Brandon Saad was brought to Columbus to be a difference-maker.
Jarmo Kekalainen moved his chips to the center of table back in June of 2015, sending center Artem Anisimov, prospect Marko Dano and a pick to the cap-strapped Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for their burgeoning young power forward, who was coming off a strong postseason run en route to a second ring by the age of 23.
Saad was and is highly regarded around the league; his combination of skill, power and raw skill are a rare package, and the Blue Jackets were quite intrigued throughout their discussions with Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman. Following the trade, they invested $36 million over six years to their new young cornerstone, and despite two seasons of top-level production in the regular season, they’re comfortable letting him know that they still expect more.
The 24-year-old Pittsburgh native scored 31 a season ago, his first with Columbus following the blockbuster deal and it gained attention around the league. He came back in 2016-17 with 24 goals and 53 points, but his game tailed off in the playoffs and it became a topic of discussion both locally and nationally.
John Tortorella benched Saad, his highest-paid forward, in Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It sent a loud message that what had been going on wasn’t nearly good enough, and even the star players were not exempt from accountability in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen did not duck the question when it was asked in their season-end press conference on Monday at Nationwide Arena.
“That’s the only power that the coaches have over the highly-paid athletes,” Kekalainen said of Saad’s benching. “They get paid for a reason because they’re so good. It’s great that Torts and his staff hold them accountable and that’s what we expect. (Saad) is a young player, he’s 24 years old, and he will get better.”
Saad is a tremendous offensive talent and the numbers back it up; at one point this season, he was in the top-half of the league (among all forwards) in 5-on-5 offense. In other words, when Saad is on the ice, the Blue Jackets stand a good chance of producing scoring chances and his line mates also benefitted from it.
Despite all of that, the player himself admitted to management that his postseason performance was not up to par.
“I think that he’s one of those guys that came into our (post-season) meetings knowing that he has to better, and he will be better,” Kekalainen said. “When you see his best game and his average game, there’s too big of a gap. When he’s at his best, he can be a dominant force in the league and we expect that 82 times a year. There’s no question about it, and he knows it just as well as we do and he wants to get to that.
“I like the fact that everybody has to earn their ice time from Torts; it doesn’t matter who you are, what type of role you have or name you have or paycheck you have, you have to earn your time and that’s the way it should be.”
