Lots of Work to be Done in Columbus Following Disappointing Season 

Shannon made a video so expect the cleaning of the entire Columbus staff lol

Despite consistent mediocrity, Columbus has one of the highest attendance rates in the league. The city loves this team to death. Only wish they could contend like the Crew does.

In defense of Johnny he's still been their leading scorer since signing. Think that tells you more about the team than it does about Gaudreau.

Columbus is the ultimate league enigma; I have no idea what they do next season because this past season fully imploded upon them.

The frustrating thing about any analysis of the Jackets is that it always ends with a shrug. We are directionless so it's hard to say what our first step should be.

I love the jackets but we’re such a mess lol

CBJ needs an identity and I think it starts with a structured defense.

I'm curious to see what's going to happen with Nylander now. Was that amazing start the level he can consistently stay around, or is he really more of the end of the season player. The best way to predict the future is often said to be to look at the past, but that change of scenery and proper minutes to play did something to him.

The problem with the Blue Jackets isn't that they don't have the pieces to win -- this is admittedly possibly a homer take, but I believe their forward group is strong and the defensive and goalie corps should be better than it is --, but that *the pieces are playing worse than the sum of its parts.* There are great players on the roster (again, homer take), but they haven't gelled properly (yet?). That seems like a problem in coaching and roster management. The new GM will have quite a lot to say about roster management, so we'll see what happens there. With respect to coaching, I don't know which is more likely: (1) Pascal Vincent & co. were abruptly hired/elevated in the wake of such a dumb situation that didn't allow them to adequately settle in with the team and prepare for the season, (2) Pascal Vincent was simply overwhelmed by his first year as an NHL Head Coach, or (3) this coaching staff is teaching a philosophy that doesn't work with the talents on the roster. (1) and (2) could be resolved after a normal offseason, and this, unfortunately, will likely not be a normal offseason as a new GM will be hired. Solving (3) is probably done by changing the philosophy of the coaching staff, changing the coaching staff, and/or changing the roster.

I would like to add that a few weeks ago Laine did sell his house in Columbus, not sure how that should be interpreted but definitely intriguing

Thanks THG literally just went on break at work 😂

All the yrars of futility, and whats a constant? Davidson. He may be comfortable runnibg a team, he's just never been good at it, even going back to his time in New York

I hope Columbus will find a destination for Elvis. You can tell how different the team played this year when he was in net compared to other goalies. He’s too unpredictable both in his reactions and performance. And I don’t see the team taking the next step with him being one of the things holding them back.

I really don't know what they can do at this point, the team just lacks a clear direction

Retire Davidson for the love of the hockey gods

Gaudreau makes 9 MILLION PER....what the hell is going on these days 😮

Realistically all Columbus needs is a GM with a vision and enough balls to go for it, as well as a competent coaching staff. Their assets and prospects are easily above average in NHL and all you really need is for someone to develop the prospects and assemble the puzzle from the assets they have, trading away pieces they don't need for others that they do. The question is, will the owner and the owner's representatives approve of increased investments into the management, or will they keep on trying to save a few million per year on this area so that the 80+ million investments they have on players will never amount to anything.

Wow to have that much cap space amidst all the bad contracts on there is surprising

The NHL could never move the team because A. The Art Modell law and B. Even with the terrible season, highest attendance in 20 years Blindly following losing franchises out of sheer *loyalty* is just part of Ohio's DNA. Saying this as a CBJ, Browns, Guardians, and Cavs fan.

As a CBJ fan…like I don’t even know man. There’s just no identity with this team and there isn’t really a future plan (thanks Jarmo). We have loads of great prospects, but none of it matters if we can’t even be competitive. All we can hope for is the new GM comes in and cooks. I’d prefer Vincent to be gone, just for a restart, but I am leaning towards him staying. Obviously all depends on the GM hire though.

No more crazy ideas - Ottawa fan

It's obvious, start with a proven new front office.

I noticed that they lost so many games by one goal, they are almost there, just need this final push.

