Welcome to November. Welcome also to shorter days and more nighttime. We’re in the thick of fall. For the Columbus Blue Jackets, this means their annual trip to California.
The team flew to San Jose on Monday in advance of their game Tuesday night against the Sharks. Then they’ll have three days before playing a back-to-back set against the Kings and Ducks on Saturday and Sunday.
We have plenty to get you caught up on in this edition of News and Rumors. We begin this week catching up with Cole Sillinger.
Catching Up with Sillinger
The Blue Jackets are coming off an awful set of games losing by scores of 6-2 and then 7-2 to the Jets and Capitals. The games were nowhere near the standard set by the team.
Sillinger knows the effort wasn’t good enough.
“It wasn’t to our standard,” Sillinger said. “We know we slipped a bit. It just goes to work ethic. I think for us, that obviously wasn’t good enough both games and obviously a response. We have a game like that at home and then we have a chance to make it a decent weekend. And then we go out there and don’t get the job done as well.”
While the team wants to move past the weekend as quickly as possible, Sillinger admits they don’t want to forget about it either in the sense of knowing what not to do. It’s a fine line.
“You don’t want to be so caught up in the past because then it’s too hard to move on and then really to make strides if you’re always worrying about what happened in the past. But you want to know why. Maybe it wasn’t the best effort or the best consistency and stuff like that. But turn the page and get the opportunity to do it again.”
Sillinger is starting to take ownership of this team as are some of the other younger players. However don’t try telling them young and old is an excuse. In his eyes, that’s not even a story with these Blue Jackets.
“Young, old. I think that storyline is past us right now. We don’t have any excuses just because we’re young. We don’t have any excuses just because we have some key guys out. All of those excuses are out the window. We talked at the start of the year that as a young core, we want to take the next step. I think as we do that and as we take more ownership then it just shows more maturity in our group. We win as a team. We lose as a team. At the end of the day, it’s on everyone but we all have to look in the mirror after this past weekend.”
You have noticed in recent games Sillinger is playing the wing alongside Adam Fantilli. Coach Dean Evason has liked the look of the top line of Yegor Chinakhov, Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko. He’s also liked Justin Danforth in the middle. This has allowed Evason to put Sillinger on the wing.
Sillinger knows his role. It doesn’t matter where he’s slotted in the lineup.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Sillinger said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m a wing or a center. My role’s pretty clear for myself at least. I think being good on both ends of the puck and complimenting whoever I’m playing with scoring goals and creating offensive plays. I think it’s pretty clear what my role is.”
Merzlikins Toning It Down
Elvis Merzlikins has played well to start the 2024-25 season. Despite giving up six to the Jets last time out, he still has shown improvement from last season.
Merzlikins has that personality to him in which there’s a showman in him. But according to Evason, he asked Merzlikins to take a step back for the benefit of the team.
At least so far, the message has been received loud and clear. Merzlikins has toned things down. Outside of breaking his stick at the end of the Edmonton game when he lost his shutout, he’s kept his composure and has made everything about team, which is the central theme to an Evason coached team.
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“I’ve liked everything about Elvis since Day 1 besides snapping his stick over when he lost the shutout there which I get what his frustration was,” Evason said. “I asked him to maybe keep that inside because the win is more important than the shutout. But he’s by all accounts, he’s curbed a lot of that kind of stuff here. And he’s worked and competed in games and in practices. He’s been fantastic in our room as a leader. He’s established himself as a presence on our hockey club.”
Just hearing Merzlikins speak, you can tell he’s taken the team message to heart. So far it’s translated to better results for him. This will be a story to follow all season. If he can find his game and keep things toned down, that could bode well for him and the team for the rest of his contract.
Johnson Skating Again
After Monday’s practice, Kent Johnson appeared out of the Blue Jackets’ locker room in his gear. He was heading to the Ice Haus for a skate.
It’s the first time he’s skated we are aware of since suffering an upper-body injury. The good news was he avoided surgery. Although the team hasn’t shared an official timeline, we have a rough idea of when he might be available to play.
Johnson still has a ways to go. He hasn’t joined the main practice nor has he taken contact. But assuming he feels good every step of the way, an optimistic view could see him return at the end of November. A reasonable view sees him return in December.
Good news. Kent Johnson has begun skating. He went out for a session after main practice ended. Progress. #CBJ
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) November 4, 2024
Given what was originally thought of as a long-term injury, this is welcomed news for a team who has already dealt with their share of major injuries. The Blue Jackets were humming on offense when he was in their lineup. Perhaps a return is closer than we first originally thought.
Side Dishes
- The Blue Jackets will have two full days off of practice this coming week in California. After Tuesday’s game in San Jose, they won’t practice again until Friday. Coach Evason didn’t want to get specific but he did say there will be some team-building activities in that time. “We went really hard today. We practiced hard. It’s just an opportunity to team build a little bit with our group. I’ve always liked to give the guys a couple days off and come back. That one day, you get a bit of rest. But there will be a little bit of team building as well as some rest for a long road trip.”
- Evason said watching back the past two games was worse than he expected. He cited compounded mistakes and structural mistakes along with a lack of effort. The point of Monday’s practice was to get all of those back in order.
- Appears the Blue Jackets will make one lineup change if the practice lines were any indication. James van Riemsdyk skated on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Kevin Labanc. Zach Aston-Reese was rotated in and projects to be a healthy scratch Tuesday.
- Here are the lines and pairs the Blue Jackets showed Monday at practice. Merzlikins worked in the home net and is projected to start Tuesday night.
- Yegor Chinakhov-Sean Monahan-Kirill Marchenko
- Cole Sillinger-Adam Fantilli-Mikael Pyyhtia
- Dmitri Voronkov-Justin Danforth-Mathieu Olivier
- James van Riemsdyk-Sean Kuraly-Kevin Labanc
- Zach Werenski-Ivan Provorov
- Jake Christiansen-Damon Severson
- Jack Johnson-David Jiricek (Jordan Harris rotated in)
- Elvis Merzlikins/Daniil Tarasov
