Columbus Blue Jackets are building something special in Ohio

Think of all the hockey-crazed cities in the United States and Columbus, Ohio definitely comes to mind. They may not be as hockey-crazed as Minnesota, but Ohio hockey fans are beginning to take notice thanks to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Although it may still feel like a dream, it was not when the eight seed Columbus Blue Jackets swept the first seed and record-tying Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. Since then, there has been plenty of discussion of why Tampa Bay lost, as both hockey writers and fans alike are still flabbergasted by the historic upset.

In the midst of their first playoff series win in franchise history, the city of Columbus, Ohio has quietly been transforming into a hockey-crazed town. While they may not be on the levels of Montreal, Chicago, or even Vegas with the relatively new Golden Knights, the hockey-crazed atmosphere in Columbus right now is one no one would have expected a few seasons back.

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Aside from their Major League Soccer franchise the Columbus Crew, the Columbus Blue Jackets are the only professional sports ticket in town. They were chosen by the NHL as the site for an expansion team in 1997 after a group pushing for professional hockey in Ohio was formed a year earlier.

The NHL has previously an unsuccessfully tried to expand in Ohio in the 1970s when the long forgotten California Golden Seals moved there to become the Cleveland Barons. The Barons lasted only two seasons before not just relocating, but folding entirely.

Hockey in Columbus was a quiet success for its first few seasons. Up until October of their second season in the league, the Blue Jackets had a home sellout streak of 58 games.

Even with newly minted first overall pick Rick Nash lighting up the league, the lack of success on the ice, albeit one postseason appearance in 2009, made the franchise be labeled as mediocre against the rest of the NHL.

A 2012 Bleacher Report article listed Columbus at 27th out of 50th North American hockey markets, a figure NHL fans at the time might have considered too generous. Fan attendance numbers thus began to dwindle, and the Columbus Blue Jackets became a hockey watchers punchline.

The low point of the franchise came when Nash formally requested a trade to go to the New York Rangers, but the Jackets began to slowly improve after that. The trade that sent Sergei Bobrovsky to Columbus from the Philadelphia Flyers changed the face of the team and gave them their most beloved player in franchise history.

Further additions in the form of Artemi Panarin, coach John Tortorella, and Matt Duchene this past season helped change the reputation of the team that was the NHL’s punchline.

In the Bobrovsky era (the 2012-2013 season through present), attendance for the Columbus Blue Jackets has increased, although they still land in the bottom of third in NHL attendance. In 2011-2012, when the Jackets were at their lowest point in the standings prior to the Rick Nash trade, the Jackets on average drew a crowd of 14,660 fans a game, putting them at roughly 80% capacity. This past season, they drew on average 16,658 fans, with a respectable capacity of almost 92%.

Those aren’t Chicago Blackhawks type numbers, where the Madhouse on Madison is filled on average of 107% nightly, but for a relatively recent expansion team, with a history of more losing seasons than not, in a small nontraditional hockey, or even professional sports, market they’re trending in the right direction.

In terms of franchise value, the Blue Jackets are a mixed bag. in 2012, Forbes listed the franchise as having a value of $145 million, putting them at 28th out of the then 30 teams. Last season, Forbes listed them at $320 million. While that’s a substantial increase, when taking the expansion Vegas Golden Knights into account that dropped Columbus to 29th out of a now 31 teams. That same year, the Blue Jackets increased their value at 2%, when the average NHL team saw their value increase by 7%, so there is still work to be done.

And then there was the Columbus Blue Jackets open practice yesterday where more than a few people carved time out of their Monday afternoon’s to see breakaway drills and players skate in circles.

The team estimates that around 5,500 fans came out to watch. Yes, you argue that teams like Buffalo and Toronto would have bigger crowds for an open practice, but keep in mind this was a Monday afternoon in a town that probably drew 5,500 fans to a normal game on a bad night during their lowly years.

Nothing brings community together like playoff hockey. Most likely, some of the people in Ohio tuning into Blue Jackets game are just noticing the team for the first time. Even the Blue Jackets themselves know that, and jokingly put an application for bandwagon fans on their twitter account.

It’s easy to criticize the Blue Jackets for their lack of history and fan base that lacks in comparison to the original six teams. It might be too early (way too early) to call Columbus a hockey city, but all the information is there that they’re trending upwards.