Is the Fountain of Youth in Columbus?

By William Espy

During the past season, the Columbus Blue Jackets brought in various players for a veteran role on the team. Many of these players had begun to fade out of the limelight and seemingly into obscurity. Little did they know that these players could possibly have a large role on the team for the near future.

We’ll begin roughly a year ago. On June 23^rd 2014, the Blue Jackets traded forward RJ Umberger and a 4^th round pick in 2015 to Philadelphia for 32 year old forward Scott Hartnell. Hartnell had apparently fallen out of the plans general manager Ron Hextall and head coach Craig Berube created for the upcoming season. Hartnell’s contract that had appeared to make him a Flyer for life when he signed it, also included a no trade clause creating an interesting situation in Philadelphia. The former 37 goal scorer could prevent any move that Hextall tried to make, but one city seemed to appeal to him. That city was Columbus. A former all-star can go essentially anywhere he wanted or stay home so why Columbus? Until the prior season, that would have seemed unimaginable. If this had occurred just one season earlier, Columbus likely would have been entirely out of the question. At that time they had only made the playoffs once in franchise history and were swept in the first round. But now, that had changed. In the 2014 playoffs, Columbus not only made it to the post-season, they took the second seed Pittsburgh Penguins to their limit. Columbus got its first playoff win in franchise history and its first home playoff win in franchise history. This is why Columbus appealed to Hartnell. He then waived his no trade clause and quickly adjusted to his new home. Near the middle of the season, he began to struggle just a bit. He felt the effects of the injury bug that nearly everyone in the locker room faced. After the kid line (featuring Hartnell, Marko Dano and Alexander Wennberg) formed Hartnell’s numbers once again began to increase. Hartnell even scored his eighth career hat-trick on March 24, 2015 against the Anaheim Ducks (Wennberg had been injured at the time and was replaced by recently acquired center William Karlsson). Hartnell would finish with 60 points in 77 games for .78 points per game. This would be the forward’s highest PPG ratio since the 2011-2012 season (.81), the same year he put up 37 goals. After that season, it dropped well below .7 and even under .6 in 2012-2013. At the time of the trade, many Flyers fans embraced it by saying “This trade gives up one bad contract for a shorter bad contract”, however it appears that there was only one bad contract in the deal. Hartnell has become a top scorer for the Blue Jackets while also providing a massive physical presence and is going to be a face of the developing Columbus/Pittsburgh rivalry.

Then at the deadline, the Jackets made a few trades that confused Jackets fans. First they traded fan favorite defenseman James Wisniewski to Anaheim in exchange for William Karlsson, a 2015 2^nd round pick and Rene Bourque. Many people in Columbus were excited about the acquisition of Karlsson and the second, however Bourque did not receive the same reception. The former top six forward had seemingly dropped off the face of the hockey planet. He had been almost inexistent during his four year stint in Montreal except for in the playoffs where he had stepped up. After passing through waivers once, Bourque would finally be given another opportunity in Anaheim. That experiment also would not end well for him. He only put up eight points in the 30 games in Orange County before once again being placed on, and clearing, waivers. Anaheim at the deadline seemed weak defensively and was in the middle of a run of the Stanley Cup. Bourque also looked like a career AHLer at this point so they did not think he was a part of the team for the future. Once Bourque got to Columbus however, things seemingly sparked for him. Maybe he realized that it was his final chance at getting a spot on an NHL team or maybe he joined a system that finally worked for him. Whatever the reason, Bourque would end up playing very strong in Columbus. He appeared to be playing much like he had in his prime with Calgary. Bourque would end up getting injured shortly after joining the Blue Jackets, but in his eight games he would put up 4 goals and no assists while also playing solid defensively and physically. Next season is his final year under contract, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can continue the revitalization he is seemingly encountering.

The final player who seemed to have a throwback to his former self in his shortened season in Columbus is David Clarkson. While his statistics may not have showed it, Clarkson seemed to be playing much like his old New Jersey days when he donned the Union Blue. Barely 3 games into his stint with Columbus, he would be bitten by the aforementioned injury bug that struck the locker room. In this small sample size, Clarkson did not put up a single point and was a minus 1 but he did put up 14 penalty minutes. He also had many scoring chances that he barely missed or that were robbed away from him. Clarkson also appeared to have more motivation now that he was away from the painful media of Toronto and showed that he could be a good player in the right system.

Columbus had a difficult season in 2014-2015, however it also showed the abilities of various veterans who previously had appeared to be on the down turn of their career. The two 33 year olds, Hartnell and Bourque put up the greatest point per game ratio they had seen in years. Meanwhile the younger, 30 year old veteran Clarkson failed to put up any points but showed a jump in his step that had been missing in his tenure with Toronto. The mix of young talent and revitalizing veteran talent that makes up the Columbus Blue Jackets creates a threat around the league for the present and the future.