Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2023 21:41:53 GMT -6
Columbus Blue Jackets – Season 2 – Part 3
Starting the season Columbus took the decision to bring an injection of youth into the organization and to start to sell off UFA's and players we could move for future assets. With Kucherov & Toews we felt that, given the weaker division we were in, we could fight for a wildcard spot and that's exactly what we did. Management made the decision to trade Kucherov near the deadline for a package we felt could really jump start a rebuild and we saw him leave for the powerhouse that is Tom's Vegas team.
All things considered, I consider this season a success. The free agent signings in the off season have all pulled their weight and our more important players played to their potential and we have some players who stepped up after top 6 spots became available.
Lets dive into the season now. I knew we were not going to score a lot of goals this year so I was counting on our defense and goal-tending to perform and they did, We finished the season with the 11th best goals against with an almost 50/50 split between Stolarz & Ulmark. Our coaching department recognized that our tandem have really low endurance and have a tendency to get tired, there is no workhorse here. Both goalies ended up with .893SV% and 3.23GAA which puts us right around league average. Our power play was atrocious and we will need to tinker with that going into the playoffs. Our team does not take penalties either, something I am proud of.
Regular Season Awards
MVP of the season: Erik Gustafsson
Suprise of the season: Dominik Kubalik
Signing/Trade of the season: Erik Gustafsson
Erik came in as a FA signing and immediately took over Klingerberg's slot on the top defensive unit. He logged the most minutes our of anyone on our team and ended with 61 points and +1 and also paced the team with the most powerplay points. What an excellent singing. Dominik came in projected to be on the 3rd line but spent most of his time with Toews in the top line. He put up 72 points and +6. He should be top9 player on our more dominant teams in the league but he stepped up when Kucherov left via trade.
We will have two graduates from the AHL next year. Connor McMichael had 103pts and his line mate for the last quarter of the season Alex Kerfoot. Hopefully they will get a solid re rate. Gabriel Carlson could also be used as a 6/7th dman next year.
Columbus also has two 1st round picks in this coming up draft and project to pick in the 15-25 range.
All for now!
