COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Columbus Blue Jackets:
Item No. 1: Jiricek’s wait
David Jiricek was a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets’ first four games of the season, even though they could have easily sent him up I-71 to AHL Cleveland to keep him playing and active. One gets the sense, though, that Jiricek was kept in Columbus as a test.
As noted often in this space, the relationship between the Blue Jackets and the No. 6 pick in the 2022 draft has not always been smooth. There was a stretch last season where it was downright contentious as he languished with AHL Cleveland even after being told earlier in the season to “get a place” in Columbus.
Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell and coach Dean Evason have given Jiricek an opportunity for a fresh start, but they won’t simply grant him a spot in the lineup. Remember, Jiricek isn’t their No. 6 pick.
Given Jiricek’s struggles in training camp and the preseason — he opened in a top-four spot beside Ivan Provorov but eventually slid down the depth chart due to his play — he wasn’t in the lineup when the season started.
So why keep him here? Jiricek did not need to clear waivers to head to Cleveland.
One thought is they wanted to avoid another dust-up with Jiricek, who spoke openly last season of his disappointment in being sent down, and his agent, Allan Walsh, who is known to defend his clients as loudly and fiercely as any agent in the NHL.
But the sense in Columbus is they wanted to watch Jiricek closely and see how he responded to the stark realization that another GM and another coaching staff didn’t think he was playing well enough to crack the Blue Jackets lineup.
“I had a chat with David this morning,” Evason said before Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild in Nationwide Arena. “You know, we’ve talked about earning the right to play and to be in that (dressing) room. If you don’t play, you have to earn the right to get into our lineup.
“How do you do that? You’re practicing hard, you’re working out hard, and you’re doing it with a positive attitude. You’re working your ass off every day. You are detailed. You’re coachable. And you get yourself ready to play. We notice that. Coaches notice that. And when you have a guy who doesn’t go hard, who doesn’t practice well … well, sorry, you’re not going to play.”
If Jiricek hadn’t done all those things, Evason said, he wouldn’t have made his season debut on Saturday.
“If you do all the right things, you give yourself a better chance to earn the chance to get into our lineup,” Evason said. “He’s done that.”
Jiricek played only 11:23 on Saturday, partly because the Blue Jackets dressed seven defensemen. He assisted on Yegor Chinakhov’s late goal and had a plus-1 rating, with one shot attempt and one giveaway.
It wasn’t the easiest game in which to make an evaluation, and it remains to be seen if Jiricek will stay in the lineup for Tuesday’s game vs. Toronto.
But there was an interesting moment as Jiricek met with the media on Saturday morning before his season debut.
On one end of the Blue Jackets dressing room, a motivational message is painted in large letters on the wall: “This is earned … not given.” Jiricek literally pointed to the sign during his comments.
“I’ve worked hard for the opportunity right now,” he said. “It’s earned, not given. That’s my story right now. Earn an opportunity, earn a spot and work hard every day.
“It’s only one game. I hope it’s more than that. We’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Jiricek’s importance to this organization cannot be overstated.
The Blue Jackets will begin to climb the NHL standings when their young players become the drivers of play, and we’re already starting to see that on the other end of the ice where Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger, Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson, before he was injured, have taken on big roles and begun to produce.
The Jackets need a similar push on the back end from Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk and others. Mateychuk is currently playing for AHL Cleveland, but he’ll be in the NHL soon, most believe.
Item No. 2: Relentless injuries
Waddell and Evason are new to the Blue Jackets, so this recent wave of injuries feels like the typical rough patch every team goes through and not the continuation of a curse that seems to have befallen this franchise over the last three-plus seasons.
Only five games into the season, including Saturday’s less-than-inspiring loss to Minnesota, the Blue Jackets have already lost 23 man games to injury. They’re off and running, it seems, to another season of surgeries, rehabs, stitches and gauze.
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They’ve lost 1,261 man games to injuries over the last three seasons, including a franchise-record 563 during 2022-23.
What makes this current wave unique — and more ridiculous — is that the injuries have come not from collisions with opponents, but from running into fellow Blue Jackets.