I believe they could draft third if philly wins and moves up to 2nd, then CBJ gets drawn 2nd but philly won so theyll keep 2nd and CBJ gets 3rd. Its absurdly specific but possible

Gudbranson having a surprisingly good season was wild lol

Thanks for pronouncing the name right in french. From a habs fans you're the best for trying to say those names right

My biggest positives now are that we look better at Center and Goal than last year (which was very concerning). My biggest concern is still the defense. We need Jiricek to develop and 2 or 3 more "Jiriceks".

Next up, Montreal! Looking forward to your take on the third year of their rebuild.

The CBJ dragging their feet on this GM hire is nonsensical and really illustrates their problems with the JK/JD regime. Great coaches are available right now.

Columbus just needs another bottom pairing D and give the guy $4 mil with term.

team defense zone cover might help get into playoffs?

I know it was his rookie seasin and can't be put to great pressure, but still I had hopes of seing more impressive performance of Adam Fantilli as he was regarded so high in the 2023 Draft. But hopfully he will continue to develop his craft and experience to become that promising center!

Blew so many games in the third period this season. That sounds like a coaching issue. He didn’t make adjustments.

I don't blame Columbus for trying to sigh a player like Gaudreau, but everyone on the outside absolutely saw it as him going somewhere with zero expectation/pressure to win.

After watching tonight's game in Toronto, I feel OK being a Columbus fan. If they never get my hope up then they can never let me down!

Been a disappointing year once again . But I think goaltending has to be top in improvement next year . And keep developing the young talent . But what about Boone said nothing about the captian. They need to push it .

Disappointing feels like an understatement for them

Ok, crazy idea… Goudreau for Huberdeau one-for-one? Because of the length of the Huberdeau contract , the flames would have to retain some salary (2-3m?) but these are two players that have been disasters with their current teams… I just want to see these two turn around their careers… even if it makes the hated Flames stronger… As for Laine, my wet dream since his draft year has been to see him on McDavids right side in Edmonton but I don’t think they need or want him or if the assets are there on either side but I’ve always thought he could be great on that line.

Gaudreau and Merzlekins to Calgary for Hubs and Markstrom - Calgary signs Monahan in the offseason and they have a decent scoring line again. Elvis and Wolf can be a decent goaltending tandem too.

#CBJ #CBJ It is difficult to predict without a GM. I'd like to see them trade Elvis, I think it would be good for both parties. I hope they make a deal with Texier, Marchenko, Sillinger, Chinakov and Neylander, these guys could be a solid core forwards and centers. At times they have been very competitive, with the right pieces they could push for the playoffs. I am uncertain about Pascal VIncent, he hasnt shown alot, but he had to step in late after the Babcock fiasco so he might have better success if he was the coach from the beginning of the year. We shall see, thanks for your channel Shannon, always like to hear your opinion.

Columbus may have had the worst offseason and preseason of any team I can ever remember. Philadelphia and Columbus reworked their entire defense. It worked well in Philadelphia. They went from 20th in shots against the year before 31.5 SAPG to 2nd 27.1 SAPG. Columbus went from 31st 35.4 SAPG to 31st 34.4 SAPG. Yikes. This offseason and preseason will be better if they do nothing.

I just want us to make the playoffs, come on man!

From a Sabre's perspective, a 4-year playoff drought is nothing. Columbus is just getting started...

Blue jackets are stuck in a quagmire.

Here's to hoping next season is better.

They are just going to have to wait for the kids to impove

Early in the season, I kept hearing talk in hockey media about how Columbus had so many defensemen that they would simply have to trade at least one of them, for some reason never specified (it wasn't the salary cap). That seemed strange to me for a rebuilding team. Then later in the season, the talk was about how terrible their team defense was. I guess I was right to doubt the experts on this matter.

Give me back my Fligy

The logo looks like it should be for a team named the silver stars or the shooting stars not the blue jackets

Looking forward to Calgary's video

Babcock is giggling

it’s time for a culture change. more than the players on the ice, the jackets need to change the losing culture that’s permeated the team since 2000.

