The Columbus Blue Jackets have been one of the biggest stories in the NHL this season. As the 4-Nations Faceoff is getting into high gear, one of their brightest stars will play a key role for his country.
Zach Werenski and Team USA will play their 4-Nations opener on Thursday night against Team Finland at Montreal’s Bell Centre. As expected, he will have an important role for his team similar to the role he has on the Blue Jackets.
For Werenski, he finally gets a chance to showcase just how good he’s been on the big stage. The big stage is something that hasn’t been with the Blue Jackets in recent years.
Lack of National Exposure
The Blue Jackets sit just one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. A big reason for that is the season Werenski has put together.
At the 4-Nations break, Werenski is in the conversation for both the Norris and Hart trophies. He has a career-high 59 points in 55 games and could challenge for both 30 goals and 90 points should he keep up the pace the rest of the season.
However, none of the Blue Jackets’ games have been on national TV in the United States. Before the start of the 2024-25 season, the major TV rightsholders in ESPN & TNT announced their national schedules.
The Blue Jackets only had one game on those schedules, the upcoming Stadium Series game against the Detroit Red Wings which will be on ESPN.
But that’s it. Every Blue Jackets’ game has been aired on their local FanDuel Sports Network. That means unless someone is either in market and has that channel or is out of market and has ESPN+, they were unable to watch the Blue Jackets.
The reason for this is pretty simple. The last couple of seasons have not gone the way they hoped it would. Towards the end of the season, planned exclusive games were switched out.
Because not much was expected from the Blue Jackets in 2024-25, the networks elected to shy away from them despite the talent they did have. Not only has the nation at large missed out on Werenski’s season, they’ve missed out on other great performances too including those of Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli just to name a few.
Werenski in the Spotlight
By being selected to the 4-Nations, Werenski finally gets his chance to show everyone how good he’s been on the big stage and on national TV. With no Quinn Hughes…
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