To say the last two seasons have been a major disappointment is quite the understatement for the Columbus Blue Jackets, particularly last season. And, for an organization whose legacy has been rife with disappointment, particularly for their long-suffering fans, last season’s debacle might have been an all time low, giving consideration to the expectations that existed at the beginning of the 2015-16 off-season.

The Blue Jackets were coming off of an injury-riddled 2014-15 regular season, a season in which they qualified for only the second time in their (at the time) 14-year existence the Stanley Cup playoffs, one in which they also won their first Stanley Cup playoff games, eventually losing out to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a contentious 4-2 1^st round playoff series.  Expectations were also sky high as many believed that the Blue Jackets were on the advent of becoming a rising power and Metropolitan Division stalwart.

However, the Blue Jackets were rife with key injuries, easily leading the National Hockey League (NHL) in the non-dubious category of ‘Man Games Lost to Injury’. However, a furious 15-1-1 finish when the key players returned led many to believe that, if healthy, the 2014-15 season was a mere blip on their way to an impending position among the NHL’s upper tier teams.  The Blue Jackets also acquired, via trade, Scott Hartnell formerly of the Philadelphia Flyers, a feisty, ‘heart and soul’ type of player who would add grit and scoring to the Blue Jackets’ top six forward lines.

However, the 2015-16 season ended horribly as the Blue Jackets came ‘out of the gate’ losing all of their first eight games (0-8-0), the first seven of which they lost by at least two goals, thus leading to the firing of head coach Todd Richards and replacing him with firebrand head coach John Tortorella, previously the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers and briefly (one season), the Vancouver Canucks.

While the Blue Jackets eventually found their way a bit with Tortorella, adjusting to the demanding and oft-blunt coach’s personality and coaching philosophy but the horrific start left a hole too deep to crawl out of and the Blue Jackets finished 34-40-8 which was the 27^th best record in the 30-team NHL.

Normally, such a disappointing season would have resulted in wholesale changes to the team; however, given that the Blue Jackets have one of the NHL’s highest team salaries as well as several long-term contracts with No-Movement Clauses (NMC) for key veteran players, it is difficult to move players with those impingements to NHL teams who could, in exchange, offer high draft picks and prospects.

So, the Blue Jackets were left to retain the majority of its veteran players, hoping for a return to form of the most disappointing 2015-16 performances, specifically former Vezina trophy recipient Sergei Bobrovsky and newly appointed team captain Nick Foligno. Both stalwarts of the Blue Jackets organization had rough seasons.  In the case of Bobrovsky, he continued to struggle with injuries for several long stretches of the season; however, when he was healthy, he had one of his worst seasons in his NHL career.

Foligno appeared to struggle with the weight of expectations, those of his own and that of the organization to live up to his new captaincy role in a manner similar to when Dion Phaneuf was traded to and became team captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Foligno’s scoring struggles were exacerbated when center Ryan Johansen was traded in January for Nashville Predators defenseman Seth Jones, due to Johansen’s issues with conditioning and a liaise` faire` attitude, thus placing himself deep into Tortorella’s doghouse.  Without a pivot with the offensive proclivity and creativity of Johansen, Foligno could never find his offensive stride and finished with his worst stats since the 2010-11 season while with the Ottawa Senators.

The hope is with both Foligno and Bobrovsky that a return to their prior form is in the offing as both, particularly Bobrovsky, are vital to the overall fortunes of the Blue Jackets.

The same optimism for a return to form is what the Blue Jackets brass is banking on as, rather than a major overhaul of personnel, something often expected for one of the NHL’s lowest point total teams, the Blue Jackets, who are saddled with a plethora of long-term, high-salary and with no movement clause (NMC) contracts, don’t have the leverage to move so many underperforming veteran players. The only veteran players whom the Blue Jackets parted ways with were defenseman Fedor Tyutin and 4^th line pugilist Jared Boll.

This is not to say that all hope is lost for any infusion of young talent for the organization’s future. Even with the retention of many veterans players, the Blue Jackets are the NHL’s youngest team (average age) with many players, particularly on the team’s blueline (defensive) corps as three of their top four defensemen are 23 years of age or younger.  Seth Jones, Ryan Murray and much-heralded rookie defenseman Zack Werenski provide a much faster blueline with great puck-moving capability.  While growing pains are anticipated, the Blue Jackets plan to allow this trio to log a slew of minutes thus gaining invaluable experience for the future.

Their forward lines will, at varying times, add many under-23 year old forwards in Sonny Milano, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Josh Anderson with fellow young, veteran forwards (under 25 years of age) Boone Jenner, Brandon Saad, William Karlsson and Alexander Wennberg so, with experience, and the eventual addition of 3^rd overall pick (2016 NHL Entry Draft) Pierre-Luc Dubois who, barring an emergency call-up due to a rash of injuries, should return to his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) team in Cape Breton.

A daunting challenge for the Blue Jackets’ 2016-17 fortunes should be their brutal opening slate of games, the majority of which are against the NHL’s elite teams and, for a team with a recent, non-dubious legacy of early season stumbles, it is critical to avoid a repeat of its last two season’s horrific starts which essentially eliminated them from Stanley Cup playoff consideration before the Thanksgiving dinner was served. However, if they can stay relatively close to the .500 mark by mid-late November and, barring any repeat of the ‘injury bug’ of the 2014-15 season, they should remain in the conversation and on the cusp of Stanley Cup playoff contention.