The Daily Faceoff Show: Aaron Portzline talks about the Blue Jackets’ strong start

One of the biggest surprises in the NHL early on this season has been the hot start of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After missing the playoffs with an 18-26-12 record in 2021 and then trading Seth Jones away in the offseason, it was expected that the Blue Jackets would again be a basement team.

That hasn’t been the case. Columbus is off to a 7-3-0 start and they just pulled off back-to-back wins against the Colorado Avalanche, a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

On Monday’s edition of the Daily Faceoff Show, Aaron Portzline of The Atletic joined the All 32 segment to talk about Columbus’ strong start. He praised the play of rookie Cole Sillinger, talked about how well Jake Bean has played alongside Zach Werenski, and gave praise to goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.

Seravalli: You look at the start of the season the Blue Jackets have had. Very little by way of expectations, very little by way of fanfare. Brad Larsen and company are getting it done, also without a ton of star power.

What’s been the key to Columbus’ success this year, in your eyes?

Portzline: I think there are lots of things in play here. I think lots of people overestimated how much talent left and underestimated the quality of players who were left behind. There are still some really good players in Columbus.

Having said that, we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s been 10 games and there’s a long way to go. These games are going to get tougher.

But the two major spots on the roster that were worried about were down the middle and the right side of the defense.

The one player that’s really helped them down the middle is rookie Cole Sillinger. You don’t expect an 18-year-old to really, really help you at center but he’s been, from the start of training camp, their best two-way center.

The other huge concern was the right side of the defense. They lost David Savard, they lost Seth Jones. Those are two huge losses and you replace them with Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist, who’s injured right now.

Jake Bean has been a revelation for them. Not only do you wonder if he could play against top talent as part of the number one pair with Zach Werenski, but as a defenseman who leans offensively, could he work with Werenski as part of that top pair? Could Werenski be himself with a player similar to him next to him? They’ve looked really, really good.

The thing I have to mention too is that Elvis Merzlikins has a .940 save percentage. He’s a motivated goaltender. He’s being treated for the first time in his career as a clear number one goalie and he wants to win the Vezina Trophy.

I’m not sure if it happens this year, I’m not sure if this team is set up to have a goaltender win that trophy, but he’s playing and performing at that level right now and it’s really carried them a long way.

You can watch the whole episode here…