Zach Werenski Appears On Rothman & Ice For The First Time This Season To Talk About His Team

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski was on 97.1 The Fan's Rothman & Ice to talk about his team.

The first question he was asked was about how the team was feeling after a very tough, emotional summer. He says, "I think we're in a good place. Obviously, there's no denying there was some tough stretches there. It was pretty devastating what we went through, and what we continue to go through. But, I think as a group right now, our mindset is to go and get two points in our first game. I think emotionally through training camp, through pre-season, through these last few practice days, I feel as if we're in a good spot right now. We've been leaning on each other, the coaches have done a great job getting us ready, and it's finally time to do what we love to do, and that's play hockey. I think emotionally right now we're in as good a space as we can be."

He also spoke on the coaching change and what he thinks so far. "It's been awesome having him (Evason) here. He's very passionate, which I think's great. He's very black or white, there's no gray areas with our systems, with how he wants us to play, with what he expects from each guy, and I think that's huge for a hockey team. Guys can just go out there and play, they know their roles, they know what's expected of them. I'm excited to get this thing started tomorrow with him, with the real season.  So far it's been really good," Werenski says. 

On comparing Evason's camp to others, he had some very interesting things to say. "I like this camp a lot. I feel like in years past we really haven't gotten the systems until like week two, towards the end of camp. But this year right away, there was a smaller group at camp, so only two groups, and we had to get into systems right away, which I think's really important. I felt the camp was structured really well this year for us to learn the systems right away, and almost get a head start on some teams that's not doing systems this early. I thought camp was structured really well and thought as a group we got a lot out of it going into the season," he said. 

In the past, CBJ camps had 65+ players invited. This year it started well below that number. 

He went on to talk about some of his teammates, how he trains in the summer, and what his expectations are for his season. 

He also talked about the team trip to Ohio Stadium to take in a Buckeye football game. He said that Adam Fantilli "was pretty rattled" when rumors were floating around that he was wearing an OSU hat. Fantilli also posted an Instagram video of him panning around the stadium where you can hear him saying "EWWWW." 

You can listen to the full interview below. 

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