The Blue Jackets bottom-6 have only scored 19 goals this season.
It's no secret that the Blue Jackets have been decimated by injuries, and you'll never hear Dean Evason really talk about it being a problem, but if we're being honest, it's a massive problem. The injury bug is affecting scoring, and it's been that way even before the injury bug started biting.
Losing Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko put the team in a serious pickle. Marchenko is your leading goal scorer, scoring most of his goals 5v5. Monahan on the other hand had nine power-play points before getting hurt, and everything ran through him. Dmitri Voronkov was usually the guy getting those power-play goals from Monahan, and his scoring has dried up since he's been gone, scoring just twice in 15 games.
Since Monahan went down to injury back on January 7, the Jackets have played 15 games and have been given 24 power-play opportunities, scoring only two power-play goals since Sean Monahan went down. They're 2-for-24 on the power play since his injury. The CBJ reached as high as 8th in the league on the power play, but after Monahan went down, they've tumbled back down to 18th in the league as of today.
The Jackets scored three goals against the New York Rangers but lost 4-3. Nowadays, the CBJ can score three goals per game with their eyes closed, but who is scoring them?
Against the Rangers, Kent Johnson, James van Riemsdyk, and Justin Danforth put goals on the board for Columbus. Balanced scoring is the name of the game, and they were able to do that for this game at least. But that's not always the case.
But if you look a little deeper at last night's game, it's concerning in my opinion.
The Jackets were generating very little offense last night, but when Mathieu Olivier is the leading shot-taker for your team, it's not going to be a good night. We love Olivier as most people do, but he cannot be the player trying to generate offense and score goals. He led all Blue Jackets with 7 shots on goal against the Rangers, doubling up the nearest player. The player that was the closest in shots? Sean Kuraly with three. Cole Sillinger and Jake Christiansen had 2 a piece, while every other forward in the lineup had only 1 shot taken. Players like Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli should be leading all forwards in shots just about every night.
With the defensive corp, surely Zach Werenski led the D-Men in shots as he always does right? Wrong. That would be Jake Christiansen with 2. Damon Severson and Denton Mateychuk had 1 each, while Zach Werenski and Ivan Provorov failed to produce a shot on goal the entire game.
When your best players are failing to generate any offense, generally it's going to be a long night unless the team can get some production from the bottom six. Last night, they were able to do that, but historically this season, that hasn't been the case.
The top -7 goal scorers on this team are either top-6 forwards or Zach Werenski. Coming in at #8 is Mathieu Olivier, which is a great story and he's having a great year, but he hasn't scored a goal since January 4 - 16 games ago. Eight players have 10 or more goals, while the rest of the roster, including Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov (missed 34 games) have less than 10.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have no secondary scoring and it's starting to show with some of their top guns out. Guys like Zach Aston-Reese, Sean Kuraly, Mikael Pyyhtiä, and Kevin Labanc weren't expected to contribute too many goals, but with the lineup having so many injuries, it could be expected that the bottom six contribute more than they have.
Many people have said that GM Don Waddell needs to go out and get scoring help. Others argue that it's not worth giving up anything of substance to get short-term help. But what if Don Waddell could get long-term help with scoring? He's said publicly, and recently, that he wants help and could be buyers at the March 7th trade deadline. He won't make a move unless it will benefit them long-term, so don't worry about him trading a decent player for a rental and a "chance" to get into the playoffs this season.
GM Don Waddell will have $45 million to spend in the offseason to start building his championship roster, but he should start at this year's deadline.
He needs scoring help ASAP if they want to make the playoffs. Even when they get Boone Jenner and Kirill Marchenko back, they're going to need time to get themselves back in game shape. Marchenko is going to be expected to continue his goal-scoring prowess, but Jenner may need some time to get himself in order before he starts contributing regularly.
What's Next: Zach Werenski will now take the ice for the United States in the Four Nations Face-Off, which kicks off this coming Thursday, as the U.S. takes on Finland. The rest of the Jackets will get some much-needed R&R before coming back home to play the Chicago Blackhawks on February 22nd.
Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News and never miss a story.