CBJ of the Day: Jared Boll

By William Espy

The 2005 draft is one that most Jackets fans would like to forget. The draft known as the “Crosby lottery” featured talents such as Sidney Crosby, Bobby Ryan and many others. The Jackets selected sixth overall and chose talented center Gilbert Brule. Brule’s talent would not flourish at the NHL level, and would come to be known as possibly the biggest bust in franchise history. The 2005 draft did have one success for the Blue Jackets however; in the fourth round they would select Jared Rittenhouse Boll. The enforcer made his NHL debut in 2007 and has been with the Jackets ever since. He created fear around the league and quickly became a fan favorite in Columbus. Recently, his usefulness to the team has come into question as it begins to move forward.

In the 2014-2015 season, Boll posted a measly 5 points in 72 games for the Jackets. While scoring has never been his main role with the team, Boll is no longer feared league-wide like he used to be and has seemingly been replaced by Dalton Prout as the team’s go to enforcer. The one positive for Boll about that season was setting the franchise record in penalty minutes breaking the mark previously set by current Fox Sports Ohio announcer Jody Shelley. Near the end of the season, Boll became a healthy scratch regularly as Todd Richards attempted to use four scoring lines rather than three scoring lines and an energy line which proved to be a massive success.

STATUS: NOT NEEDED

Boll is a massively overpaid enforcer and with the abundance of forwards in the Blue Jackets system, he does not fit into the lineup if he cannot produce any points. The transition from three scoring lines to four has removed the need for an enforcer for the most part. When an enforcer is required however, Boll has seemingly been replaced by Dalton Prout. The only option for Boll would likely be a buy-out in order to remove him from the team, however that is highly unlikely. The buyout window ends June 30, and it would be a massive sign of disrespect for the longest tenured player on the team to be bought out in his final year under contract. I expect him to spend a majority of the season in the press box unless he does prove to management that he has a place on the team when he gets an opportunity. The stat chart below shows that over the past few seasons Boll has not even played to the level of the average fourth liner in any category which will need to change for him to stay in Columbus.