It has been several months of sweeping changes for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as they prepared for the start of the 2023-24 season. After an offseason that at times felt busier than the season that proceeded it, it’s time to look ahead to the new campaign. There will be some storylines to follow for members of the Fifth Line, including a plethora of new personnel throughout the organization and heavy competition for spots throughout the roster. Let’s dig into the key storylines to follow this season.
Blue Jackets’ New Coaching Staff
Pascal Vincent is fighting an uphill battle with the role of head coach having been thrown on him only a couple of days before training camp opened. He succeeds Mike Babcock, who was the Blue Jackets’ head coach for a grand total of 78 days and zero games coached. It’s maybe the strangest transition of coaches in NHL history. I can’t remember the last time a head coach was hired and then fired before coaching a game, can you?
Regardless of how absurd this passing of the torch has been, Vincent is projecting an image of confidence heading into the new season. There are a few things that bode well for him. As an existing member of the coaching staff, he was already a part of the planning process for the new season, so he didn’t exactly start with a blank slate. He’s already got a relationship with the players, as a member of the Brad Larsen regime over the last two seasons.
The most beneficial thing in his favor is the extensive experience he has as a head coach, so the role isn’t entirely new to him. Since starting his professional coaching career at the turn of the millennium, he’s been a head coach for 16 seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) or the American Hockey League (AHL) – having won a Coach of the Year award in each league. The other seven seasons were spent as an assistant coach in the NHL. All of this is to say that he’s well prepared, at least on paper, for his new gig.
Related: Pascal Vincent Following Successful Path to NHL Head Coach
While Vincent is the headline new coach, there are also a couple of other fresh faces that will be key to the success of the coaching staff. Goalie coach Nicklas Backstrom will need to be a key piece in improving the Jackets’ weakest single position from last season. He’ll be counted on to get the pizazz back in Elvis Merzlikins’ game that prompted his massive contract extension in 2021.
Mark Recchi was also added to fill the hole at assistant coach created by Vincent’s promotion. He could be a really underrated asset, as someone who has done it all as a player. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018, after a career with 1,652 games played, almost 600 goals scored, and three Stanley Cups won across three decades. An avuncular presence from the experienced Recchi could be exactly what the team needs to take the next step.
How Will Returning Blue Jackets Fare?
There are several returning Blue Jackets that have not played NHL hockey for quite a long span of time. Now they will be dropped right back into the frying pan of high-quality hockey. It will be interesting to see how they reacclimatize.
It starts with their number one defenseman, Zach Werenski, who hasn’t played a regular season game since Nov. 10, 2022. He succumbed to a shoulder injury and was sidelined for the rest of the season. By the time opening night rolls around, it will have been 336 days since he has played an NHL regular season game. He was on pace for the best season of his young career when he was injured. Will he be able to pick up where he left off or will there be a setback?
Depth forward Justin Danforth has been out longer than Werenski. Opening night will have been 355 days since he was sidelined with a season-ending shoulder injury of his own. The late bloomer found a home as a solid depth piece in the Jackets’ organization. Jake Bean is the last depth piece coming back from missing significant time because of injury in 2022-23. He’s in a contract year facing some pretty big expectations on a crowded blue line.
It’s not just injuries that sent some Blue Jackets away last season. Young forward Alexandre Texier went on a self-imposed exile in the Swiss league to regroup after a mentally tough stretch of time during the pandemic. He had a decent season away, statistically, but came back to a crowded house at forward. How he readjusts to the faster play and smaller rinks in North America and where he fits in will be something to watch.
Who’s In & Who’s Out for Columbus?
This is maybe the most interesting question: Who will actually dress for the Blue Jackets this season? We have talked ad nauseam about the logjams at all positions on this roster. A lot of tough decisions will be made in the next week or so, but don’t expect those decisions to dictate how the entire season will go.
In 2022-23, Kirill Marchenko was sent to the AHL to start the season before being called up and scoring at a 30-goal pace to close out the year. So while an early assignment to Cleveland for waiver-exempt players like Nick Blankenburg, Dmitri Voronkov, Cole Sillinger, and David Jiricek would seem like a setback, that doesn’t mean they won’t don a union blue garb for the entire season. Voronkov, in particular, has an out clause that would allow him to return to play in Russia if he’s not on the NHL roster by the end of December. Blue Jackets management will not let it get to that point.
As I’ve counted out in several different articles, the Blue Jackets have 17 forwards and 11 defensemen who could fill their 12 and six roster spots, respectively. There are going to be a lot of tough decisions and creative roster shuffles by management as they try to balance keeping control of the assets that they believe in and icing the best roster they can. Who is playing on a night-to-night basis will be an ongoing storyline throughout the next seven months.
2023-24 is a formative season for the new core of this team and we are far from devoid of fascinating storylines to watch. The Blue Jackets have come a long way in only four seasons since they swept the Tampa Bay Lightning for their first-ever playoff series win. As this entirely overhauled organization looks to get back to competing, the fate of their new coaching staff, returning players, and overall roster personnel will set the table for years to come.
