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New York Rangers rivals: Columbus Blue Jackets season preview

By Andrew Steele-Davis

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 05: Artemi Panarin #9 of the Columbus Blue Jackets looks on during the national anthem prior to the game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on April 5, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 05: Artemi Panarin #9 of the Columbus Blue Jackets looks on during the national anthem prior to the game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on April 5, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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COLUMBUS, OH – SEPTEMBER 27: Columbus Blue Jackets center Gustav Nyquist #14 and New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher #8 look on during the preseason game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New Jersey Devils at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on September 27, 2019. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH – SEPTEMBER 27: Columbus Blue Jackets center Gustav Nyquist #14 and New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher #8 look on during the preseason game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New Jersey Devils at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on September 27, 2019. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Arrivals

Former Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella is back behind the bench for Columbus in 2019-20 but he’ll have one hell of a job on his hands to maintain the Blue Jackets’ status as a playoff team in what is going to be a hell of a competitive Metro Division.

After losing some big hitters and the core of this roster, Tortorella will only have two new faces in which to fit into his lineup with forwards Gustav Nyquist and Mark Dano signing in free agency, although Dano will begin the year in the AHL with the Cleveland Monsters.

Nyquist will bring some scoring touch to the Blue Jackets having tallied 22 goals and 38 assists for 60 points for both the Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks last year, and he should slot straight into the top six for Columbus.

Given what they lost in free agency and the lack of replacements, it is clear that Columbus has a ton of faith in the likes of Cam Atkinson, Josh Anderson, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Seth Jones and Zach Werenski to step up and fill the gaping holes left by their flurry of vacated stars.

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 05: Matt Duchene #95 of the Columbus Blue Jackets takes a face-off against Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on April 5, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 05: Matt Duchene #95 of the Columbus Blue Jackets takes a face-off against Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on April 5, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Departures

We’ve touched on this already and it doesn’t make pretty reading for Blue Jackets fans who lost a plethora of huge offensive weapons during the off-season.

Forwards Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, along with goalie Sergei Bobrovsky were the biggest names to depart and, to be brutally honest, you can’t replace those kind of elite players.

And, to make matters worse for Columbus, they will have to put up with Panarin still lighting it up in the Metro Division after signing for the Rangers on the first day of free agency.

It was a brutal summer for the Blue Jackets but they do still have some talent on the roster, and they will need to rely on the collective to produce the goods rather than star power in 2019-20.

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