• Captain Boone Jenner got tripped up at practice near the end of training camp and slammed into the wall, injuring his right shoulder.
• Erik Gudbranson and Sean Monahan plowed into each other away from the play on Tuesday vs. Florida, leaving Gudbranson with a left shoulder injury.
• Johnson ran into a tripped-up James van Riemsdyk in Thursday’s game vs. Buffalo, sending Johnson sailing over van Riemsdyk and landing awkwardly on his surgically repaired left shoulder. The Jackets are waiting for MRI results from multiple specialists to determine if Johnson’s shoulder will need to be surgically repaired again.
“Of course, we joke in there (the dressing room) about, what was the movie, “Major League,” where (Pedro Cerrano) gets the live chicken (to sacrifice)?” Evason said.
“Injuries happen, yes. Does it seem freakish that we’ve got these shoulder injuries and how they’ve happened, by tripping over our own guys? Yeah, for sure there’s an element of ‘What the heck is going on?’
“But on the other side of it, what the heck are we gonna do? Ask our guys to never get close to each other? Ask them not to work or play hard?”
The loss of Jenner, Johnson and Dmitri Voronkov (upper body) has sapped the Blue Jackets of three top-nine wingers. Johnson and Chinakhov had been Columbus’ best forwards in the first two weeks of the season. Losing Gudbranson and Jenner means two of the most prominent voices are out of the dressing room.
Whenever a team gets hit this hard by injuries so consistently, everything is called into question — the training staff, the medical staff, the strength and conditioning staff, etc. That’s a worthy endeavor, and Waddell is likely to consider all of that as the year moves along.
But Jenner and Gudbranson are two of the most well-conditioned players in the room, and they’ve both suffered long-term shoulder injuries. On the surface, that seems like it’s just bad luck.
The Blue Jackets played Saturday against Minnesota with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, and they looked disjointed and ineffective all night. The only healthy scratch was forward Kevin Labanc, who has sat the past two games.
Expect more lineup changes ahead of Tuesday’s game with Toronto in Nationwide Arena, perhaps with fortifications coming from AHL Cleveland.
“Injuries are part of it,” Monahan said. “I think there are a lot of hungry guys within the organization, and guys who haven’t played as many minutes as they’d probably like to. Guys are going to have to step up and have each other’s backs.”
Item No. 3: Change of scenery?
We don’t often pitch trade proposals in this space, but the situation that began percolating again in Pittsburgh last week got us thinking.
The Penguins have a struggling goaltender, Tristan Jarry, under contract through 2027-28 with a $5.375 million salary-cap hit. Jarry, 29, is a two-time NHL All-Star, but he was pulled from his last start and has been yanked from three of his last six starts (dating to last season) in Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena.
The Blue Jackets have a struggling goaltender, Elvis Merzlikins, under contract through 2026-27 with a $5.4 million salary-cap hit. Merzlikins, 30, hasn’t had a save percentage over .900 since 2021-22 and is off to a mediocre start this season.
Should the Blue Jackets and Penguins consider a change-of-scenery trade for their big-ticket goaltenders?
Waddell, soon after taking the job in Columbus last May, made it clear that “nobody is going to trade for (Merzlikins’) contract,” and that a contract buyout of Merzlikins, which would have lasted six years into the future, was not an option, either, as the Jackets may need the cap space in the final years with that buyout on the books.
But there’s always been an understanding in the NHL that “bad” contracts can be moved in exchange for bad contracts, and maybe there’s an opportunity here.
The salary-cap hits are almost a match. The money is close, too. Per Puckpedia, Merzlikins is set to make $6 million this season, $5.525 million in 2025-26 and $4.225 million in 2026-27, while Jarry will make $6.4 million this season, followed by $5.425 million (’25-26) and $4.125 in the final two years.
Jarry has one more year of term, which could be a sticking point for the Blue Jackets unless they believe Jarry is still a good goaltender who could be reinvigorated by a fresh start.
From the Penguins’ perspective, if they’re resigned to buying out Jarry’s contract after this season — Alex Nedeljkovic appears to be the starter in Pittsburgh until Joel Blomqvist is ready to ascend — an acquisition of Merzlikins would give them a contract with less term and an easier buyout.