Do you use a ruler when filling out your whiteboard?

I needed some financial advice some time ago, so I called the best in business, right? Guddy's agent hung up after I insisted to know how he keeps getting him these multi-year 4 million deals and if he could get me one too

They can retain 1mill on gubrandson, trade him (assuming someone would take him at 3mill for 2 years) and have jiricek play next season and be saving 2mill overall. Would seem like a reasonably smart move.

Wishing to see Laine back...

Jiricek isn't even the best Dman on the team when he's in Cleveland. Sure, he seems to show up on the score sheet, but that doesn't forgive the turnovers and lack of hustle that we see all the time.

How can you view LTIR cap circumvention the same as getting a team to take on a portion of a players salary? To get a team to take salary you have to give up an asset...

We will only get better once Davidson is gone!

Players like Laine kind of define their identity.

It goes to show how hard predicting player performance is. On paper Laine and Gaudreau should be quite good together. Sadly not so good on the ice. 40 more goals from them and they would have been in the hunt for a wildcard spot. All a gm can do is make predictions and keep changing pieces until he gets a good combo or he is fired.

As a columbus fan I’m leaning really hard towards not keeping Vincent. I really don’t see the upside and I really don’t like his bench presence. Doesn’t strike me as an NHL coach at all

I think the identity this team needs starts with getting Elvis Merzlinkins off the team. I rooted for him to bounce back, but his overly skittish net play and ego were severe detriments. I think there's promise for Vincent as a HC, the players never quit on him and he can iron out some of his mistakes. Columbus has a lot of ground to make up to catch up with the other teams that are that much better. Might be a hot take, but the Blue Jackets fans need to let go of that sweep of the Lightning; it's served as a catalyst for everything that's gone wrong with the organization since of proving how not ready they really were for "all in" moves.

Columbus can only draft 3rd if PHI wins the first drawing and CBJ wins the second, because SJS and PHI will be locked 1 and 2

Columbus feels like a team that was cobbled together by making deals on a console game. It's a Frankenstein's monster of a team that doesn't seem to fit together. Of course they were Babcocked to begin the season so they might be better next season, maybe. No GM in their right mind will take Elvis with that contract...OK. Ken Holland will probably trade for him.

The exact moment that defines how CBJ has been the last few years and encompass the entire definition of the team was when Pierre Luc Dubois skated that half assed shift and got torned into by torts. PLD didn't give a shit and thats how the management and players have been since then, just not caring at all.

They are in a rebuild. They just believed it would be over quicker than it’s going foolishly. They need to stick to it for another year or two. The prospects are coming.

Columbus will be very happy with Mateychuk because he is a great two-way defenceman with leadership qualities because he is currently the captain of the Moose Jaw Warriors

IMHO Davidson stays on as GM to my recollection he was brought in at trade deadline , That to me signals a show me attitude, given the rest of the season to assess the team

I do expect Laine to be on the move if he gets back to playing that is. Now who would be interested.. don't know.

How many more years on the "johnny no playoff hockey" contract?

Pascal Vincent did the team no favors. His use of the young kids was pretty terrible. That far out of the playoffs and still can't play Jiricek and is going to bounce around Johnson and Sillinger and even Fantilli. He just isn't an NHL coach.

about the only thing i disagree with is saying silly leaves something to be desired, he’s one of the players where when the coach puta him on the ice he knows he’s getting 100% for each and every shift. couldn’t ask for more tbh

How in the world did anyone think the CBJ should be “better” and a “big jump”? Remained mediocre but finished bottom 5. I’m confused. What’s mediocre in the nhl? Can the hockey guy explain this to me?

Put Drake the Pup Star in the line up!

Why do Johnny hockey and Laine suck in Columbus? I don't get it.

