COLUMBUS, Ohio - When the worst team in the National Hockey league by a country mile visits your barn for a game, one could reasonably assume that you would have a pretty chance of coming away from said game with a victory and two points. Not so within the formerly friendly confines of Nationwide Arena, as this game was bunkum.
Anton Forsberg, looking for his first win in five starts for the Blue Jackets, had arguably his worst night in net. In the first four games, he played decent games with the team in front of him letting him down. Tuesday night, it was mainly the opposite, although he did start to play steadier in the third period.
This game was a microcosm of their season to date. The first shift of the game spent 59 seconds in the offensive zone. They were buzzing for the first few minutes, after which they allowed Buffalo to set the pace. And once again, they wound up chasing early in the game.
"It's definitely not winning hockey," said Nick Foligno. "When you fall behind by that many goals, it's not easy to come back from in this league. We've got to find a way to make sure our starts are better."
"That's what we talked about going down the stretch; it's playing every game with giving ourselves an opportunity to win. We haven't done that in that past couple of games."
This team, for a couple of seasons now, has had a problem with consistency. The rollercoaster ride has smoothed out at times, but there are always more peaks and valleys seemingly right around the next corner.
Somehow, they need to find a way to be more consistent. Something needs to shake-up this team from the consistently inconsistent way they've been playing. Trades have a way of doing just that.
With this loss to Buffalo, they would almost assuredly be leaning towards being sellers versus standing pat as the trade deadline looms large (Monday, 3 p.m.). They have free agents to move, whether that's Mark Letestu, Jack Skille or Jordan Leopold. There are some restricted free agents, too, with Cam Atkinson, Matt Calvert and Cody Goloubef in that group. At this point, it is also known that James Wisniewski is being shopped around to teams in need of some defensive help.
This is by no means a sign that the team is in imminent danger of being "blown up". But right now, despite the plethora of injuries that besieged the team this season, management has to have an idea of what they have within that room and on the ice.
The Blue Jackets are in 25th place with 23 games remaining. If they finish in this position, they would draft no lower than the 7th pick in the first round of what is arguably the deepest draft in at least a decade. Behind the top two picks of Connor MacDavid and Jack Eichel, both considered to be generational players, picks three through ten are looked at as having the skill to play in the NHL right away.
So, did they over-achieve last year? It is quite possible of that being the case. Be that as it may, there are issues (scoring and not clearing the defensive zone among them) that need to be addressed. This would seem to be the opportune time to do just that. It's not a major rebuild that is needed, but more of a surgical buttressing of the core foundation that is already in place.
As long as they can find willing partners in the trade dance, look for some moves to be made by next Monday. And at some point in the not-too-distant future, this team needs to stop being the youngest team in the league every year. Because the status quo just will not do.
