With American Thanksgiving on Thursday and about a quarter of the NHL season over, this felt like a good time to reflect on what the Columbus Blue Jackets have done so far. While this season has certainly been a bit of a roller coaster, there have been plenty of positive things for the team and fans to be thankful for. The team as a whole has certainly surprised many who expected them to be on pace for a last-place finish.
The Blue Jackets currently are sitting at 20th overall for points percentage, and are fifth in the Metropolitan Division. They also have three players who are averaging a point per game in Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko, and Zach Werenski. They can even be thankful for the improved play of Elvis Merzlikins, who has looked much better this season. With those things in mind, here are the three biggest things the Blue Jackets and their fans can be thankful for.
New GM and Coach
The Blue Jackets went into the previous offseason with a massive question: who would be the new general manager? After they fired Jarmo Kekalainen during the season, there was lots of uncertainty about who they would bring in. A rebuilding roster needed an experienced leader to help assess what was working and what wasn’t. The Blue Jackets found the perfect candidate in Don Waddell. Waddell had been the GM for the Atlanta Thrashers and Carolina Hurricanes, turning the latter into a perennial powerhouse in a smaller hockey market. That type of experience and success has been the perfect fit so far in Columbus. He quickly worked through various issues on the roster, highlighted by trading Patrik Laine before the season started after Laine had requested a trade. His fresh eyes have been a welcome change this season. But perhaps his most important change was to bring in Dean Evason.
One of the early decisions Waddell had to make was decide on the fate of previous Blue Jackets’ head coach Pascal Vincent. Vincent had only been the coach for one season, which had started with the debacle of the hiring and firing of Mike Babcock. While it may not have been fair to completely judge Vincent on that one season, it was clear to Waddell that a change needed to be made. Waddell recognized the need for an experienced head coach to take over the reins, and after a thorough search, landed on former Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason. Evason had spent three full seasons as…
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