EDMONTON — The reality is, Jarmo Kekalainen’s big gamble is already halfway in the ditch. Because only making the playoffs — then getting steam-rolled by Tampa — isn’t enough, in a town that has not seen the second round of the playoffs since it came into the league in 2000.
So, with apologies to the Montreal Canadiens and their fans, we are a little disappointed at how poorly Kekalainen’s coach and players have rewarded the Blue Jackets GM for the courage he showed at the recent trading deadline, convincing ownership to push all of their chips into the middle of the table.
It would have been an easy out, with goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and superstar winger Artemi Panarin having signaled they will test unrestricted free agency at season’s end, to deal them both off at the deadline for draft picks and prospects, and cash in another season in a city that will turn its attention to Buckeyes football any week now.
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But that’s the misnomer here.
This isn’t one of those organizations that has taken the easy way out, and it’s not a fan base that would accept that. The Blue Jackets have built a good hockey culture in Ohio, and fuelled with blockbuster deals like Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen. Columbus, which will always be an Ohio State Buckeyes town and Jack Nicklaus’ hometown first, has found ample room in its sporting soul for its hockey team.
Now, it’s time for John Tortorella, Matt Duchene, and the rest of the millionaires to give back.
“We’ve talked enough,” Tortorella said after a 4-1 loss in Edmonton on Thursday. “We’ve talked about a lot of different things here and it’s not rhetoric, it’s not panic, it’s not… We just have to have some sort of sense of urgency to try to get back into this (race) here or we have no chance.”
A general manager’s work is complete after the deadline, and we can’t remember the last time a team made such an overt investment on its current roster, when the opportunity existed to opt for the long-term play. Since the Feb. 25 deadline, Kekalainen’s reward has been a 5-7-1 record — including 4-0 and 4-1 losses to Edmonton.
“We’ve just got to play better,” Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones told the Columbus Dispatch after the latest loss. “I mean, you look at the game tonight, (the Oilers) are playing for nothing and we’re playing for something – and that’s not what it looks like.
“Something’s got to change here.”
Kekalainen has assembled what appears to be an elite roster of players. But are they players ready to be an elite team?
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Tortorella, speaking before the loss in Edmonton, belied a sense that the moment Kekalainen has presented might be too much for some of these players.
“It’s been a funky time since the deadline, as far as losing ourselves a little bit,” Tortorella admitted. “Integration of the new players, I don’t think that’s been a problem. I think some guys have added pressure on themselves, when it’s said that now they’re supposed to win some rounds.”
It’s not often that a coach will plant that seed of doubt, when it comes to how much game his key players have. But Tortorella was right: The Jackets choked in Edmonton, putting up just 20 shots on net and showing themselves unable to handle the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl entry, which overwhelmed the Jackets in both losses to Edmonton.
“It’s a strange dynamic with athletes. No matter how strong-minded they need to be to play at this level, playing (under) different expectations for some guys, it sometimes affects their game,” Tortorella said. “They’re good players. These are good players. We’re down to short strokes now, with (now eight) games left. We can talk about scoring chances… We have to find a way to will ourselves to results here.”
The Blue Jackets have been a playoff team in each of the past two seasons, but dropped a point behind Montreal with eight games to play heading into the weekend. From above, Kekalainen must be looking down at the roster he showed such faith in, and wondering.
• How can Panarin have just one goal since the deadline?
• How can Duchene have only three goals and six points since being acquired from Ottawa 15 games ago?
• How can 64-point man Cam Atkinson go dry now, with just one assist and no goals in his past six games?
Maybe Kekalainen wasn’t just showing faith in his roster by making those deadline moves? Perhaps, by adding Ryan Dzingel, Duchene and defenceman Adam McQuaid, he fixed something that wasn’t broken?
Maybe, he simply messed up the chemistry?
“I just feel like we’ve got a piano on our back right now as a group and everyone’s kind of feeling it,” said Duchene, who has made the playoffs twice in his nine seasons while not scoring a post-season goal. “And the hardest thing is we’re not scoring, so we don’t have that confidence that we can outscore teams and come back in games. We’ve got to find that somewhere. I don’t know how we do it, but we’ve got to find it and it’s got to come ASAP.
“I mean, we don’t have any time to mess around.”
