With the calendar now turned to September, that means we will have hockey later this month as training camp and pre-season get underway.
As we look ahead to the 2023-24 season getting underway against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 12 at Nationwide Arena, it's time to take a look at what milestones are on track to be set and records to be broken.
Zach Werenski is fully healthy and ready to go. Limited to 13 games last season when his season abruptly ended due to injuries, he'll once again be on target to pass Geoff Sanderson for eighth on the franchise list for goals.
Blue Jackets Franchise Ranks: Assists
- Rick Nash: 1st, 258
- David Vyborny: 2nd, 204
- Nick Foligno: 3rd, 192
- Cam Atkinson: 4th, 184
- Seth Jones: 5th, 173
- Zach Werenski: 6th, 166
- Boone Jenner: 8th, 159
Blue Jackets Franchise Ranks: Goals
- Geoff Sanderson: 8th, 88
- Zach Werenski: 9th, 79
- Patrik Laine: 19th, 58
Blue Jackets Franchise Ranks: Points
- Nick Foligno: 3rd, 334
- Boone Jenner: 4th, 329
- David Vyborny: 5th, 317
- R.J. Umberger: 6th, 250
- Zach Werenski: 7th, 245
Werenski is sixth on the franchise list for assists and can pass Seth Jones (173) with eight more helpers.
Werenski is also shooting up the franchise ranks for points, and will pass R.J. Umberger for sixth on the franchise list with six more points.
Assuming health, Boone Jenner will pass Rick Nash for the franchise lead in games played. Currently, Nash is first in Blue Jackets history with 674 games played while Jenner occupies second place with 657. Jenner is also 30 goals and 41 assists away from 200 in both categories and is 71 points from 400 points for his career.
Werenski, the next closest-active player is 13th (416). Jack Johnson and Umberger are 10th and 11th (445) and Brandon Dubinsky is next up in Werenski's sights (430) at 12th.
Will Johnny Gaudreau improve his scoring output in 2023-24 after a 74-point season in 2022-23? #CBJ https://t.co/3U28kGEgFH
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) August 28, 2023
Johnny Gaudreau is closing in on 700 career points and 700 career games played. Currently, he has 683 points (231 goals, 452 assists) and has played 682 career games. Gaudreau is at 195 career power-play points and 49 career power-play goals.
Patrik Laine is looking for a big season and will record a bunch of milestones in the process if that happens.
He's 38 games from career No. 500, two goals from career No. 200, 29 assists from career No. 200, and 21 points from career No. 400. Laine needs one power-play goal from 70 in his career.
Jack Roslovic is 14 games from No. 400, 29 goals from No. 100, and 10 points from career No. 200.
Looking at career games played so far, a host of players are approaching milestones.
Career Games Played
- Damon Severson: 647
- Ivan Provorov: 532
- Sean Kuraly: 418
- Eric Robinson: 259
- Andrew Peeke: 195
- Adam Boqvist: 174
- Emil Bemstrom: 172
- Elvis Merzlikins: 150
- Cole Sillinger: 143
- Jake Bean: 125
- Yegor Chinakhov: 92
- Liam Foudy: 89
- Kent Johnson: 88
- Kirill Marchenko: 59
Sitting at 263 career points, Damon Severson is just 37 points from 300 for his career. Adam Boqvist is 25 points from 100 for his career. He had 24 points (five goals, 19 assists) in 46 games last season.
The Blue Jackets are hoping to put a stop to consecutive record-breaking seasons in goals given up. Last season, they surrendered over 300 (329) for the first time.
As BlueJackets.com writer Jeff Svoboda notes, Columbus set a franchise record with 563 man-games lost to injury.
This prompted a few more unplanned records such as starting a record six different goaltenders last season: Elvis Merzlikins, Joonas Korpisalo, Daniil Tarasov, Michael Hutchinson, Jon Gillies, and Jet Greaves.
They also iced a team-record 47 different players and iced 20 players classified as rookies, with nine rookies — Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, Liam Foudy, Tim Berni, Hunter McKown, Tyler Angle, Stanislav Svozil, Mikael Pyyhtia and Samuel Knazko — playing in the finale against the Buffalo Sabres.
Svoboda goes on to mention the rookies, 18 being skaters, registered 120 points, 55 goals, and 65 assists, all franchise records. The 120 points were second to the Montreal Canadiens, while the 55 rookie tallies led the league last season.
No Blue Jackets rookie scored more goals in a season than Kirill Marchenkos 21 in 2022-23. Can he score 30 this season? #CBJ https://t.co/nmoy4eHTCJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) September 1, 2023
Marchenko set the rookie goal-scoring record with 21 goals last season. Might Adam Fantilli challenge for that in his first season?
Fantilli could become the fourth Blue Jackets rookie to record at least 40 points in a season following Pierre-Luc Dubois' 48 points in 2017-18, Werenski's 47 points in 2016-17, and Johnson's 40 points last season. Johnson is 57 points from 100 for his career.
While Sean Kurary is 82 games from 500 in his career, he's one goal from 50 and 31 assists from 100. Eric Robinson is 19 points from 100 for his career.
Andrew Peeke had a team-record 197 shot blocks last season so maybe he or another player challenges in that category once again this season.