Would love Columbus to show signs of life. Merzlikens needs to go just to get the memories from the Matīss Kivlenieks incident out of his head. We had better scoring this year than I've seen in a while, but defense is not good. Just my opinion.

Marner for Laine :)

Laine will never score 40 again, nevermind 50.

Columbus will do what they always do. Make just enough changes to get everyone excited. Then remain completely mediocre as they always do.

The bluejackets are still in the NHL? I didnt notice

i will be VERY sad and upset with the league if Voronkov isn't nominated for the calder this year

Every year, it's the same song and dance "this is a young team with a bright future, and hey, they picked up that veteran to help out." It's time to blow this thing up from the top down and build a real team. Also bring back Torts!!

The refrain every season now is, "We've got a lot of interesting potential, we might be good in a couple of years!" It's pretty obvious that that's the best case scenario at the moment. Just waiting and hoping all these guys develop. A lot of spare parts got scrapped this season, much to the delight of quite a few people. Elvis is probably getting kicked out, and they will keep moving on from the older guys who don't fit the window... maybe Texier, Bean, Laine too. Provorov can be gone next season and then we're waiting for defense and center depth to show up. Because you were never winning with that defense... there was no compliment to the weaknesses of Provorov and Severson, and the triple-headed monster of Peeke, Bean, and Boqvist weren't it. Elvis - probably gone, so maybe Tarasov and Jet are your tandem next season, as long as Tarasov doesn't get hit by the Nationwide injury hex again. No playoff team would have Boone Jenner as a 1st line center playing 22 minutes a game, but they didn't want to hear trade proposals, so that's fun for us. The AHL affiliate rebranded and it went well - this would be a great time to rebrand. Plenty of people want the canon to be the primary logo at the very least. Who knows about the coach and GM. Keep Backstrom, maybe give Vincent another season, clear out much of the rest of the house. Who knows. It's going to be another bad year, just waiting and hoping and trying to enjoy guys like Malatesta and Brindley and Fantilli taking the next steps.

Can they step above mediocricy at last? Gonna take some work...

Reunite Elias Lindholm with Johnny Gaudreau?

First they should change that awful logo

As long as 'little johnny' is in Columbus, they can suck! Am I a sore Flames fan? YUP!

Fire Pascal Vincent and play the kids that's all we ask for as CBJ fans.

J.D. needs to go. New GM needs to be in place for the draft. I would have a long look at assistant coaches. PP and PK are absolutely horrendous. Particularly the PP.

Oh Ohio

They need to ship Laine as soon as possible, his career trajectory has turned into a freefall.

They need a total rehaul. Incompetent management, lame name, boring jersey, etc. Just totally uninspiring.

Pascal needs to go. He was putting Laine as a 1C over Fantilli when Jenner was out with an injury. That's inexcusable.

Liaine is probably the most dissappointing NHL career I know. After 2 great seasons, he's been a total BUST!

Maybe if they hire Quenneville...?

This team has been a disgrace to it's fans. Jackets fans show up and show year in and year out. Only people in that building who actually seemed to hate losing was Torts, Dubinsky, and Foligno. The whole team is just a cancer with no true leadership in the room - always accepting of mediocrity. Never having a guy to rely on when you need a goal with 2 minutes left. Jackets fans are so hopeful that Fantilli is that guy for us. And by all accounts my actually be the guy who changes the mentality in that room - that is a guy who HATES losing. I hope everything works out for him. The team has been boring and irrelevant for years. The jerseys suck and nobody treats them like a real franchise - they have been nothing more than a garbage filler teams for over 20 years. No accountability or drive or emotion ever shown. It's just such a mediocre environment and always has been

Ey Blues fans- could be worse; we could be Columbus

This team sucks Trade Laine to Carolina

Laine is easily the most frustrating piece here. Cannot stay healthy… Ever. And now, because he’s seemingly made of glass and misses 40 some games per season, (every season) now claims to have mental and emotional issues in response to fan-based criticism of his physical health. Wishing they’d just move him. But, like Elvis, who’s that gullible to take them?