Teams in Blue Jackets’ new division present challenges Inside
The Blue Jackets' 2021 NHL season, an abridged 56-game version crammed into a mere 115 days, it just a few days way.
The 20th season in franchise history will get underway in Nashville with two games against the Predators a day apart.
From there, the Jackets will head to
Team announces many roster moves, 3C
Detroit to face the Red Wings — and if by now you're starting to get flashbacks to the Blue Jackets' first 12 years of existence, there is a reason.
Columbus is back in the Central Division again, sort of.
As part of the NHL'S effort to limit travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, divisions were realigned geographically and what was old for the Blue Jackets has partly become new again.
They've been placed back into a division with the Predators, Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars — along with a more recent Metropolitan Division foe, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the league's two Florida-based teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
In this one-season setup, the top four teams will advance to the playoffs, and the competition should be fierce.
Here's a look at this season's Central Division:
Favorite
Tampa Bay Lightning
As luck would have it for the Blue Jackets, who have faced three of the past four Stanley Cup champions in the playoffs, the defending champs are now a division rival. So is the team the Lightning defeated in the Stanley Cup final this past summer, the Stars.
Despite losing superstar Nikita Kucherov for the duration of the regular season because of hip surgery, the Lightning will still be heavy favorites in this division. They still have standout forwards Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos, along with star defenseman Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, and there's a host of talented depth players who made key contributions to winning the second Stanley Cup in the franchise's history.
Everybody starts out chasing the Lightning.
Contenders
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes are at the top of the “contenders” category, and not just alphabetically.
They lost a great leader in forward Justin Williams, who retired, and their
defensemen no longer include Trevor van Rymsdyk (free agency) or Joel Edmundson (trade). Carolina, however, returns most of the group that placed fourth in the Metro, including star forwards Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen.
Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin still anchor the back end, fiery coach Rod Brind'amour is back for his third season, and once again the onus for playoff qualification will fall to goalies Petr Mrazek and James Reimer.
Blue Jackets
The Jackets didn't change much. They added Mikko Koivu, Mikhail Grigorenko and Michael Del Zotto as free agents and acquired center Max Domi in a trade, but otherwise there are a lot of familiar names on the roster.
That includes one of the NHL'S best defense pairings, Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, along with one of the league's top tandems in net. The Jackets' playoff hopes will largely ride with goalies Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins, while the forwards will be tasked with scoring more consistently. That group includes Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Oliver Bjorkstrand and 22-year-old center Pierre-luc Dubois, who reportedly has requested a trade.
The Jackets' season has the potential to go strongly in either direction.
Dallas Stars
The Stars are already off to a tough start. Goalie Ben Bishop (knee surgery) and top center Tyler Seguin (hip surgery) are expected to be out until April, de
fenseman Stephen Johns (concussion history) will miss the entire season, and last week the team's facilities were temporarily closed after six players and two team staffers tested positive for COVID-19. Their season-opener is now expected to be delayed.
Rookie Jake Oettinger will split time in net with veteran Anton Khudobin, but the good news is located on the blue line, where John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen head up a deep stable of able defensemen.
Florida Panthers
Bill Zito has stayed busy since the former Blue Jackets' executive took over as the Panthers' general manager.
Along with adding former Blue Jackets Alexander Wennberg (free agency), Anthony Duclair (free agency) and Markus Nutivaara (trade), he continued to bolster his team's defense by signing Radko Gudas and claiming Noah Juulsen off waivers from Montreal.
He also boosted the team's speed by signing undersized forward Vinnie Hinostroza, who joins a group of talented forwards led by Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. The Panthers return Aaron Ekblad to lead their defensemen, while Sergei Bobrovsky, another former Blue Jacket, looks to bounce back from a tough season.
Nashville Predators
Will coach John Hynes get more out of the Predators than he did in their quick exit during last summer's postseason?
Stay tuned, because his roster isn't all
that different. Two of the Predators' top forwards spent time in Columbus previously, as Ryan Johansen remains the top center and Matt Duchene will center the second line again.
Nashville also has star forward Viktor Arvidsson and the impressive trio of Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm leading its defensemen. Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros remain the goalies.
Rebuilders
Chicago Blackhawks
After not re-signing goalie Corey Crawford, who helped the Hawks win two Stanley Cups, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews felt blindsided and said he didn't realize the team was rebuilding. That largely sums up how things are going in Chicago.
Patrick Kane, still one of the game's top talents, had similar sentiments, and Toews is now out indefinitely with an undisclosed condition. The Blackhawks have also lost second-year center Kirby Dach with a fractured wrist and have question marks dotting their lineup, most notably in goal.
Detroit Red Wings
During his second offseason as the Red Wings' GM, Steve Yzerman added a number of veteran free agents whom he hopes will improve the team's record and help a stable of youngsters develop. In other words, the Red Wings are still in their rebuild.