Detroit Red Wings Villains: 2015 Columbus Blue Jackets

Over the next 30 days, Octopus Thrower profiles every Detroit Red Wings “villain” in the NHL. Today we take a closer look at the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Team Name:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Division:

Metropolitan

FanSided Foe:

Union and Blue

Games Against Them:

Home:

February 23;

Away:

March 8 & March 17

Last Year’s Results:

Columbus won regular season series 2-1

Results: 11/18 – Red Wings 5, Blue Jackets 0; 12/16 – Blue Jackets 1, Red Wings 0 (SO); 3/12 – Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 1

Head Coach:

Todd Richards

Watch out for these guys:

C Ryan Johansen, LW Brandon Saad, G Sergei Bobrovsky, LW Nick Foligno, LW Scott Hartnell, D Jack Johnson

Farmhands worth Noting:

Zach Werenski, Kerby Rychel, Sonny Milano, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Gabriel Carlsson

Goaltender:

Sergei Bobrovsky

Sieve or Savior?

Savior

8 Quick Thoughts about the Blue Jackets

4 Things We Respect About You:

Columbus has a young core that’s improving. They finally recovered from the Rick Nash debacle of a few years ago to reach the playoffs in 2014 and likely would have done the same last year if not crushed by injuries.
Great fan base. Columbus is still a relatively new team, having entered the NHL for the 2001 season, and has endured more growing pains than most until recently. Yet watch a Blue Jackets game, especially in the playoffs, and the building is always rockin’.
The combination of Ryan Johansen and Brandon Saad is expected to wreck havoc for years to come.
Speaking of Johansen, check out his “move” from the 2015 All Star Skills Competition. Classy gesture.

4 Things We Hate About You:

They’re in Columbus. Every single person in the mitten state hates Columbus.
That uniform set. Both the regulars and the alternate jerseys are fine all by themselves, but do not go together as a combination at all. Red/white/blue or navy/sky blue. Both nice, but come on. Just pick one.
The Goal Cannon, a replica of a Civil War cannon that they shoot off after every Columbus goal. It’s loud enough that you don’t mind Columbus gets shut out for the game and your ear drums get to live for another day.
The old fake rivalry. Detroit and Columbus were both members of the Central Division until the summer of 2013 brought about realignment and then put the two teams in seperate divisions. Columbus fans used to always think of the Red Wings as their rivals, maybe due to their close proximaty. Columbus fans thought it was heated. Detroit fans thought it was cute and adorable.

Playoff Threat Level (1-10, 1 being minimal)

4. Columbus has had a rough go of it since they entered the league, but after the 2013 season it was thought they finally had their core together and was ready to make a major step forward. They had made the playoffs and pushed top-seeded Pittsburgh to six games, so surely the next season they would be able to go even further. Or atleast that was the plan. Columbus led the league in man games lost due to injury, and fell behind in the standings early. Despite winning nine of their last ten games, Columbus failed to reach the postseason. Things seem to point towards the Blue Jackets making that push this year (assuming they stay health), although the Metropolitan division as a whole seems to have improved as well. Hard to see if there will be a spot open for them come April.

Final Thoughts

Columbus is an easy team to root for, especially if you like an underdog story. As I alluded to earlier, the only superstar they’ve ever had demanded a trade out of town, and they’ve been struggling ever since. The tide seems to have turned in recent years, and they’ve crept back into respectability. The addition of Brandon Saad will give them a dangerous first line, and they already have a recent Vezina trophy winner in Bobrovsky. If the rest of the team can keep up, this will definitely be a team to watch as a possible playoff sleeper.

Next: Who Could Dan Cleary Displace?

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