Captain Boone Jenner has come to life of late on the ice. Perhaps it was his time at the All-Star Game with Connor McDavid and many others that had an influence there.
Whatever it was, Jenner has come out on fire since the break. He scored two goals in the game last Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He added another goal Tuesday night in Ottawa. He’s taken his place back in the team lead for goals with 16 as a result despite missing time with a broken jaw.
Jenner Feeling More Like Normal
Before he went to Toronto to represent the Blue Jackets at the All-Star Game, Jenner returned to the lineup for six games. He didn’t record any points but resumed his normal role as a top-six center on this team.
Coming off a broken jaw and working back to game speed would be a work in progress. For Jenner, it was no different. He had to wear a bubble helmet at first.
You don’t realize how impactful something like this is until you hear someone talk about their experience with it. Jenner opened up about that and much more in a recent conversation. It goes well beyond just being able to see.
“It’s not the easiest thing to see out of,” Jenner said. “I don’t think you ever get used to it. You gotta do it though and you put it on. Definitely not as nice as the visor (with) seeing and playing and breathing and everything. So it’s exciting to have the visor back.”
Not only was there an adjustment on the ice, there was an adjustment at home with certain normal activities. With his jaw wired shut, Jenner had to eat a blender diet. They tried a little bit of everything to find stuff that worked.
“I tried (pizza) once. It was gross,” Jenner said. “But for the most part it was chili grinded up. By the end it was pasta with Bolognese sauce. We had tacos, anything with ground beef seemed to blend up pretty good. A lot of smoothies, a lot of protein shakes, oats. Breakfast looked the same everyday with two or three smoothies. Then my wife got pretty creative at dinner with the pasta and different things, whatever we could think of.”
Jenner is feeling much more like himself these days. He’s leading on the ice. He’s leading off the ice. He had the entire team and their families over for the Super Bowl at his house. They wanted to make sure everyone felt included and welcomed. Mission accomplished there.
Team Unity
Keeping with the theme of making everyone feel included and welcomed, the topic of team unity has been a popular topic in the room of late. The record is not where they want it to be. But they acknowledge that there’s a certain buzz around the room which shows the team is coming together. There’s a long way to go here but they do like how that is progressing.
“The vibe is really good right now,” coach Pascal Vincent said. “We were just talking about that with the coaches. We had a real good meeting this morning about the mindset. We talked a little bit of the systems and team identity. I’m sure you can see it in practices. It’s just something’s there. It’s more. It’s lively. They’re talking. They’re celebrating. They’re competing. They’re pushing each other. That’s where we want to get to.”
Fans want to see results. They want to see their team winning and doing well. Getting to that point takes a lot of work. Part of that work is making sure there is unity on the team given the number of different personalities it has.
Just how important is that unity? Let coach Vincent, Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Kuraly tell you themselves.
“It matters,” Vincent said. “I was really strict early in the season because we wanted to create the standards, the foundation and not many gray areas. I’m not a gray kind of guy. There’s a lot of things that are gray but there’s a lot of things that are black and white. And the black and white are black and white. So we created the standards. It took some time. The fact that the team was still competing every game regardless of what was happening was number one. But we also had a meeting with Jon Gordon. That was really interesting.”
“I asked him how was the engagement? He said it was outstanding. Your guys are connected. For him to say that, I knew it, but coming from somebody on the outside, a confirmation that’s his job. He’s a specialist. That was really interesting. And then we keep building that.”
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Both Gaudreau and Kuraly have been in the league long enough to understand the importance of a united team.
“It’s important. We want to come together as a team and make sure the young guys feel welcome and part of this team,” Gaudreau said. “Everyone gets together having a good time while watching (the Super Bowl) just brings the team together.”
“The last couple years, the seasons are short. You have to make the most of when you’re here together,” Kuraly said. “Boone’s been really good at that just making sure we’re doing all the things that we normally do. Every little outing you can spend together is time that you can build and grow and get to know each other.”
The Blue Jackets really couldn’t do this a lot early in the season with 30 games in the first 60 days of the season. They’re able to do that more now given the back-loaded road schedule they’re facing. They got to spend time together in Western Canada. They’ll do the same on the California trip.
These are the kind of things that aren’t seen very often on TV. But their time together is building unity one day at a time. Making sure everyone is on the same page is a good first step. Then steps can be taken to improve their game on the ice.
Unity might not seem like an important topic. But for these Blue Jackets, it’s essential if they hope to get to the next level. They continue to build one day at a time.
Side Dishes
- Notice the power-play alignment in Ottawa? The Blue Jackets played two defensemen on each unit. Coach Vincent said that was in part because of Yegor Chinakhov’s injury. They gave up a short-handed goal and almost a second one before it was overturned because of goalie interference. Chinakhov could be available on the California trip. As of this writing, the team hasn’t announced any corresponding roster moves.
- What more can you say about Gaudreau stepping up to donate $1,000 per point on mental health initiatives while Patrik Laine is out? Outstanding stuff. The conversation surrounding mental health needs to get louder.
- Jordan Dumais has begun skating in Columbus. He’s working his way back from lower abdominal surgery. When ready, he’ll go back to his junior team in Halifax.
- Friday will mark just three weeks until the NHL Trade Deadline. Ready yet?
