The Columbus goalie duo of Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins seemed to really push each other this season.
For years and years, the Columbus Blue Jackets have had injury issues, and no one was immune. From the forwards to the defensemen, to the goalies, fans just held their breath waiting for the next injury announcement.
This season was much better; they were just ill-timed injuries.
One position group that stayed healthy were the goalies, and in the process did something that's only been done a few times in franchise history.
Jet Greaves started 53 games and had a record of 26-19-9. Elvis Merzlikins started 29 games and had a record of 14-11-3. Doing the math, that's 82 games between the two. Makes sense, right?
But here's where the "rare feat" comes in.
The duo of Greaves and Merzlikins were the only two goaltenders who suited up and played games for the CBJ this season. I know what you're thinking. What's the big deal, right?
Well, here's how rare it is.
The 25-26 season was the first time only two goalies have played in games since the 2018-19 season, when Sergei Bobrovsky and Joonas Korpisalo manned the net. That tandem actually did it in back-to-back seasons.
Before those two seasons, it hadn't been done since the 12-13 season when Sergei Bobrovsky and Steve Mason suited up as a tandem during the lockout season.
In the Calder Trophy season of 2008-09 for Steve Mason, he and Mathieu Garon were the only two goalies to play that year. You then need to go back to 2002-03 when Marc Denis and Jean-Francois Labbe guarded the CBJ net.
Finally, during the inaugural season of 2000-01, Ron Tugnutt and Marc Denis were the only two goalies to play for the Jackets that year.
That's seven times in 25 seasons.
The Blue Jackets did have some seasons where they had a plethora of goaltenders take the ice. They had a couple seasons where they had five goalies play in games. But the most they ever had was during the 2022-23 season, when they had 6 goalies suit up.
Elvis Merzlikins, Daniil Tarasov, Michael Hutchinson, Joonas Korpisalo, Jon Gillies, and Jet Greaves all played that season. Merzlikins and Korpisalo led the way with 53 starts between the two of them.
As we've seen with playoff teams recently, once a team has clinched, they usually call up AHL goalies to start a game or two to give their NHL tandem a break. The same goes for teams way out of the playoff picture. They'll usually bring up a guy to play a game or two to see how he does. So, it does go both ways.
But for Columbus, the positive for Greaves and Merzlikins being the only two goalies to play is that they remained healthy. Over the last few seasons, Merzlikins has had frequent illnesses, but that hasn't been the case over the last two seasons. He suffered a concussion at the end of last season that kept him out of the lineup, which allowed Greaves to come in and prove his worth.
History tells us to expect to see more goalies on the ice for the CBJ next season.
Fingers crossed!
Next Up For Columbus: The NHL Draft Lottery on May 5, 2025, where the CBJ will most likely pick 14 or 15.
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