Arace: Will hockey gods give Columbus Blue Jackets fans a break already?
The Blue Jackets hit the All-Star break on a heater. Dang. Now, we’ll have to wait until the end of the break – the Jackets’ next game is Feb. 10, when Tampa Bay Lightning visit Nationwide Arena – to see whether they stretch their winning streak to two games. That would be a big deal, relatively speaking. Their longest winning streak of the season to date is two games; they did it once in October and they did it again in November.
This is not to disparage the Jackets’ performance in St. Louis Tuesday night. It was impressive. The Jackets held the Blues to 21 shots and Elvis Merzlikins posted his first shutout in 383 days. The final score was 1-0.
It was an important pre-break game for the Blues, who are clinging to the second wild-card spot in the West, and it marked the end of a five-game road trip for the Jackets. Strangely, the Blues played like they already had their feet in the sands of Playa del Amor – and the Jackets painted a picture of how Pascal Vincent’s defensive systems work when nobody does anything stupid. Which is rare.
The Jackets (16-24-10) at the break are in last place in the Metro Division, last in the East and have the fourth-worst winning percentage (.420) in the league. Last year, they hit the break with a .333 winning percentage and a minus-67 goal differential. See? They’re improving.
The fans have hung in there. The average gate at Nationwide this season is 16,702, which is astounding considering how awful this team has been. The fans show up because the Jackets are fun to watch and they have a cache of young talent. The fans come for Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson and David Jiricek, unless Jiricek is in the press box in Columbus, or en route to Cleveland, or playing with the Monsters, or rejoining the Jackets to sit in the press box, or ... dang.
Sunday in Seattle, Fantilli suffered a lacerated calf when an opponent’s skate blade cut down on Fantilli’s left leg and carved a slice just above his Achilles. Although Fantilli hopped off the ice on one leg, it didn’t seem like a huge deal in real time. He wears a protective Kevlar sock under his somewhat protective hockey socks, doesn’t he? (He does.)
Then came the slow-motion replays, and the worry. The Jackets estimate Fantilli will need eight weeks to heal. Eight weeks means Fantilli might not be back in uniform until March 24, and it means he could miss 21 games or more. That’s a terrible blow. He was among the most likely candidates to make a run at the Calder Trophy, which goes to the rookie of the year. It was possible, what with Chicago’s Connor Bedard on the shelf with a broken jaw for an extended period.
Bedard leads rookie skaters in goals (15) and points (33). Fantilli is tied for third in rookie goals (13) and he’s fourth in rookie points with 27. The hope now is that the Jackets’ Russian bear, Dmitri Voronkov (12 goals, 25 points) is put in position to make a run the Calder. If you are a Jackets fan and have not yet fallen in love with Voronkov, you haven’t been watching. He has a bit of Cam Neely in him already, and he has yet to find the space to get off what is a wicked wrist shot.
Fantilli was injured hours after it was announced that Patrik Laine had entered the Player Assistance Program, which is jointly funded by the NHL and the NHL Players Association. The program provides players and their families assistance with mental health, substance abuse and other issues.
The knee-jerk reaction is to play armchair psychologist, to say something like, “Laine feels things deeply, he is very hard on himself, and he has been through some tough times – he must be depressed.” The next harrowing thought is about his history of injuries over the past three years, and the question of how he was medicated, and whether that led to a problem.
I don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know what’s going on and, while the Jackets have a better idea than most, even they don’t know all the details. Let us all step back, then, and let a human being face what he must face. Laine is one of the more interesting, intelligent and colorful athletes to wear the Union Blue. He’s also among the most talented. And he's a good dude. Godspeed.
The disgruntlement of Elvis seems like a distant memory at this point, eh? Now, Jiricek is having his Festivus and airing his grievances. Why can’t this stuff happen in, say, Newark, as in New Jersey? Jiricek has a point. The team’s handling of this Grade A prospect has been, at the very least, interesting. Even curious. At the same time, one can feel the tentacles of a creative agent pushing the buttons of Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen – who, alas, is quite sensitive when creative agents push his buttons. It happens most every contract season.
Our man Brian Hedger and I will take a deeper dive on the Jiricek subject in the next episode of our podcast, “Cannon Fodder.” Until then, godspeed, one and all, and wish luck to Boone Jenner at the All-Star Game.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Arace: Will hockey gods give Columbus Blue Jackets fans a break?
