Blue Jackets Eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoffs

Blue Jackets Eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Columbus Blue Jackets season is over earlier than they were hoping for and a bid for the third Stanley Cup championship under GM MixtureBill has fallen short. With their earliest playoff elimination in several years, the Jackets were sent packing by their Metro Division rival Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. 

It's hard to place the blame on just a single player, but it's also difficult to ignore the lackluster play from the team's starting goaltender, Darcy Kuemper. In the previous season, Kuemper had led the Blue Jackets to a Cup victory, posting stellar numbers with a 2.02 GAA and .931 SV% through 23 games and 16 victories. However this year, Kuemper let in an extra goal per game, posting a 3.00 GAA, and his save percentage was down significantly to .900, which ended up making all the difference for the Jackets.

The offensive output was not an issue for Columbus with three players posting over a point per game. Leading scorer Vincent Trocheck posted a stellar 9 points over 7 games, with 2 goals and 7 assists and a +2 rating. However the defensive play from their top line left a lot to be desired, with a combined -13 across the three top skaters. Columbus' top line center, Mika Zibanejad, led the trio with 3 goals and 4 assists, and Tage Thompson led the team in goals with 4 and also posted one helper, but the biggest disappointment of the line was young star Andrei Svechnikov, who only managed to post a single assist throughout the seven game series. Svechnikov, who usually brings a physical presence to the top line, turning pucks over and setting up his teammates for success in the offensive zone, did lead the team with 18 hits, but he couldn't translate his physical play into offensive output and you have to wonder if the youngster was fighting through some sort of injury throughout the playoffs. It's worth noting the team's fourth line, also known as "The Nicks" struggled offensively as well, as they only managed to post a single point, an assist from center Nic Dowd. 

Perhaps the real blame should go to GM MixtureBill, who may have played it too safe with his lines, having too much confidence in his team and failing to change up the combinations even once throughout the series. "After having a successful regular season, I didn't want to panic and throw the lines in a blender. I know these guys have been together all year, and while we did have some players jump up in the lineup late in the season, we felt that they had proven over the course of 82 games that this was the best combinations we have. Looking back now, I wish I had made some adjustments, and I probably just put too much faith in the regular season" said MixtureBill when reached for comment. The Jackets GM did make the decision to bring up Philip Kurashev at the start of the playoffs, who spent the entire year in the minors. Kurashev performed admirably with the big club, posting 2 goals and 2 assists over the course of the seven games. Frank Vatrano also moved up to the second line and gave the Jackets an extra scoring touch adding 3 goals and 2 assists himself. 

Overall, it wasn't the result the Columbus squad was looking for, but they have to give credit to the Pittsburgh Penguins for being the better team over the course of the series. With a young core of players, the Blue Jackets will be back battling for another playoff spot next season, and they hope for a different result with a return to their playoff success of prior seasons.