Hockey is in the air.
Wednesday marks the official start of the Blue Jackets' 2023 training camp, as they will be doing medicals and fitness testing before hitting the ice on Thursday.
Here are some storylines worth paying attention to throughout training camp, which ends on Oct. 7.
New Head Coach
This was going to be a storyline for Mike Babcock, but he resigned Sunday following a joint investigation by the NHL and NHLPA into photo-sharing allegations. Now, just three days after being introduced as head coach, Pascal Vincent will have to help this group move past the Babcock scandal and focus on winning hockey games.
Stories on CBJ Coaching Change
Is the past week going to be an issue at camp? What will Vincent do to make sure it isn't one? How will his practice methods and systems differ from Brad Larsen's?
Off-season acquisitions
Over the summer, the Blue Jackets acquired two veteran NHL defensemen, Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson, to help boost the blue line for a team that allowed 4.01 goals per game last season. By the end of camp, where will they be in the defensive pairings and who will be their partners? Could they be paired together?
Bubble Players
Is Yegor Chinakhov a lock to make the roster? He's scored just 11 goals in 92 career games and missed 52 games last season due to an ankle injury. The team believes in his talent, as they selected him 21st overall in 2020, but there's an abundance of wingers he'll be competing with. His fellow Russian, Dmitri Voronkov, had a promising showing in Traverse City but showed he still needs time to adjust to the North American style of hockey. With a good camp performance, could he cement his spot on the opening night roster?
DMITRI VORONKOVS FIRST #CBJ GOAL pic.twitter.com/iXLa5NqDzM
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) September 17, 2023
What about Liam Foudy? He played bottom-six minutes last season and improved in the latter part of the campaign, but with a fully healthy roster, is he good enough to be an everyday player?
Exciting Young Talents
Adam Fantilli, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 Draft, highlights the impressive group of players 23 or younger who'll be at camp.
Folks, Adam Fantilli is for real. His first goal as a Blue Jacket was absolutely nasty. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/GtoNtgksPa
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) September 16, 2023
Among that group, there are eight former first-round picks: Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, Chinakhov, Denton Mateychuk, David Jiricek, Adam Boqvist, and Corson Ceulemans. You cannot forget about highly-touted prospects Jordan Dumais, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Stanislav Svozil, James Malatesta, and the franchise's rookie goal-scoring record-holder, Kirill Marchenko.
While this team will only go as far as stars like Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, and Zach Werenski take them, they won't be competitive without significant contributions from their young players.
This is a unique training camp due to the events of the past week, but don't forget about the bevy of storylines taking place on the ice.
