Injuries, consistency and fan angst collide for the Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets have played 25 games of 82, just five games past the quarter mark of the season. To this point, they have had a season marred by a catastrophic amount of injuries that has equated to 168 man games lost going into tonight's tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
While the sheer amount of injuries is staggering, it's the quality of players injured that has really hurt them. Presently, three of their four starting centers are on Injured Reserve.
Brandon Dubinsky (abdominal surgery) has yet to play a game this season. Artem Anisimov (torn tricep) is out for the next two to three months and has played but 16 games after suffering a concussion earlier this season. Mark Letestu (groin) was placed on IR October 30 after playing 9 games. He had surgery on December 2 and is expected to miss six weeks.
Those three players alone equal 50 man games lost due to injury of the 168. Add to that list Nathan Horton (back,€“ out indefinitely), Ryan Murray (lower body, played 4 games), Fedor Tyutin (knee, played 16 games) and Cody Goloubef (knee, played 3 games). These seven players are currently on IR, which doesn't count the players that graced that list here and there this season.
Every team suffers injuries. That's a fact of life in the NHL. Has the speed of today's hockey games contributed to the growing number of injuries seen each year? Blue Jackets left wing Nick Foligno seems to think there might be a correlation.
"I think the game has gotten extremely fast, even from when I came in the league (2007), it's unbelievable how fast we've gotten. I remember guys on the fourth line when I was in Ottawa that took one shift in a game. Now if you have that, your team is not going to be very effective. You need guys that can play."
"So, I think that has a lot to do with it. The speed of guys and the weight of them... I don't think guys were ever this big, five or ten years ago. I definitely think there's a correlation between how fast and how big they are with injuries happening."
While the NHL has said it's concerned with the amount of knee-on-knee injuries, maybe the scope of injuries looked at needs to be widened.
Playing the "right way"
The Blue Jackets began to string together some decent, consistent play starting November 29 in Nashville against the Predators (lost 2-1). This continued against the Florida Panthers on December 1 at home (won 2-1) before falling apart in Sunrise, Florida versus the Panthers December 4 (won 4-3 SO). They face a stern test against the league's best team in Tampa, Florida on Saturday evening.
Defenseman Jordan Leopold has been in the league twelve years and has gone through many ups and downs with seven different teams. He's played 9 games for the Blue Jackets since being traded from the St. Louis Blues to Columbus. He feels there is still a lot of good that can come out of this season for the team.
"I think it stems from believing, composure and confidence. We built something in Nashville, yeah we didn't win, but we came darn close to having a point. As much as it was deflating, it was something that we could grasp and figured out that if we play like that every night, we have a good chance of potentially winning and getting points."
"We were down, but it was early enough in the game that we said 'let's put the work boots on and let's go to work, we'll get this thing if we all stick together on the same page'. If we do that for 60 minutes, we're going to be fine."
Fan angst
Some fans are already looking ahead to the NHL Draft in 2015, based on the Blue Jackets record of 8-15-2 and them sitting dead last in the Metropolitan Division. Forwards Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, both considered to be generational players, are projected to be selected first and second in Sunrise, Florida next June.
Then there are the fans that just want the Blue Jackets to string together some good seasons after the seemingly hard-luck times they've experienced since the club's inception. They've bought tickets every year and supported the team through some very bad years.
Jessica Watson is part of this latter group of fans. Her family has had season tickets since the first regular season game was played at Nationwide Arena on October 7, 2000. She and her husband Jacob have been season ticket holders themselves since the 2007-08 season.
She is part of the fan base that bleeds union blue for her team. And she is tired.
"I'm tired of being the laughing stock of the league," she said. "I'm tired of saying 'next year', I'm tired of watching my team give up, I'm tired of the local media ignoring the Blue Jackets while praising the Buckeyes. I'm tired of people making fun of me for being a Blue Jackets fan, I'm tired of opposing teams taking over MY arena and I'm tired of caring about the draft lottery."
That doesn't mean that she, or her family, have given up on the team that they love. They just would like some good things to happen instead of the bad.
"Obviously I'm not giving up. I love this team and hockey too much to do that. As a family, we're seriously invested in the Blue Jackets. But I'm so disappointed in the way things have gone so far. And I know it's not all their fault; injuries can't be helped and bad puck bounces happen to every team... but OH MY GOD... it seems like it happens here a lot."
The Blue Jackets take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m. Catch all the action beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the FOX Sports Ohio pregame show "Blue Jackets LIVE".