Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen subscribes to the idea of letting players make decisions.
That is to say, their performance (good or bad) dictates the outcome, and it’s a common refrain heard during training camp and the preseason. NHL teams begin their camp with a plethora of players and use every evaluational opportunity to pare down that list, with the prime opportunities coming in game action.
The Blue Jackets are not unique in that they have a few open spots on their roster. They lost a valuable player in William Karlsson, scooped up by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. Scott Hartnell was bought out. Sam Gagner tested free agency and cashed in — to the tune of a roughly 300 percent raise — after a 50-point season in Columbus.
Brandon Saad was traded back to Chicago and Artemi Panarin assumes a top-flight role, and the hope is the latter provides a game-breaking element that Columbus has sorely lacked.
But beneath the surface, out of the top-six spotlight and beyond the noise of the silly season transactions, there are plenty of items left to be settled and the Blue Jackets have a cadre of depth players who are in contention for the opening night roster. The balance in their forward group was essential to their success in 2016-17 and they have added complementary players who could step into similar roles this season.
Among players who would be considered “bottom six,” the Blue Jackets received:
- 50 points from Gagner
- 37 points from Hartnell
- 29 points from Josh Anderson
- 25 points from William Karlsson
In short — they had depth. And it was quality depth.
The likelihood of them finding another 50-point player for $650,000 is quite low, however, the internal competition for a limited number of spots typically brings out the best in players. Exactly who are some of the new faces in the mix, and what could they bring to the 2017-18 Blue Jackets?
Tyler Motte (C/LW)
This guy was not just a throw-in piece to the Blue Jackets-Blackhawks trade that brought Panarin to Columbus. The Blue Jackets really like Motte and his versatility, and Ohio State fans will like that Motte gives the Blue Jackets another Michigan Man in the organization. Motte, a native of St. Clair, Mich., played two seasons in Ann Arbor with Zach Werenski and turned pro after the 2015-16 college season. Motte was a 30-goal scorer in his final season with the Wolverines and surprised many when he spent a good chunk of his rookie NHL season in the Blackhawks’ top six; ideally, he can fill a bottom-six role in Columbus but with a strong training camp, who knows?
Motte can play center or wing and has some offensive upside. It’s reasonable to assume he will get opportunities as both a center and winger during preseason action, but with Lukas Sedlak also in the mix, Motte may well be a winger on this Blue Jackets team.
Jordan Schroeder (C/LW)
In Schroeder, the Blue Jackets have an experienced player who has gone through the AHL/NHL shuttle and is comfortable with it. That's not to say Schroeder is fine with being a tweener, but rather, he's not a player you have to worry about if he's called up on spot duty from time to time. But this is sure to be a motivated player, acquired from Minnesota in exchange for Dante Salituro this summer and later signed to a new two-year contract. Schroeder was a first-round pick in 2009 by the Vancouver Canucks but never found his footing in the NHL; the soon-to-be-27-year-old then landed in his home state with the Wild and appeared to get some traction.
With the Blue Jackets, he's got another opportunity to show he can handle regular NHL work. Schroeder has some intriguing tools: he can skate and has scored at the AHL level, and if he can find some consistency with those, he has a chance to break camp in Columbus.
Calvin Thurkauf (C/LW)
A month ago, if someone mentioned Calvin Thurkauf as a potential NHLer in 2017-18, you'd have thought them to be a little confused. The kid may be a longshot yet, but he has put his name in the conversation with a tremendous showing at the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City.
Thurkauf is a big body, a natural center who can play the wing, and can put the puck in the net in different ways. He was more of a set-up man in Traverse City, but Thurkauf drives the net hard and can shoot the puck, making for a dual threat when he barrels down the wing.
The Blue Jackets made Swiss-born Thurkauf a seventh-round pick in 2016 and jumped from 18 goals in 61 games with Kelowna (WHL) in 2015-16 to 33 goals in 60 games last season. With plenty of attention on Pierre-Luc Dubois and Vitaly Abramov (incidentally, his line mates in Traverse City), Thurkauf has stepped forward and made his name one to consider.
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