Columbus Blue Jackets Stats: One Final Look At Where They Finished
The 2023-24 version of the Columbus Blue Jackets had another letdown season. From underperforming players to an avalanche of injuries, there was never a shortage of storylines. And let's not forget drama. The drama started in the pre-season and lasted until the season's end.
But the games had to be played, so let's take a look at where they finished in terms of stats compared to the rest of the league.
Goals For: 24th - 234 - It seemed like the CBJ scored more. But they would go into slumps where they couldn't seem to score at all. The Washington Capitals scored 20 fewer goals than Columbus but made the playoffs. There's a reason for that and we'll get to that in a moment.
Goals Against: 31st - 298 - The Jackets gave up the second-highest amount of goals in the league. The Capitals gave up 48 less, so there's your answer for that. The Jackets have a bad habit of hanging their goalies out to dry, this needs to stop.
Power Play: 31st - 15.1 PP% - Only the John Tortorella-led Philadelphia Flyers had a worse power play. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the CBJ by .2%. The Blue Jackets have had a putrid power play since mid-way through the 2016-17 season, where it was broken and has never recovered. They have brought in some big gun consultants over the years to try to fix it and nothing has worked. Even with different players on the ice, nothing has worked. Something has to give.
Penalty Kill: 25th - 76.3 PK% - For the first two months of the season, the PK was running at around third in the league in PK %. Then the injuries started. Boone Jenner left with a broken jaw. Sean Kuraly missed a few weeks, etc etc etc. Once the players who played a major role in the PK started getting hurt, it fell apart. They tumbled from third, down to as low as 30th. During their California trip, they got back to basics per Coach Vincent, and they took off again. Rising to 25th at the end. The PK ended up playing really well for the last month or so.
Shots Per Game: 20th - 30spg - When guys like Adam Fantilli, Yegor Chinakhov, and Patrik Laine were healthy, they were averaging around 32 shots per game. But once those guys started falling to injury, the shots fell as well. Edmonton led the league with 33.8, while the San Jose Sharks only had 25 spg. Could be better, could be worse. One could argue that had the kids been allowed to play more, the shots and chances could've been much higher. Johnny Gaudreau seemed to not take as many shots per game as he used to. They took 2458 shots which was 20th in the NHL.
Shots Allowed: 31st - 34.4 - This was bad. The Carolina Hurricanes, who arguably have the best defense in the league, only allowed 25 shots per game. That being said, the Columbus defense had some issues in this category. They block a ton of shots but also allow a ton of shot attempts. They allowed 2822 shots which was the second worst in the league.
Shots Blocked: 7th - 1523 - Columbus blocked a ton of shots, and at one point was top three in the league. But with blocked shots, come injuries. More than a few guys took some hard blocks and missed time. Jake Bean broke a bone blocking a shot. Erik Gudbranson didn't practice for several days after taking a block off of his foot. He played but took it easy in between games.
Faceoff Win %: 27th - 47.2% - Missing Boone Jenner and Sean Kuraly made a huge difference here. Young guys like Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov were constantly losing faceoffs or getting kicked from the circle. Cole Sillinger seemed to get a little better, but this team needs to get better.
Takeaways From Opponent: 23rd - 517 - Another byproduct of bad defense and guys that don't pressure enough, or don't seem to use their sticks enough to try to separate the puck from the player. The NHL defines a takeaway as “a form of turnover in which the player takes the puck from the opposition, rather than gaining possession through an opposition error."
Giveaways To Opponent: 2nd Least - 499 - The Colorado Avalanche only beat them by 6. With this stat, the CBJ are surrounded in the top 5 by teams who play great defense. The Avs, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver. Could the Jackets be onto something? The NHL defines a giveaway as “a form of turnover where the player makes an unforced error that results in giving the puck up to the opposition.”
Defensive Zone Giveaways To Opponent: 1st Fewest - 250 - CBJ fans are going to look at this at squint their eyes. How in the world do the Jackets lead the league for the fewest amount of D-Zone giveaways? Well, they did. 50.1% of their total giveaways were in the D-Zone which was 11th in the league. Conversely, the Winnipeg Jets, who were one of the best teams in the NHL, had 72.7% of their giveaways take place in their own D-Zone. But the Jets only gave up 198 goals on the season. The Jets didn't allow the other team to score on those giveaways, so there's the answer.
Hits Given: 30th Fewest - 1577 - The Jackets aren't very physical, this is no secret. They could stand to ramp this up next season. But could they? They have a lot of smaller, quicker forwards who don't hit very much. Their defense really only has Erik Gudbranson who likes to hit if he can. Dmitri Voronkov could be a menace if he decides to turn on that aspect of his game. Mathieu Olivier leads the charge in hits.
Hits Taken: 1st Fewest - 1388 - Four of the five worst teams in the league fill out the top 5 in hits taken. Columbus can say they were the kings this past season for not taking hits. Positives people, I'm trying to find positives for you.
The Blue Jackets front office has a lot of work to do, including hiring part of that front office. They have a deep prospect pool, a good farm system, and guys playing with the team now that will be looking to take another step forward.
Columbus also had 318-man games lost this past season. The injuries have to stop, somehow some way. You can't stop injuries such as blocking a shot causing a broken hand, falling awkwardly and twisting an ankle, or spraining a shoulder. But something has to be looked at. They can't keep losing entire seasons due to injury.
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Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.