The Columbus Blue Jackets are the hottest team in the NHL. They have are 9-1-0 in their last ten games and have won five straight games. Since hiring Rick Bowness, they have won eight of nine games. This has brought the team from last place in the Metropolitan Division to fifth, and just four points outside of a playoff spot.
Now, general manager Don Waddell has spoken to James Murphy of RG, setting expectations about the rest of the season.
“You’ve got to be realistic about where you are,” Waddell told RG. “We'll see where we are at the Olympic break; we’ll see what happens the first week of March there.”
The Jackets have 28 games left in the season to make up enough ground to make a playoff run. Still, the team has just two more games until the Olympic break, with a trade freeze running from Feb. 4 at 3:00 PM ET through Feb. 22 at 11:59 PM ET. The team will then have just five more games until the NHL trade deadline on Mar. 6.
“When you're chasing, you can't catch anybody when you're not winning,” the Jackets executive said. “So we’ve got these games we’re in. If we can do that, then I believe that we still have a chance.”
There is also the need to take care of their own players. The team is expected to have $46.16 million in cap space this summer. Still, they have six pending unrestricted free agents, including Charlie Coyle, Boone Jenner, and Mason Marchment. They also have four restricted free agents, including Jet Greaves. Adding players will cut into their ability to bring everyone back.
The front office believed this roster had enough to make it to the playoffs for the first time in 2019-20.
“But our franchise, we thought this year would be the year that we could get in, and we're still in that position where we think we can. But saying that, that's where the realistic part of it comes in — that you have to make sure that if we come out of the break and think, OK, if we win 10 in a row, we get in, that’s probably not what's going to happen. So it's all going to come down to what we feel like our chances are,” Waddell concluded.
The Blue Jackets are 27-20-7 on the year, and have seven games until the trade deadline, including games against the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders, two teams in the playoff race.
Columbus takes the ice again Tuesday night, visiting the New Jersey Devils. They will then face the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday before the Olympic break.