One more wrinkle: Jarry has a 12-team no-trade clause, while Merzlikins has a 10-team no-trade list. It’s unclear which teams are on their lists.
Just something to ponder on a Sunday.
Item No. 4: Snacks
• So much has been made about the Blue Jackets’ young group of forwards — Chinakhov, Fantilli, Johnson, Marchenko and Sillinger. They’ve certainly earned the ice time, but Evason has not been shy about sending them over the boards. In the first three games of the season, Johnson averaged 20:13 in ice time, up from 13:32 last season. The next biggest climb is Chinakhov’s, up from 15:10 in 2023-24 to 19:13 this season. The others: Fantilli (from 15:42 to 18:09), Marchenko (from 16:24 to 19:03) and Sillinger (from 16:07 to 18:11).
• The Blue Jackets apparently lifted a decade-old club policy that required players to wear helmets during pregame warmups, as several players have been seen without lids before the first three home games this season. That may not last much longer, though. We’re hearing the helmet-mandatory policy may be put back into place soon given the Jackets’ injury luck. It started in 2012, shortly after Edmonton’s Taylor Hall fell during warmups and was sliced in the side of the head by a teammate’s skate.
• Evason was asked about going helmet-free before Saturday’s game against the Wild. “When I played in San Jose (early 1990s), my hair was down past my nameplate, so I took my helmet off,” Evason said. “That wouldn’t work for me anymore.” We found proof of his mullet days:
#CBJ coach Dean Evason mentioned the “flow” he had during his days playing with San Jose in the early 1990s. Well … pic.twitter.com/ADaQ4kxK6k
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 20, 2024
• Through five games, the Blue Jackets’ top forward line with Monahan at center and Chinakhov and Marchenko on the wings has combined for 7-11-18 with a plus-8 rating. It’s working, which is impressive because Chinakhov was a late add after training camp, taking Jenner’s spot on left wing. Monahan has been a stabilizing force for the two young wingers. He’s also allowing them to start with the puck more often than not, winning 54.9 percent of faceoffs.
• Monahan had played against Chinakhov and Marchenko sparingly the past two seasons, but the up-close view has been revealing, he said. “You could see (as an opponent) that they were both dangerous,” Monahan said. “But getting to know them as people, it’s been really cool, because they’re motivated guys who want to be great players in this league. They want the puck, they want to make plays, they can both really shoot the puck and they see the game at a high level.”
• Marchenko joked that he and Chinakhov have adopted Monahan as their “Russian brother.” His new name? “Monahanov!”
• Sunday Gathering trivia question: Chinakhov (3-4-7) has a five-game point streak to start the season, tied with three others for the third-longest in franchise history. Which Blue Jackets player has the longest point streak to start a season?
• Merzlikins is out of the lineup with an upper-body injury but has continued to skate away from the group with goaltending coach Niklas Bäckström. Waddell has said it’s a short-term injury.
• Also seen skating daily last week: Voronkov, Gavin Brindley and Cayden Lindstrom, the Blue Jackets’ No. 4 pick last June.
• With AHL Cleveland’s Rocco Grimaldi nursing a groin injury, James Malatesta has moved up to the top line for the Monsters with center Luca Del Bel Belluz and right winger Trey Fix-Wolansky. Del Bel Belluz has 3-2-5 in four games, including a hat trick last weekend in Hershey. Fix-Wolansky has 2-3-5 in four games, including a go-ahead penalty shot in the third period of Saturday’s win in Charlotte.
• Trivia answer: The longest point streak by a Blue Jackets player at the start of a season is owned by Ryan Johansen, who began the 2014-15 season with a 10-game point streak (5-8-13). Nick Foligno (3-6-9) started with a six-game point streak that same season. The others with five points are Patrik Laine (2-4-6) in 2021, Johansen (1-5-6) in 2015 and Jaroslav Spacek (2-3-5) in 2002.
(Photo of David Jiricek in November 2023: Aaron Doster / USA Today)
