Sedlak yet to earn back minutes
Lukas Sedlak's minutes are down, again, and his confidence isn’t high, either.
After starting out as a healthy scratch, the 25-year old center hasn’t contributed offensively in three games and is averaging just 7:17 a game. It’s a continuation of last season, when he finished with only eight points (four goals) and missed the playoffs with a concussion.
“I have to figure this out, because I think I’m a better offensive player than I’ve shown (recently),” Sedlak said. “I have to play more confident, more with the puck, and things will open up, I think.”
That’s been easier to say than do since his rookie season, 2015-16, when he had 13 points on seven goals and six assists. His ice time has since dropped nearly three minutes per game, and he knows why.
“Sometimes, I’m too scared of making mistakes, stuff like that,” Sedlak said. “Playing six minutes a night, you don’t want to make any. But then, that’s what happens. You make mistakes.”
It wasn’t like that two years ago, when he arrived in Columbus after helping the Lake Erie Monsters — now known as the Cleveland Monsters — win the 2016 Calder Cup in the American Hockey League.
“Remember, coming out of (the AHL), he played a pretty big role for us that The Blue Jackets’ Lukas Sedlak is checked against the boards in a preseason game against St. Louis. Sedlak has played in only three of the Jackets’ five games and is averaging just 7:17 minutes a game.
year,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “I can complain about him taking
a step backward, but eventually you have to help the guy. I think he has to help himself, but we can help him also.”
Tortorella has already tried, unsuccessfully. He has started Sedlak in the offensive zone 75 percent of the time that he’s sent him over the boards, but just hasn’t sparked anything. Sedlak’s ice time remains low, and the fourth line sits a lot.
“It was a little bit different" as a rookie, Sedlak said. “I played with veteran guys, and they helped me a lot my first year. I was just enjoying the game, you know? I wasn’t worried about mistakes. If I made one, I went out there the next shift and had a better one. So, I think I have to do that more and just play more with the puck.”
Tortorella said “personnel” changes are coming to the penalty-killing units, but he didn’t specify them. The Blue Jackets allowed four power-play goals in seven short-handed situations during an 8-2 loss Saturday in Tampa, and Tortorella laid the bulk of blame on “terrible decisions” he called “brain-dead reads.” … Columbus also went 0 for 5 on power plays, which might lead to changes for that side of special teams, too. … Seth Jones’ eventual return from an MCL sprain might not mean that defenseman Ryan Murray moves off the second power-play group.