Four Things The Columbus Blue Jackets Need To Get Back Into The Stanley Cup Playoffs

Basically every headline about the Columbus Blue Jackets this summer has been negative.

Controversial dismissals of beloved long-time staffers, the captain walking in free agency, trade rumors involving the franchise defenseman, and a star RFA maybe also wanting out.

The best way to scare away those bad vibes is to start winning. That cures every issue. The question is what they need to build that kind of success.

These four things are at least the foundation of what such a season would look like.

For the Zach Werenski situation to resolve with an extension, they need to be good out of the gate. Easier said than done, but if he checks out either mentally or through a trade request, then the hope for success in the near future is basically over at that exact second.

The same goes for Kirill Marchenko. They certainly need him to bring back the kind of production he showed last year. The 26-year-old led the Blue Jackets with 27 goals and was second in points behind only Werenski with 67.

Rumors have been swirling throughout the off-season about Marchenko potentially being on the move. If the Blue Jackets have any hope of success, they need to retain him or get an NHL-ready, impact forward to replace him. Either way, if he or his replacement isn't fully locked in, this season is over before it starts.

That's not the cheeriest outlook, but there's just no denying that this is their most important consideration and there's not really a close second.

Operating in a world where Werenski is fully dialed in with the Blue Jackets' bigger vision, he needs to have the kind of season he did last year.

He won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman and deserved it, because the fact that they even got close to the playoffs was because he personally put up 22 goals, 81 points, and logged almost 26:40 of ice time a night against every top opponent.

Werenski did all of that, and they missed the playoffs by seven points.

If he's not as good as he was last year, that just opens up a lot of problems I'm not sure the rest of the roster is equipped to deal with. Being a Norris-caliber defensemen for a second consecutive season is absolutely within his capabilities, he just did it with no help.

The other thing you have to say about last year's Blue Jackets is that they wasted a phenomenal performance from new starter Jet Greaves. He played 55 games, posted a .908 save percentage, and saved 13.8 goals above expected according to MoneyPuck.com, which was ninth-best in the league.

It's hard not to look at that season, in addition to the extension he recently signed, and draw parallels to what Dustin Wolf did with the Calgary Flames two years ago (.910, 11.9 GSAx) before signing a big contract that summer. Unfortunately, Wolf was merely ordinary and the Flames went in the toilet as a result.

Greaves can't have that same kind of sophomore slump as a starter. Even average hockey isn't going to cut it. That's a lot of pressure, but if he did it once he might be able to do it again.

The other interesting part of last year's Blue Jackets group is that they got unexpectedly good seasons from guys like Charlie Coyle (20 goals, 58 points) and Mason Marchment (15 goals, 32 points in 39 games), while young players like Adam Fantilli took a step (24 goals, 59 points).

But after a lot of turnover in the summer, they need Fantilli to grow yet again once he signs his new contract, a lot more from Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson, a good full season from Conor Garland, and for newly acquired winger Valeri Nichushkin to hit the ground at a dead sprint.

Frankly, the playoffs are a much farther-off goal than simply being good enough out of the gate to give everyone a reason to not give up on this group as a whole. They have the high-end talent to do that in October and November, and they can worry about January and beyond once they cross that first bridge.

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