The 2025-26 Columbus Blue Jackets are not where they want to be as they close in on the midpoint of their schedule. Their games this coming weekend against the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins will mark games 40 and 41.
The Blue Jackets as of this writing find themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 17-16-6. The one silver lining to their place in the standings is that they trail the second wildcard playoff spot in the East by six points.
Given that their next game is Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, it’s an opportunity to not only get a big win on home ice, but also break the Sabres’ 10-game winning streak. As of Thursday evening, the Sabres were the team holding the East’s second wildcard spot.
As is our tradition at the midpoint of the season, we sat down with Blue Jackets’ GM and President of Hockey Operations Don Waddell to get his thoughts on the first half of the season and where things could be heading in January and beyond. He opened up on a variety of topics including the third period struggles, trouble scoring goals, some major dips in certain performances and what he’s looking for later in the season.
This was an interesting conversation. Here is our Q&A with Waddell which as always was cleaned up for readability and conversation.
Waddell Midseason Q&A
THW: Don, thanks for doing this as always. I’ll start off with the game Wednesday night. It looked great for 40 minutes. Then a couple of minutes in the third where the Devils scored three and were able to get the victory. With Game 41 coming on Sunday, what are your overall thoughts of the team? Are you surprised at the position they’re in right now? Just where is Don Waddell at with the Blue Jackets at the halfway point of this season?
Waddell: “We’re disappointed where we are position wise. But if you look at it, the last 8-9 games even some of those games we lost, they were all one goal games not counting the empty net goals. And I actually thought probably 90% of those games, we were the better team. Last year we seemed to find a way to score goals. Now, we’re not scoring those timely goals. Even Wednesday night, we had three power plays. You don’t score. You score one on the power play when it’s 2-0, then it’s probably a different game.”
THW: That leads into some of these third periods. Your team can get leads. But they’ve also let a lot of third period leads slip away. What are you seeing here? Why does this seem to be happening as much as it has?
Waddell: “Yes, we got to be better in the third. Every game, I break down all the goals. Wednesday night, I think it was just not a smart penalty by (Kirill Marchenko). And then it wasn’t a good goal. Jet (Greaves) never saw it. So you give up that one and then we turn around, make a mistake on the second goal, give them a third goal. We make a terrible mistake, terrible read.
I can tell I’ve been around teams that get tight because they start just flipping the puck all the time off the glass, not making those plays. I didn’t see that at all. In a lot of those games, it’s the mistakes that we make and the timing of mistakes. A lot of times you make them in the first and second period, but the goalie bails you out and you say, “Okay, no problem.” When the goalie doesn’t bail you out, that’s when it all comes to a head and it makes the third period look even worse. When you give up the goals, then you forget about all the good saves that were made.
You’re going to give up chances. We all know that. Every team does. And when the goalie makes those saves, it’s huge. And then for whatever reason in the third period with the same mistake, it ends up in the net and you start blaming the goalie and everybody else. It’s an interesting concept, that’s for sure. But I watch every goal. I watch every goal multiple times every night. We make some dumb mental mistakes. That’s what it was (Wednesday) on the third goal for sure.”
Offensive Struggles
THW: Offensively, your team is able to generate chances. But they haven’t been able to finish as much. They’re 4th in shots on goal and 20th in goals per game. What do you attribute that to?
Waddell: “Well, if I had that answer, I would be fixing it. We’re generating offense. Last year for some guys, the puck was going in for them. Obviously guys like (Kent Johnson), (Cole Sillinger), they’re way behind where they were last year. Because you can’t look at our defense, I think we’re number one in scoring goals by defenseman. So it’s not the defense. (Adam Fantilli) had a slow start, but he’s doing pretty good right now. Olivier hit 18 last year. He was hurt but we knew he probably wasn’t going to get 18 again. Guys like Jenner, Coyle, Sillinger, they’re going to need more scoring chances to score. Olivier, same thing. Coyle’s line always gets the best (opposition) lines, so it’s not so much what they score, it’s what they give up.
You need those top 6-7 guys. The Marchenko’s, Fantilli’s, Marchment right now, Voronkov. Having Monahan, he’s been so beat up, and that’s why we’re holding him up right now. He’s obviously not having the year offensively he had last year. It just takes those one or two guys, and it’s amazing how your goals drop. We’re getting chances for sure but some guys just aren’t natural goal scorers.”
