reasons than not for him to be signed and ready to go. Anderson’s agent told The Athletic that his client will not report to training camp without a contract (no surprise), however, the real surprise is that his client does not have a contract. Is it hardball from the agent? Is it the Blue Jackets holding firm in their desire to keep their core together at reasonable cost while they can?
It's probably a little bit of both, but either way, the Anderson situation has officially crossed into “distraction” territory, which isn’t good for anyone.
Uncertainty at Center
Thank goodness the Blue Jackets got Alexander Wennberg signed, right?
That’s mostly a joke.
But in all seriousness, the depth at center ice needs to be called into question; Wennberg’s entrenched as the No. 1 center. No issues there. Beyond him, though, there are some trouble spots. Brandon Dubinsky had offseason wrist surgery and is unlikely to participate in training camp or the preseason (most veteran players won’t shed tears about that), and there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready for the Oct. 6 opener against the New York Islanders.
Who’s left, you may ask? Well, should Dubinsky be sidelined to start the season, it’s a virtual certainty that Pierre-Luc Dubois makes the team — but he may be needed even if Dubinsky can play. The Blue Jackets are looking at Dubois to slide into the No. 3 center spot vacated by William Karlsson, and ideally, he will give them an offensive jolt where Karlsson was more of a defensive specialist. Lukas Sedlak’s name is in Sharpie for one of the final two center positions, and beyond him, one of Tyler Motte or Jordan Schroeder could also work into the mix.
The Blue Jackets have maintained their trade interest in Colorado’s Matt Duchene, and boy, adding a dynamic player like that would go a long way to solidifying their center depth in the hellacious Metropolitan Division.
Bob’s Gotta Be Bob
This is an important year for the Blue Jackets, and at the heart of it is their 28-year-old goaltender coming off a second Vezina Trophy season. Sergei Bobrovsky was incredible in 2016-17 and, if it’s possible, was even better than his last Vezina campaign that nearly got the Blue Jackets into the playoffs during the lockout-shortened 2013 season. With that being said, the pressure is on for Bobrovsky; a notorious slow starter, he won’t have the World Cup of Hockey to get him up and running this year — he will need to get his game on track during training camp and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he plays 4-5 exhibition games.
With his current contract winding down (one that pays $7.425 million annually) and the potential for a mega-deal on the horizon if his dominance continues, there’s a lot on the line for Bobrovsky this season. None more so than the fate of his team, which goes as he goes.
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