The CBJ Writer

It's a bold title, but looking ahead after the recent week for the Columbus Blue Jackets, I stand by it. The future for this franchise does start now. Personally, I liked Brad Larson as a head coach. He defied expectations, but last season with the injuries and constant landslide losses brought his time in Columbus to an end. I hope he finds success elsewhere, I really do. With that said, it's now time to look forward to the next chapter, the ninth for this franchise, and welcome Head Coach Mike Babcock to our great city!  From his two Gold Olympic Medals with Team Canada to his 2008 Stanley Cup win, there are too many merits on Mike Babcok's resume to count. However, no one is perfect, and Coach Babcock has spent the last several years improving his coaching. His last job in the NHL ended with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019 due to him being too hard on his players. Some claimed he was mentally abusive. That said, it takes a man willing to change to admit he's done wro...

Gaining a Center in Round 1 of the 2023 NHL Draft was expected due to necessity. To the joy of many 5th Line Fans, Adam Fantilli, from the University of Michigan, wasn't taken by the Anaheim Ducks. This allowed us to take him, and the chills from that moment alone are still abundant. I've been shouting his name for months, and to see him in our jersey is nothing short of incredible.  That said, the wonder of if this luck would continue for the Columbus Blue Jackets in Rounds 2-7 of this year's NHL Draft was unseen. Now, after its conclusion, however, I can definitely say this draft couldn't have gotten much better for us! We'll pick up in Round 2 where we had the 34th Pick Overall and took Gavin Brindley.  This pick made Adam Fantilli very happy as Gavin is also from the University of Michigan, meaning these two men already know how to play together; huge bonus. The Right Wing is years old. He's 5'9 and just 168 pounds, but don't let that fool you, this ...

It doesn't seem possible that this is my fourth time covering the NHL Draft for our Columbus Blue Jackets, and yet, it is. Every year I get the chills, and this one is amplified as we have the 3rd Overall Pick. It is an incredible pool of young players to pick from this time around. I know many wanted the 1st Round Pick after the season we have, but we must keep in mind that many of the incredible Centers available in this draft would be that 1st Pick if not for Conner Bedard. Further, our team wasn't the best it could've been last season due to injury, not even close. Our front office has already started making moves to improve this team and put last season far behind us. With that all said, this night is finally here, and it's time to meet our newest Columbus Blue Jackets. Best of all, this is the player I've wanted since I started recording Big Ten Hockey in January. Come on down from Michigan, Mr. Adam Fantilli!      This guy can score some slick goals, but he a...

With 81 penalty minutes, 5 goals, and 10 assists for 15 points, Mathieu Olivier made a mark on the Columbus Blue Jackets after being traded here during the 2022 off-season. Now, he's being rewarded for his efforts as the franchise has given him a deal to stay and additional two NHL Seasons. Over this time he'll make a good chunk of change, too, at $2.2 Million. It will be great to see the twenty-six-year-old back in his number 24 sweater for the Blue Jackets this fall as the valuable Right Wing we've come to enjoy watching score and stand up for his teammates.  Go CBJ!    Source: Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) Twitter 6/21/23. Twitter headline only, not article posted: " #CBJ NEWS: The Blue Jackets have signed right wing Mathieu Olivier to a two-year, $2.2 million contract extension through the 2024-25 NHL season."  

After parting ways with long-time Columbus Blue Jackets Goaltending Coach Manny Legacy, the hunt was on for a top-tear replacement. Today, we learned that someone from within the Blue Jackets pipeline would take over that position. Welcome from Europe Mr. Nikles Backstrom! His career record speaks for itself. He spent nine seasons with the Minnesota Wild, then added one season with the Calgary Flames before retirement. In that time he went 196-144-50. He also has some impressive work in the Winter Olympics, winning a Silver and then a Bronze with his home country, Finland. With an incredible 2.49 Goals Against Average, coupled with an equally impressive Save Percentage of .914, I think this coaching hire is right on goal. (Yes, that pun was necessary.) Welcome to the big league, Backstrom!    You can see more of his complete stats here, and yes, use this link. There is a Washington Capitals player who has this same name, so finding our new Goaltending Coach's former stats took...

It's been a week of money moves for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they try to improve after a painful 2022-23 NHL Season. This week they'd already extended Jake Christiansen and traded with the Philidelphia Flyers to gain Ivan Provorov, flipping a 2023 First-Round Pick they got in the Korpisalo/Gavrikhov trade in March. Now, they've flipped yet another 2023 Pick (this time from Round Three)) to gain yet another defenseman with an incredible backstory.  His name is Damon Severson, and the fact he is now a Blue Jacket for the low price of a Third-Round Pick is stunning to me. At age 28, he's already played in the league for 9 seasons with his former Detroit Red Wings. This past season he played in 81 of 82 games regular season games, scoring 7 goals and 26 assists for 33 total points. In addition, the Red Wings made it to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, and he played a large part in his team making it past the New York Rangers; a favorite by many to go further than Round...

The Columbus Blue Jackets are taking the areas which need improvement before the upcoming 2023-24 NHL Season very seriously. Today, the front office proved this by flipping the 1st Round Pick we would get from the L.A. Kings (due to the trade for Joonas Korpisalo and Vladislav Gavrikhov.) In addition, we also gave the Philidelphia Flyers our upcoming Second Round Pick in either the 2024 NHL Draft or the 2025 NHL Draft. In exchange for these two picks, we get an elder and talented defenseman who was a former Round 1 Pick back in 2015, Ivan Provorov.    Let me first say, he's only twenty-six years of age. However, he is an elder in the means of the NHL due to already playing seven seasons in the National Hockey League. In four of those seasons, he played all 82 games. In total, as a defenseman, he's had 65 goals and a whopping 152 assists. This gives him 217 points in just 532 games. He's also 6'1 and has a weight of 201. It will be interesting to see where he slots in on...