By Antoine Mathieu, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
QUEBEC CITY, QC. — I started my series ’30 NHL Teams in 30 Days’ on Saturday with a bang by putting the Lightning as my top pick for the Atlantic division. Today, I will be revealing my choice for the Metropolitan division!
2014-15 METROPOLITAN DIVISION
- Columbus Blue Jackets
2013-14 summary: Columbus Blue Jackets
Regular season record: 43 — 32 — 7, 93 points, Wild Card spot in the East, eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in six games.
No I’m not insane, I really have the Blue Jackets as the top seed in the Metropolitan division.
I am a huge fan of their team and given all the question marks surrounding the other top teams in that division: Penguins (coaching change plus influx of new players), Rangers (top players declining and loss of players) and the Flyers (shaky defense), I think Columbus has a solid chance of coming out on top. I’m sure the Blue Jackets surprised many hockey fans last spring by giving the Penguins a run for their money. If it hadn’t been for a lack of experience, they could have very well won their first playoff series in franchise history.
Their team identity is to be known as a team that’s annoying to play against. They finish their checks, they’re always back checking and they’re not afraid to crash the net. Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards has made sure to implement a blue collar mentality among his players. They’re big, they’re fast, they’re skilled and they’re defensively responsible. I would go as far as saying that they’re the LA Kings of the East. Ironically, the Blue Jackets tied for first in the league for hits with guess which team? Yep, the Kings. In terms of physical presence Columbus has: Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Johansen, Nick Foligno, Boone Jenner, Scott Hartnell, Jack Johnson, Dalton Prout, Jared Boll and James Wisniewski.
They have depth everywhere but particularly on defense. Jack Johnson may not be among la crème de la crème on D but he’s still a top pairing defenseman who can be used in all situations. Fedor Tyutin is a solid two way defender with almost 700 NHL games under his belt. James Wisniewski, who’s a familiar name for Habs fans, is a constant threat offensively (51 points last year). Ryan Murray should continue his nice progression and justify why he was picked ahead of Alex Galchenyuk in the 2012 NHL draft. David Savard is another player we don’t hear often about who’s quietly building a name for himself.
The biggest concerns I have about their roster is their offense: did Johansen and Dubinsky overachieve? I don’t think Johansen did, he will most likely play more than the 17:38 minutes a game he did last season and should be closer to the 19:02 minutes he was playing in the playoffs. Dubinsky on the other hand, I’m less sure about. It will largely depends on who he plays with (he’s mostly a playmaker) and the matchups Richards assigns him.
Can Nathan Horton remain healthy? His shoulder and concussion problems are definitely worrisome. Considering the money involved in his contract (7 years for a total of $37.1M), this is one deal that could turn out to be ugly if his problems don’t go away. Horton has shown glimpses that he can be a first liner (back-to-back 62 point seasons with Florida) but the more frequent his injuries are, the less he’s ever likely to produce that kind of offense with Columbus.
Can Hartnell produce without Claude Giroux? I think ultimately the answer is no. Hartnell is on the tail end of his career and with his skating deteriorating every year, I don’t think he’ll play in their top six for very long. He had nice bounce back season following a disastrous shortened season (12 points in 32 games) but I don’t think that’s enough to think that he’ll be able to perform that way in the Columbus. I think Hartnell (and his production) will deeply miss Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
But one player’s bad luck is another player’s luck… I could see Boone Jenner earning himself a spot in their top six and producing 20 goals and 40 something points next season. Jenner had 16 goals and 29 points in his first NHL season playing only 14:04 a game and with practically zero power-play time. Jenner particularly shined in the playoffs where he scored three goals and added two assists for five points in six games.
Will Cam Atkinson and Artem Anisimov take the next step? I think Anisimov has plateau’d and won’t be anything more than a good third line center. Atkinson on the other hand is a bit trickier to project. He scored 21 goals playing mostly on the third line and he’s shown in other leagues (AHL, NCAA, USHS) that he can dominate. Considering that forwards with size is not something the Blue Jackets are lacking, I could see Atkinson keeping his progression and getting 50 points with a Nick Foligno or Brandon Dubinsky doing the dirty work for him.
This is a team that’s without a shadow of a doubt on the rise! Johansen just had a breakout season, Murray just came off a relatively solid rookie season and they have a young net minder by the name of BOBROVSKY! Jay Onrait’s favorite goalie proved this year that his Vezina season was no fluke and that he’s among the elite in net. Players like Atkinson, Foligno, Anisimov and Letestu are solid depth players and they all bring different elements. Let’s not forget that although it seems like they’ve been in the league forever, Johnson (27 years old) and Dubinsky (28 years old) are just starting to enter their prime. They also have a great general manager in Jarmo Kekalainen who’s shown that he’s not sleeping on the job like some GMs (cough) Kevin Cheveldayoff (cough).
Quick facts about Columbus:
- Columbus was 11th in the league for Goal For/Goal Against differential, I think they will be knocking in the 8-10 range this year with a more experienced defense and a healthy Bobrovsky.
- They were 12th in the league for Goals Against, I expect them to finish in the top 10 for that statistic for the reasons mentioned above.
- Only 10 teams reached 100 points last season, I expect Columbus to be among that group this season.
On Monday, I will reveal my pick for third place in the Eastern Conference next season!
Feel free to comment below.
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