The Columbus Blue Jackets are heading into what could be one of the most pivotal off-seasons in the history of the organization, and the goalie conundrum is just a piece of the puzzle. Over the next few weeks we will be breaking down the positives, negatives, and future possibilities for all areas of the organization. Stay tuned next week for a review, preview, and breakdown of the blue line.
Columbus Blue Jackets Off-Season: Goalie Conundrum
To say this past season was a disappointment would be both blatantly obvious and immensely saddening when speaking about the goalie situation for the Blue Jackets. However, there have been positives to take for the future despite the recurring injuries to both starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, and veteran backup Curtis McElhinney. Young goalies Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg were able to get their first taste of NHL action, and both looked capable goalies for the future of the organization, one more than the other.
The Negatives
The negatives of this season, in regards to the men between the pipes, is fairly obvious when you look at the 34-40-8 record the team posted. With such high hopes for the organization coming into this season, it is entirely unacceptable that they were unable to post a winning record with the players they have. The former Vezina Trophy winner in Sergei Bobrovsky should have been enough to at least see them fighting for a wild card spot, had it not been for the plight of the groin injury from past seasons showing its ugly face this season. When an organization has its franchise netminder only playing in 37 games and only winning 15 of them, you’re in for a rough year, and that’s an understatement of grand proportions.
Generally, when your starting goalie goes down for a good portion of the season you expect your veteran backup, in the form of Curtis McElhinney, to step in and perform sufficiently to keep the ship from sinking, but that wasn’t the case for the Blue Jackets. When McElhinney came in for Bobrovsky during the horrendous start to the season he was peppered with shots and was never able to get his feet set on what was about to be a rough season for him as well, and the blame cannot be laid solely on his shoulders. Along with only appearing in 18 games, 12 of them as starts, and posting a 2-7-3 record with very forgettable numbers of a .890 SV% and a 3.30 GAA, he fell victim to the injury plague as well. So, where do you go when you have both your franchise goalie and your veteran backup sitting on the IR list? You call up both of your AHL goalies and sit with two rookies in rotation in net, a mixture made for maximum stress levels.
Despite seeing positives from both goalies, Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo, this season when they were given their respective chances, the fear of throwing them into the flames too early was one to weigh for the future of the club. Forsberg surely was not hurt by his limited chances and ended up playing a vast majority of the season down in the AHL, getting much more starts than if Korpisalo was with him, leading to positive notes in his development for the future. The same could be said for Korpisalo at the NHL level, where he got more starts than he probably expected, and didn’t seem to show any negative impact from the heavy workload being thrust upon him so early in his career.
The Positives
The word positive is a hard one to associate with the goalie situation in Columbus for this past season, but as surely as there were negatives, there were positives to take as well. Aside from all of the injury issues that smacked the organization right in the middle of a historically terrible 0-8-0 start, it lead to good things as the season rolled on, and lessons learned the hard way are sometimes the best way to avoid having them happen again.
At the end of the season, when being interviewed, Bobrovsky was asked “What’s this year been like for you personally?”, and he responded with an astute answer of, “The year? It’s been a hard year, it’s really no surprise. But yeah, you take that as a lesson and you move on.” He was then asked “What’s been the most difficult part about it all?” and responded, “I would say overall it’s been tough. With the start, the tough injury, and even in the end of the season it has been up and down for me. The whole season has just been tough.” Fairly obvious statements when you’re not a part of the fan base, but hopefully these words ring true and the Bobrovsky that the Jackets fan base has come to love can come back and learn from this season. As stated before, sometimes a lesson learned the hard way can be the one to keep it from happening again.
Another less optimistic, and more realistic, positive to take from the season is the play that rookie Joonas Korpisalo was able to sustain for nearly half a season with a much larger workload than initially intended for the young Finnish-born netminder. If anyone in the organization, or the fan base for that matter, tells you that they knew Korpisalo would have had this much of an impact this year, don’t believe them for a second. Despite him being a relatively unknown prospect for immediate return, he stepped in and performed his duties admirably. He played so well on such a consistent basis that it has left everyone around the organization wondering who should be the goalie leading the organization forward, with arguments being made for both Bobrovsky and Korpisalo. For the best of the club, let’s hope cooler heads prevail and Korpisalo is worked in slower than what he was this year, for the best of his development.
The Implications
The implications are very vague on what could happen moving forward with the goalie situation in Columbus, but there are a few that are there for discussion. The first is the aforementioned goalie conundrum that the Blue Jackets now have on their hands with whether they should bring Korpisalo into the picture full-time, or if they should stick with Bobrovsky. The only real issue with either situation is where current backup Curtis McElhinney and regular season AHL starter, Anton Forsberg, fall into place.
For Curtis McElhinney, this could make for a stressful off-season as to whether the Blue Jackets decide to bring Korpisalo up full-time as a backup. Due to McElhinney only making $800,000 next season, the best move for the organization would be to let McElhinney keep the job as NHL backup and have Korpisalo in the AHL full-time to ensure maximum ice time for him and to keep his development on course. McEhlinney is a respectable backup for the organization at this point, and with only one season left on his contract it works out perfectly to have Korpisalo down in the AHL and to come up to get a few games in case of injuries and move him into the fold on a full-time basis come the 2017-18 season.
As for Anton Forsberg, it is a much less defined situation with him, due to the fact that he is much younger than both Bobrovsky and McElhinney and we have yet to see enough of him to really have a definitive answer of what type of goalie he will turn out to be. Many see him going on a course with two paths, and both are as likely as the other at this current point in his career. First, he could continue to play the backup role for Korpisalo at the AHL level and eventually take the role of starter in 2017-18, with the NHL backup position being his eventual end game. The second option, and one that really can’t be determined yet, is if he develops a vast amount and begins to challenge Korpisalo for the future starting role. The second option would likely see one of the two young goalies move on to greener pastures to ensure more playing time.
Names To Watch
Oscar Dansk
Dansk was the 2nd round draft pick, 31st overall, of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft for the Blue Jackets. Since being drafted in 2012 by Columbus he has been playing in his native country of Sweden for Rogle BK. He split time with the other goaltender in their organization, but was able to start 36 games this season and finished the year with a 13-21-0 record, a 2.68 GAA, and a .910 save percentage. For a full scouting report on Dansk from Last Word on Sports Admin and Scouting Expert, Ben Kerr, click here.
Elvis Merzlikins
Merzlikins was the 3rd round pick, 76th overall, of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Merzlikins is a relatively unknown prospect to much of the Columbus fan base, as he has played all of his hockey career in Europe, primarily with current club HC Lugano. He has represented his home country of Latvia on many occasions on the international level, with moderate success to boast with a growing country in the sport.
He currently holds the starting goalie position for HC Lugano, and started a vast majority of the clubs games this past season. He finished the regular season with 44 starts, a .913 SV%, and a 2.75 GAA, very respectable numbers for a young and exciting prospect for the future.
Stay to www.LastWordonSports.com and @lastwordonpuck on twitter next week for the overview of the Blue Jackets blue line.
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