The Jackets are looking to start over, while Utah is looking to take the next step.
A recent trade by the Columbus Blue Jackets offloaded former no. 2 overall pick Patrik Laine to Montreal.
That normally signals the start of a rebuild, and it seems the Blue Jackets are heading that route.
They aren't the only ones; the San Jose Sharks are accelerating that rebuild through the drafting of their no. 1 overall pick, Macklin Celebrini, while the Anaheim Ducks are entering the penultimate year of their own rebuild.
Utah themselves could be entering the penultimate year of their rebuild, but the key part of a rebuild is a core, whether it's a player or a group of players.
And while the Jackets still have Johnny Gaudreau, Boone Jenner, and Adam Fantilli, you can't do it all without a great goaltender, and Elvis Merzlikins is that great goaltender you can build around.
While the Latvian may have had a few down years in the past couple seasons, you can expect he'll have a bounce back year with a young, but more experienced defence in front him.
No one was over 30 years old in that defence last season, but the return of Jack Johnson for his second stint with the team should provide some much-needed help and physicality on the back end.
The same can be said for Utah with the additions they made like Mikhail Sergachev, Ian Cole, and John Marino, which will provide that same assistance on the blue line.
So, in that sense, you can say it'll be a battle of the core player (or players) when these two teams meet.
The question will be, who will be in them?