Columbus Blue Jackets 2017 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

Columbus Blue Jackets 2017 Season Preview

Columbus has the talent to win a series in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The only question is do the Blue Jackets have the heart to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs as a sleeper after making the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 9/24/2017.

Columbus Blue Jackets Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Artemi Panarin	Left Wing	82	6-foot-0-inches	210-pounds	31	43	74
Alexander Wennberg	Center	80	6-foot-2-inches	196-pounds	13	46	59
Cam Atkinson	Right Wing	82	5-foot-8-inches	182-pounds	35	27	62

Columbus Blue Jackets Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Nick Foligno	Left Wing	79	6-foot-0-inches	210-pounds	26	25	51
Brandon Dubinsky	Center	80	6-foot-2-inches	216-pounds	12	29	41
Boone Jenner	Right Wing	82	6-foot-2-inches	208-pounds	18	16	34

Columbus Blue Jackets Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Matt Calvert	Left Wing	65	5-foot-11-inches	187-pounds	10	5	15
Pierre-Luc Dubois	Center	48	6-foot-3-inches	209-pounds	21	34	55
Oliver Bjorkstrand	Right Wing	20	6-foot-0-inches	175-pounds	6	7	13

Columbus Blue Jackets Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Sonny Milano	Left Wing	4	6-foot-2-inches	197-pounds	0	0	0
Lukas Sedlak	Center	62	6-foot-0-inches	203-pounds	7	6	13
Jordan Schroeder	Right Wing	37	5-foot-9-inches	184-pounds	6	7	13

Columbus Blue Jackets Forwards Review: Columbus has 4 quality lines of depth on offense this season at left wing, center, and right wing. Artemi Panarin had 74 points in Chicago before Columbus traded for his rights by sending Brandon Saad back to Chicago. Panarin is going to be the key addition for Columbus, but a lot of quality players are back as well.

The Blue Jackets ranked 6th in the NHL in goals scored and 12th in the NHL on the power play in 2016-2017. The Blue Jackets can get 3 goals per game on a consistent basis. The defense has to work on allowing less than 3 goals per game if this team wants to win.

Columbus Blue Jackets Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Seth Jones	Line 1	75	6-foot-4-inches	220-pounds	12	30	42
Zach Werenski	Line 1	78	6-foot-2-inches	218-pounds	11	36	47
Jack Johnson	Line 2	82	6-foot-1-inches	238-pounds	5	18	23
David Savard	Line 2	74	6-foot-2-inches	219-pounds	6	17	23
Ryan Murray	Line 3	60	6-foot-1-inches	208-pounds	2	9	11
Markus Nutivaara	Line 3	66	6-foot-1-inches	186-pounds	2	5	7

Columbus Blue Jackets Defense Review Columbus has a deadly first line with Seth Jones and Zach Werenski. They also have Jack Johnson and David Savard two former line 1 defensemen on the second line. This gives Columbus two deadly lines of defense. The third line features Ryan Murray and Markus Nutivaara.

Columbus has three good lines of defensemen that can keep the opposing team from scoring goals while generating quality play on the offense by creating scoring chances. The Blue Jackets ranked 2nd in goals allowed and 9th in penalty killing in 2016-2017. Columbus can finish top 8 in both of these categories in 2017-2018.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Sergei Bobrovski	Columbus Blue Jackets	63	41-17-5	7 Shutouts	.931	2.06 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Joonas Korpisalo	Columbus Blue Jackets	13	7-5-1	1 Shutout	.905	2.88 GAA

Columbus Blue Jackets Goaltender Review: Sergei Bobrovski played like an elite goaltender in 2016-2017. Joonas Korpisalo their 2012 third round pick has developed into a nice NHL backup as well with this deadly blue line in front of him.

Columbus Blue Jackets Prospect Pool: Gabriel Karlsson of Linkopings HC was selected twenty ninth overall by Columbus and he's returning to Linkopings HC in 2015-2016 as well. Karlsson is someone who will develop on the Columbus Monsters.

If the second overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft suffers his third season ending injury in four years then you have to flirt with the idea of bringing Werenski up while assigning Karlsson to the AHL on the Lake Erie Monsters.

After double dipping at defense in the first round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the Blue Jackets landed 3 more quality players. Paul Bittner of the Portland Winterhawks could have gone as high as 17, and Columbus got the highly touted left winger in the second round to develop. Kevin Stenlund has good face off ability and defensive awareness. Stenlund can remain on HV71 and develop. Keegan Kolesar a line 1 right winger on the Seattle Thunderbirds who played with Ryan Gropp and Matthew Barzal was selected by the Blue Jackets in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and is now on Cleveland in the AHL. These guys will have their rookie contracts in effect until 2020-2021 meaning they cannot request a one-way contract that guarantees them a spot in the NHL until at least 2021.

Columbus Blue Jackets 2017-2018 Prediction

The Blue Jackets have the talent to return to the playoffs. At the same time, I'll say they get back as a wild card rather than a top 3 team in their division only to lose in the opening round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Columbus has an extremely bright future if they can keep what they have together. They need home ice to beat a team like Washington or Pittsburgh plus with Philadelphia emerging I think they are fourth in the Metropolitian Division behind those three teams. I can see them defeating Washington if they get home ice versus the Capitals though.