What else is there to say?
The Columbus Blue Jackets are circling the drain.
Fresh off escaping with a 6-5 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 14, they were never really in Saturday's 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
Daniil Tarasov made his first NHL start of the season and wasn't granted any early favors following an egregious Johnny Gaudreau turnover 47 seconds into the game ending up in the back of the net. The Blue Jackets were within one goal a couple of times but the Devils kept responding as the Jackets were forced to chase all night.
As Columbus nears the Christmas break, they're 10-17-5, three points ahead of the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference basement. Tuesday's opponent for the Jackets is the Buffalo Sabres, a team with lofty expectations and only four points ahead of Columbus in the standings.
The Blue Jackets show promise and potential on nights when you feel optimistic about what the team is building. The Russian line of Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, and Yegor Chinakhov continues to excel since head coach Pascal Vincent put them together.
They were heavily relied upon in Saturday's loss as Marchenko played a season-high 20:52 and Voronkov played a season-high 17:42. Chinakhov played 19:20. He played a season-high 19:21 against the Leafs last Thursday.
On the other end of the spectrum, Adam Fantilli was dropped to the fourth line as the game progressed. Vincent's reasoning?
Pascal Vincent on the line swap of Alexandre Texier and Adam Fantilli in the third: "I thought Fantilli was fighting it tonight. He was fighting the puck. Things weren't going like he'd be used to. After that (early) turnover, I thought Johnny was pretty good. I wanted to give
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) December 17, 2023
It might not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but there shouldn't be too many instances where you're putting your future top-line center on the fourth line. To serve what purpose? Protecting or sheltering him?
Fantilli hasn't looked out of place this season, and it would be a different story if he has.
I get that coaches will do this with young players, but these games, especially in a season like this one, should be testing out young core pieces in different situations. We talked about this last week in giving players a longer leash. In the very next game, Fantilli was on the top line against Toronto.
With Boone Jenner's injury, it's all the more case of playing your young guys, like Fantilli and Cole Sillinger, the Russian trio, in many different situations to test them and see how they progress with opportunities.
Connor Bedard has been playing on the top line for the Chicago Blackhawks and is 44th among all NHL forwards with 19:30 ice time. He's the Blackhawks' leader among forwards in ice time and he's third among all players on the team.
Fantilli is 13th (15:19). Use Fantilli more.
We know through reports and articles — like Aaron Portzline's interview in The Athletic with the Blue Jackets president of business operations, Mike Priest, last week — that the Blue Jackets ownership is not happy with the way this season has played out. A statement was issued before the season after the embarrassing Mike Babcock fiasco and without specifically saying future changes were coming, the message felt ominous for certain leaders in charge of the hockey operations if the team struggled.
It feels like there could be a general manager change in the offseason, but could it happen sooner? What's the future of president John Davidson with this club?
Can you let Jarmo Kekalainen make decisions that affect this team as we approach the trade deadline? Could he make bold moves to try and save his job? If his job is in jeopardy, and making a move wouldn't save him, you can't let him risk anything that affects the team beyond this season, right?
