The Columbus Blue Jackets head into the month of December alone atop the Metropolitan Division standings.
For all of the good (Sergei Bobrovsky) that's gone around, the team has had its share of struggles, most notably on the power play. In a long and grueling 82-game season, every team experiences randomness that influences its place in the standings, for better or worse.
Today, we're diging into some of the surprising storylines that have contributed to the Jackets' successes – and failings – to date.
Werenski Scores Goals
It's not surprising that Zach Werenski is producing points; after all, he had 47 a year ago and was a Calder Trophy finalist. Still, after scoring 11 goals as a rookie, he finds himself tied for the NHL lead among defensemen with seven goals, in step with Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues.
What's encouraging is that his 10.8% shooting percentage is high, but not unsustainable. He's clearly the team's shoot-first option on the back end, and his current goal total puts him on pace for 23 goals. Not bad for a 20-year-old.
Panarin's Shooting Percentage
In Artemi Panarin's first two NHL seasons, he topped 30 goals twice and scored on 15.3% of his shots on goal. To be fair, 15.3% is a high percentage, even for a legitimate goal scorer, but not so unreasonable among 30-goal scorers.
Between 2015-16 and 2016-17, 54 players scored 30 goals in a season (many of them scored 30 both years, like Panarin). The median shooting percentage was 14.4% and only one of them (Max Pacioretty) shot under 10% (9.9%).
Panarin is shooting at a below-average rate of 7.4%, but it's not an indictment on Panarin or his performance. He's playing well, and his possession metrics are favorable, so it's surprising that Panarin has just five goals this year and that the Blue Jackets are still atop the Metro standings.
Anderson Doesn't Need Training Camp
As surprising as it is (to me) that Panarin has just five goals through 25 games, I'm equally surprised that Anderson leads the club with nine goals.
Not that I think negatively of Anderson; quite the opposite. It's just that if you would have told me that Anderson would lead the team in goals through 25 games, I would have been less than optimistic about their chances. Instead, Anderson has been the team's most consistent forward and it's hard to imagine where the Blue Jackets would be without him.
In recent games, he's played himself onto the top line with Panarin and another surprise...
Pierre-Luc Dubois Dominates
Just the other day, our own Kyle Morrison wrote about how Dubois has been excellent this season. At the time, he led the league in CF% with 58.9% of shot attempts while on the ice. Brad Marchand has since surpassed him and taken over the league lead, but even that is telling of his impact.
To say that Dubois has filled a void for the Blue Jackets would be understating his contribution. Dubois went from bottom-six winger/center to first-line center in a month's time, and with Alexander Wennberg's return from injury, Tortorella seems content to move Foligno to the wing instead of Dubois.
Expectations were somewhat high for the rookie coming into the season, just given his draft placement, but he's very much exceeded even those lofty expectations at this point in the season.
Wanted: Power Play
You didn't really think there would be five positives, did you?
The team's power play is so bad that it's painful to acknowledge its existence. It's one thing to be average, or even, normal-bad. The Blue Jackets power play is a train wreck...except nobody wants to watch it.
Consider this: Their 8.8% conversion rate is so bad that if you doubled it, it would be 22nd in the league. If you tripled it (!!), it would be slightly better than the Pittsburgh Penguins, but still below the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning's 27.4% rate.
The good news: The Blue Jackets are 16-8-1 despite the fact that they've gotten virtually no contribution from their power play. Even an average power play for the remaining 57 games (and beyond?) would give this team a much-needed boost.
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