Welcome back to another week of Blue Jackets News and Rumors. There is so much going on that it managed to make a win against the NHL’s top team a secondary story.
While we will dedicate some space to discuss the win, we will start with the biggest story within Nationwide Arena. Their number-one goalie who’s had a better season and has three years left on his contract after this season has in fact requested a trade from the Blue Jackets.
Merzlikins’ Trade Request
We outlined Elvis Merzlikins‘ quote from Monday in our quick new piece. In case you missed that, you can catch up on it below.
Related: Blue Jackets’ Merzlikins Clarifies He’s Asked for Trade
Originally when Merzlikins spoke to the media last Friday, he said the words “need a new scenario.” It couldn’t be assumed he meant trade until he said otherwise. On Monday, he made it crystal clear that a trade request was made to the Blue Jackets.
The question on the minds of many is just how did things get to this point? Merzlikins was directly asked who he was mad at after saying “I’m mad and I’m pulling the monster out of me.” But he wouldn’t go there stating “Don’t worry about it, it’s personal.”
No one on the Blue Jackets will talk on record about their exact feelings on the matter. But it is reasonable to assume that this has been building for quite some time. A player isn’t going to quickly come to this kind of conclusion.
We’re not going to speak for players since we don’t know their exact thoughts. But we are going to lay out the questions that could be relevant to this discussion.
- Are the players just sick of how Merzlikins goes about his business?
- Does the team think Merzlikins is too self centered? (Example: “I’m not a backup.”)
- Are there issues causing division in the locker room?
The Blue Jackets gave out the contract to Merzlikins to be their number-one goalie. Overall, he has not produced to that level. To his credit, he played well in the win over the Canucks Monday. Although he made a trade request, he’s still giving what he has to the team.
As for what happens next, we’ll see. A fresh start could benefit both sides. But unless there’s a reasonable trade that can be found, there might not be anything immediate. Certainly this situation including playing time will be watched. If a trade does happen, then what does that mean for the future of the net? This is just the beginning.
Blue Jackets Get Big Win
Before Merzlikins’ postgame comments became the talk of the fans, there was a game to be played. The Vancouver Canucks, after spending most of the day Sunday stuck in Buffalo thanks to a winter storm, didn’t arrive in Columbus until 9:30 P.M. eastern after taking a bus to Toronto and then flying in. Considering it was the end of their road trip, it was fair to wonder how much energy they would have.
Early on, the Canucks had no issues and scored first thanks to a massive game of puck pinball. After multiple deflections, J.T. Miller got credit for the goal. Merzlikins could do nothing but shake his head.
However the Blue Jackets had a quick answer. It took just 27 seconds for Yegor Chinakhov to tie the game. Cole Sillinger continued his excellent play not only on this goal but throughout the game. He sealed the wall and knocked Teddy Blueger down. That allowed Johnny Gaudreau to get the puck and complete the feed to Chinakhov for the 1-1 goal.
Then the Canucks retook the lead again thanks to some less than stellar defense. Two Canucks were left wide open. They had four players in the zone to the Blue Jackets five. Conor Garland took advantage to make it 2-1.
After Dmitri Voronkov and Elias Pettersson exchanged power-play goals in the second, Voronkov got his second of the game on a slick play near the net. It was the only goal in the third which forced the game to overtime. The Blue Jackets were the better team throughout the third thanks to some tired Canucks’ legs.
Overtime solved nothing. The first three shooters for each side in the shootout solved nothing. But then Kirill Marchenko went to the bag of tricks and used the fire poker move that Alex Texier likes to use. He scored allowing Merzlikins to make one more save to help seal the game. Merzlikins’ reaction to the win said it all. He was playing angry with a chip on his shoulder.
Final score Blue Jackets 4 Canucks 3. While the Canucks were tired at the end, full credit to the Blue Jackets for getting two points. The loss was the first one of the season for Vancouver when leading after two periods. They’re now 26-0-1 in that department.
Back to Sillinger. He played 24:35 on the day. His line with Gaudreau and Chinakhov were out seemingly every other shift. That was about as good a game as a line can play. The ice times clearly bear this out. It led coach Vincent to say this may have been one of Sillinger’s best NHL games he’s played to date in his young career.
Side Dishes
- Scoring three game-tying goals in the same game and winning hasn’t happened all that often for the Blue Jackets in their history. It marked just the eighth time they’ve done that and second time this season. This happened also back on Dec 29 against Toronto. The last time the Blue Jackets had multiple games of three or more tying goals in the same game was back in the 2010-11 season. It’s pretty rare for them.
- The Blue Jackets are hockey .500 (10-10-5) in their last 25 games. Bet you all thought it was much worse than that, right?
- The Blue Jackets are now 8-2-1 all time on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
- Jack Roslovic recorded an assist Monday and how has 200 NHL points.
- Caught up with Damon Severson after practice on Sunday. Asked him about his days in New Jersey before the Devils really took off. Was there a point in which he could tell things were finally trending the right way? He gave an interesting answer. “There was a little bit. Honestly there were a few things, a few reasons. I use the term like trim some of the fat, if that makes sense. It’s tough to say it. I’m not gonna name any names or anything. But you have to trim off some of that.”
- Sure seems like the Blue Jackets need to trim some of that, eh?
- Coach Vincent spent about 10 minutes before practice began on Sunday speaking to the team about the rest of the season. In coach’s words, here’s what the focus of that message was on: “Staying in the moment. Exactly about that. The standing is not necessarily where we want it to be. But the thing we can’t do is start pointing fingers , complaining and all of that. That comes when NHL teams aren’t necessarily winning. We need to stay focused on your job as a player. You as a teammate, your effort in practices and in the gym. And if you have an issue, I put the stamp. They can speak to all of the assistant coaches and trainers and all of that. But at the end of the day, if you want the answer from the guy that makes decisions, it’s me. So come see me. I just wanted to make sure they remember how it works.”
