When news broke that Zach Werenski wants out of Columbus, it was followed soon after by the All-Star defenseman apparently not wanting out. The truth probably lies somewhere between. Still, I cannot say I was shocked. How could you be? It’s the Blue Jackets.
I don’t mean that as a putdown as much as a statement of fact, like saying the sun is hot and the newly married “Traylors” like attention.
Fact: The Jackets are cursed. Not in some wizardly place-a-spell-on-you type of hocus-pocus, which would excuse the CBJ from their tendency to self-destruct.
No, this kind of curse is the against-all-odds variety understood by a handful of teams, beginning with the Cleveland Browns and followed closely by the Blue Jackets, aka the Browns on skates. Bad luck and a combination of bad management and bad hockey have caused frustration for franchise and fans.
Let’s look at each of these for the Blue Jackets.
Bad luck
First, it must be acknowledged that all teams experience fluky misfortune. It could be an injury to the star player (e.g. the Crew losing forward Wessam Abou Ali in April to a season-ending knee injury) or something more tragic. It was 40 years ago that Len Bias died of cocaine-induced cardiac arrest just two days after the Boston Celtics drafted him No. 2 overall. It’s possible that had Bias lived, the Celtics would have prevented the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls dynasties from happening. He was thought to be that good.
That said, Boston has played in five NBA finals, winning twice, since Bias’ death on June 19, 1986. Tragedy has not defined the Celtics the way it has the Blue Jackets.
Categorizing the freakish deaths of a 13-year-old girl, a backup goalie and an All-Star forward as “bad luck” feels crass. But the odds of all three happening to the same franchise are almost too long to be believed.
Brittanie Cecil was enjoying a Jackets game at Nationwide Arena on March 16, 2002, when a puck flew over the glass and struck the 13-year-old in the left temple. Less than 48 hours later, she was gone, her brain injury having proved fatal.
Her tragic death had more practical impact on hockey in Columbus and around the entire NHL than any event in the CBJ’s history, as the league responded by making safety netting mandatory in the corners of all rinks.
Blue Jackets 24-year-old goalie Matīss Kivlenieks was relaxing in a hot tub at a wedding celebration in Michigan on July 4, 2021, when an errant firework struck him in the chest, the percussion of the mortar blast lethally damaging his heart and lungs.
Kivlenieks’ death made worldwide news, again associating the CBJ with tragedy. He likely would not have ended up starting ahead of Jet Greaves, but would have added depth as a capable backup.
Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were riding their bicycles in New Jersey when they were struck and killed by Sean Higgins on Aug. 29, 2024. The brothers were to be groomsmen in their sister’s wedding the next day. Higgins has since been charged with reckless vehicular homicide.
Unlike a handful of other big-name stars who made it clear Columbus was not their preferred place to play, Gaudreau wanted to be here. He remains among the top-five most talented offensive players in CBJ history, and losing him was another blow for a franchise best known for off-the-ice Shakespearean sports tragedy.
On the ice? Tragic is too strong a descriptor, but it is fair to say that for too long, the overall product has been grievous to watch.
Bad management
Anything good or bad having to do with any organization begins at the top. I have banged this drum for years, but it remains true that the one constant in the Jackets’ 25-year history is ownership (the McConnell family) and current president (Mike Priest). Not much more to say than that. You can figure it out.
Beyond the people who own the team and have worked closely with ownership since even before the club’s inception (Priest), the results are mixed, but more bad than good. Original president/general manager/head coach Doug MacLean was a P.T. Barnum whose draft decisions set the organization back by a decade. Scott Howson followed MacLean as GM, and was overly careful, while his successor, Jarmo Kekalainen, was overly aggressive at the wrong times. He also had a hand in bringing cell phone stalker Mike Babcock into the fold. BIG swing and a miss.
Current GM Don Waddell is too new to draw a fair and unjaded opinion, but it may be instructive that he apparently was caught off-guard by the Werenski request/non-request.
Granted, general manager is a difficult and thankless job. As former Dispatch colleague Bob Hunter correctly pointed out to me this week, a GM never knows who to believe or what to trust when dealing with players and their agents.
If Werenski gave Waddell the go-ahead to trade him, then nixed a trade to Dallas, what is Waddell supposed to do? His job was to make the best of a bad situation. The situation still isn’t great – it feels like the CBJ either make the playoffs this season or Werenski is gone – but at least for now the Norris Trophy winner remains in the fold. (Aside: I don’t know how you can make Werenski team captain when on some level he hedged at being all-in, but maybe that’s just me?)
Did we mention the rumblings that top offensive threat Kirill Marchenko is not likely to re-sign with the Blue Jackets beyond 2027-28? No, we did not mention it, because defeated CBJ fans already expected it. Accustomed to getting kicked in the teeth, they surely assumed the Russian would want out sooner or later.
Eventually, they all do, right? At least that’s how it seems. Seth Jones. Artemi Panarin. Adam Foote. Jeff Carter. All different circumstances. But the same ABC (Anywhere But Columbus) bottom line.
Bad hockey
Criticize ownership and management all you want, but eventually eyebrow-arching success arrives when players live up to their potential, which for a quarter century has not happened here nearly enough. By now, you know the terrible tagline: one playoff series win since the CBJ arrived in 2000. Part of the problem has been inferior coaching, part has been striking out in the draft lottery; Columbus has never secured the No. 1 overall pick, outside of trading for it in 2002, when they selected Rick Nash.
But ultimately it’s on the players to perform. To win more. Do that and all the aforementioned bad luck, bad organizational leadership and bad front office decision-making melt into the background. Lose more and those negatives rise to the surface.
Lose more and “no stars want to play in Columbus” becomes a legitimate reason why no stars want to play in Columbus. Lose more and Werenski happily goes on the trading block. With others (Adam Fantilli?) eyeing a way out as well.
Unfortunately, despite improving on their points total each of the past three seasons, from 66 to 89 to 92, winning is not what the CBJ do best. They compete OK, but playing hard is no substitute for giving fans playoff hockey. This organization is great at touting its potential, the young talent that needs only to take the next step. Except that step never seems to happen.
Are the Blue Jackets cursed? In some ways. But they also deserve to be cursed by their fans because, as Mark Twain said, “Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”
In other words, it’s time the Jackets get their $%#& together. At some point, blaming bad luck for their woes becomes more excuse than explanation.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How can Blue Jackets break their bad-luck curse? Make NHL playoffs
Reporting by Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
