Own being young and talented
For years, the Blue Jackets have almost wanted to avoid being a very young team. Between leaving some prospects in juniors or the AHL while pressing some into action right away regardless, Columbus management never seemed to understand where they stood and what to do.
Now the Jackets have even more young players on the rise and their talent level is increasing as time rolls on and if ever there was a time to just go with it, it’s now. Between Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, David Jiricek, Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov in the NHL now and upcoming top prospects like Denton Mateychuk, Gavin Brindley, Luca Del Bel Belluz and Corson Ceulemans (not to mention 2024 first-round pick Cayden Lindstrom further down the road), if the Jackets are going to take some lumps, let some of the best of the young guys get more of a taste of what it’ll take to play in the NHL.
We realize that runs a little counter-intuitive to how teams do things, but if any of these guys show they’re ready for a look, go for it already. The fans want to see wins, certainly, but with all kinds of hopeful talent on the near horizon, they’d like to see them, too.