THW: You mentioned Kent Johnson. This year hasn’t worked out for him so far. I know you’ve said in the past he’s still a big part of your team. He’s on the fourth line now and not on the power play anymore. What has to happen for him to get back to the Kent Johnson that we all know?
Waddell: “We’ve talked to him about it. Then we’ve talked to him multiple times about ‘Just go back to your game.’ Don’t worry about where you’re playing. Don’t worry about the power play right now. Just find your game. The game before (Wednesday), I know he hit the crossbar. He needs some of those to go in for him. We forget these kids because they are still young. So much of it is confidence. He just turned 24 in October. You forget how young they are and confidence is such a big thing in this league for young players.
(Fantilli) went through it last year at the start of the year. Then the second half of the year, he tore it up. And so with KJ, he’s just got to stick with his game and do what he does. He’s got to play at a little bit more pace, of course. We’ve talked to him about that. But I still think he’s going to be a 20-goal plus scorer every year as the future moves on.”
Defense/Goaltending
THW: Lately, the defense has started to trend in the right direction. The Islanders’ and Senators’ games come to mind. Shots against and goals against, there is still certainly plenty of room for improvement. Where are you at with how the defense is playing and what do you want to see moving forward?
Waddell: “I think going back the last 7-8 games, I think we’ve done a better job of, we’ll give up maybe that first shot, but not that second shot. And focusing more on the front of the net. If you’re not a physical guy, make sure you get the guy’s stick. Make sure the body position is correct. I’ve seen a lot of improvement in that way. We’re a team that’s going to give up chances. It’s just the way we play offensively obviously with Werenski and Mateychuk and Severson. These guys are all offensive players, so you’re going to give up a few chances. You hope the offense outweighs the defense. But I think right now, especially with Werenski out, we said let’s focus more on our defensive play and hopefully, the rest of the offense will take care of itself.”
THW: And now the goaltending. Jet has had a few starts in a row here. It seems like that he’s earning more ice time. His play has dictated that. You obviously have Elvis, who had a great start to the year and maybe not as good of late. Ivan Fedotov’s done pretty good in Cleveland. Where are you at with the goaltending? And just how much are you watching that situation overall for your team as we approach the second half of the year?
Waddell: “Yeah. Eyes are on it I’d say hourly, but probably even more than that. Because we have to find a way to get Elvis going. I think it all started back at the Islander game (in New York.) He gave up those late goals. He’s played a couple of pretty good games since, but probably other games that weren’t as good. We know we need a two-goalie system. And at some point maybe we have to give the big Russian a chance here. He started off really good, went through a little bit like everybody does. Lately, he’s been very good. We’re keeping an eye on it for sure. Right now with the other roster and juggling because of the injuries and stuff, we haven’t felt the opportunity is there yet. But I wouldn’t say it’s never going to happen, that’s for sure.”
Looking Ahead
THW: We’re going to start hearing more and more about the potential trade market. The Olympic break is coming soon. Do you feel we could see more trades before the Olympics? And how are you viewing the developing trade market from your team’s perspective?
Waddell: “Yeah I think you’re right. I think there’s going to be a lot of teams that are going to try to be active in January before the break. But the bad thing is you look at the East, who’s selling players right now? Everybody’s looking to add players. The West is starting to separate a little bit more than the East, so there might be a couple teams there that might look to do something. But right now, there’s going to be a lot more buyers than there are sellers. Maybe two weeks from now as the standings in both conferences look different than they do now (we’ll see something.) So there’ll be lots of talk I think in January. I just don’t know how many deals can get done.”
THW: As we get into the second half, what gives you the confidence that you’re team can start to limit their mistakes, stay in this race and eventually get the job done of qualifying for the playoffs?
Waddell: “Well, I think it’s the overall play when I look at it. I know I try to be very subjective as far as lost games, games I felt that we could have won. We’re a pretty good team on the road which is always a good sign that you can win away from home. (Blue Jackets 9-9-3 on the road as of this writing.) If you’re winning playing .500 on the road, that’s a good thing. We have to be better at home. We got (these two at home then four out west.) I think it’s seven of eight at home afterwards. So if we’re going to make hay, it’s going to have to be in the month of January. And January last year was great for us. I’m the optimist looking at that. We can get this thing going and by the time we get to the Olympic break. We could be in a much better spot.”
