Columbus Blue Jackets start season with high hopes of returning to the playoffs

The Columbus Blue Jackets host the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night in the season opener at Nationwide Arena.

Bob McElligott, who spent more than 15 seasons as the radio voice of the Blue Jackets, now has his own podcast Clear Breakaway.

He joined Morning Edition Host Stu Osborne to discuss this trade and to preview the 2026-2027 season.

Stu Osborne: Who did the team get in return, and how will those players fit into the Blue Jackets roster?

Bob McElligott: Well, the big piece here is Matthew Knies. That was the must-get chip for the Blue Jackets. They knew when you deal with a guy like Kirill Marchenko, who's been one of their top scorers for the last couple of years, Don Waddell, the general manager, made it very clear to other teams that were interested in Marchenko, “We're not looking for futures. We're looking for prospects. We're looking for draft picks. We're looking for a player that can help us right now." Matthew Knies is that guy. He's a big guy. He's a power forward. He and Marchenko have different styles of play. Marchenko is more of a pure scorer, and he's very nimble and has a great shot. Matthew Knies just really powers his way right to the net. He runs people over on the way there. That was the big piece. The Blue Jackets also get Steven Lorentz, who has the capability of being a good guy lower in the lineup for them with energy, and Emil Andre, who's a defenseman, and a younger guy and a prospect guy.

The Blue Jackets are in need of defensemen right now. They had some injuries at the end of last year and then during training camp. They also got a second-round pick. I think it's a pretty good package. They got rid of a guy in Kirill Marchenko who was very clear in letting it be known that he didn't want to be a Blue Jacket long term. He did have this year and next year on contract, they could have held him here. They could've really tightened the screws a bit, but they saw this opportunity to make this move and they made it. Miles Wood has suffered a lot of injuries since coming here, and he had just cleared waivers to go to Cleveland. He wasn't necessarily in the plans anyway. They get his money off the books, and Elvis Merzlikins, who's injured and may not play all year, they get his money off of the books as well by trading him to Toronto. When I look at this trade that the Blue Jackets made, it is a big swing that was taken by the General Manager Don Waddell and I think it was a good swing for the Blue Jackets.

Stu Osborne: You mentioned players that do not want to be in Columbus. One player who does, Adam Fantilli, puts pen to paper and signs a new contract just before the start of the year. How important is this move for the team?

Bob McElligott: Well, it's really important because he's the number one centerman. You don't go anywhere without your number one centerman, and, you know, the deal took longer to get done than all parties would have liked for it to take. But the dynamics, the financial dynamics changed this summer in the National Hockey League, where a guy like Adam, who's only played three years, probably would have been coming out with a contract of, I don't know, $3, $4, $5 million. But after the Philadelphia Flyers signed Leo Carlsson of the Anaheim Ducks to an offer sheet for $18 million a year, and the Ducks had to match that to keep him, well, that threw everything out of whack. And that really created some of the problems, the bulk of the problem, because Adam Fantilli has always intended on remaining being a Blue Jacket. It was just about getting fair market value. He finally got it. He signs a six-year deal, and that gives good stability to the team at that position.

Stu Osborne: At the end of last season, coach Rick Bowness said if he was going to return to Columbus, there needed to be a change in culture. Do these moves reflect that change?

Bob McElligott: This is 100% moving toward culture change. You can talk about culture change. It's very hard to do with the same group of players. There has to be some kind of movement. Somebody has to move out, somebody has to move in. I think Elvis, I love Elvis Merzlikins, his time in that room had just kind of run out. I think it is good that they got him out of the mix, especially when he wasn't going to be playing because of his injury. So just get him away from everybody else and move them out of there. That was good.

You don't want distractions. You have hopes of getting back to the playoffs and doing some damage when you get there. And a guy [Marchenko] that doesn't want to be a part of it and has made it very well known is not the kind of guy that you need to be in your room. Miles Wood is a different story. Miles Wood was not a problem whatsoever. His problem was the amount of money he was making, the term left on his contract and the injuries that he has suffered, and maybe doesn't play exactly the way that Rick Bowness wants the players in his system to play. This is a major shift toward culture change. Make no mistake. You change it by changing people and changing attitudes and they've done that.

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Stu Osborne: You've covered this team through many ups and downs. What's your prediction for this season?

Bob McElligott: Well, it's a little bit different than it would have been four days ago, to be honest with you, because there were still many question marks. The only change that had really come was during the summer, picking up Valeri Nichushkin from the Colorado Avalanche, which was a good addition for the Blue Jackets as well. Other than that change, there wasn't much.

To be honest with you, Stu, it is going to be hard to get into the playoffs because you get either three or four teams from your division. It depends. Three are guaranteed, and then the wild card comes into play. The Atlantic division has some really good teams and if they wind up getting five of the eight in the Eastern Conference, that leaves only three spots. And the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup last year. They're always there. They're a lock to get into the playoffs. So that leaves you two more spots. Washington made some really big moves after missing the playoffs last year to get better. Philadelphia was in the playoffs. Last year, will they do the same? Pittsburgh was in. The playoffs are going to be there or they're going to fall off. The Islanders almost made it just like the Blue Jackets. Will they be in this year? And everybody forgets about the New York Rangers. Yeah, they have struggled the past couple of years, but they arguably have the best goaltender in the National Hockey League right now. So, it's not an easy thing to do to get into the playoffs, especially in this division.

I think with the moves that they made, they've got a real good opportunity to be one of those top three and get in. I'm not going to guarantee it by any means, because they've fallen apart in the last two seasons down the stretch. They've got to prove it because everybody believed in the last two years (and) it didn't happen.