Columbus Blue Jackets: Their window to make the playoffs is now

After two straight first-round playoff exits, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ window is rapidly closing. This season is their last shot.

The 2018-19 season is the best chance the Columbus Blue Jackets have. They’ve made it to the playoffs for two straight seasons, each of them first-round exits. This season is their chance to break the trend.

With their leading scorer in Artemi Panarin and their Vezina goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky coming off the books this summer, this season is a must-win situation for the Blue Jackets. Their core players are aging and nine restricted free agents coming up, this team will not look the same next year.

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Bobrovsky and his agent have already announced that they want to make him the highest paid goaltender in the NHL. To put that in perspective, Carey Price (the highest paid goalie) makes $10.5 million a year. There is no way that Columbus will have the cap space to pay him, so their star netminder will be out the door.

With Seth Jones returning from injury, this team has achieved its fullest form. Jones is the backbone of the Blue Jackets’ defense and leads all skaters in ice time, playing almost 25 minutes a night.

Last season, he played 78 games and was second for team scoring with 57 points, a franchise record for most points by a defenseman in a single season.

So far, the Blue Jackets have been playing decently well. Currently, they are 4-3 and third in the Metropolitan Division. Panarin has entered the season like he wants to be paid the sun and the moon, with nine points (three goals and six assists) in 7 games.

Zach Werenski and David Savard have taken up the responsibility when Jones was out with injury, Werenski playing almost 25 minutes and Savard playing 24. Even against the toughest opposition and playing four more minutes than he’s used to, Werenski has two goals and two assists. Even though the Blue Jackets will be losing key players of the present, the young defenseman is a great player to retool around.

Their offseason acquisitions in Anthony Duclair and Riley Nash have played well. Duclair has his swagger back and scored a goal-of-the-season candidate. When key center Brandon Dubinsky fell to injury, Nash stepped up and became the third-line center. He has the best faceoff percentage on the team, with a 69 percent success rate. Last season, the Blue Jackets struggled a lot with secondary scoring. If Duclair and Nash continue to thrive on their new team, this team becomes that much more dangerous.

The teams that have stood in Columbus’s way during the playoffs have been the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. The Washington Capitals had a very short offseason that could impact their play later on, while the Pittsburgh Penguins look very similar to the team that beat the Blue Jackets back in 2017. The difference is, Columbus is a much better team this time around and will be playing with more desperation.

As for cap space, the Blue Jackets have a little over 5 million. This should be enough for a big playoff rental who could give them the extra boost to put the team over the top.

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The Blue Jackets’ average age (26) is still below league average (27.6), but their core players like Dubinsky, Nick Foligno, and Cam Atkinson are all over or nearing 30 years old (Atkinson is 29). Other than that, they have a lot of young players on decent contracts who will keep the team going. The problem is, they don’t have the star to make them special. With Panarin gone, they will need to find a scoring replacement, whether it’s through the draft or by a trade.

With a lot of their star players leaving for free agency and their core rapidly aging, this season is the best shot the Columbus Blue Jackets will have.

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