{"id":14857,"date":"2017-08-22T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T14:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=14857"},"modified":"2017-08-21T02:54:16","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T06:54:16","slug":"quietly-making-columbus-blue-jackets-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2017\/08\/22\/quietly-making-columbus-blue-jackets-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Players Quietly Making the Columbus Blue Jackets Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can an NHL team truly survive without a superstar? Can they be a legitimate contender without a big name player leading the way? The Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> and a group of valuable players are proving that the answer is yes. While the Jackets lack big name talent – the player who could most arguably be considered a “superstar” is reigning Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>\u00a0– they make up for it with the help of contributions from a few key players. While you won’t see these guys on the cover of NHL 19, they are a significant portion of what makes the Jackets click. Here are three players currently flying under the radar and quietly making the Blue Jackets better.<\/p>\n

Three Players Quietly Making the Columbus Blue Jackets Better<\/h1>\n

Josh Anderson<\/a><\/h3>\n

23-year-old Josh Anderson<\/a> finished his rookie season with the Jackets with 29 points, placing him behind only Calder Trophy nominee Zach Werenski<\/a> in team rookie scoring on the Columbus roster. Anderson made the transition to the NHL after a Calder Cup-winning 2015-16 season with the Lake Erie (now Cleveland) Monsters.\u00a0At 6’3″, 221 pounds, he combines physicality with speed and skill.\u00a0General manager\u00a0Jarmo Kekalainen<\/a> is aware of Anderson’s value, too. The deal which lead to the Knights selecting William Karlsson<\/a> in the Expansion Draft\u00a0was struck largely to protect Anderson.<\/p>\n

Anderson is a do-it-all kind of player. He put up 17 goals during the 2016-17 season, and he’s also not afraid to drop the gloves<\/a>. His size and power allows Anderson to fill the enforcer role<\/a> while still being able to carry his weight offensively. While mainly filling a bottom six role for now, he’s a young player who is only going to improve.<\/p>\n

Matt Calvert<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Matt Calvert<\/a> was most notably thrust into NHL limelight when, during a November 18, 2016 game against the New York Islanders, he took a shot to the face<\/a>, later returning during the same game to score the game-winning goal. Nothing could better encapsulate what Calvert brings to the Jackets. A 5’11”, 188-pound left wing, Calvert’s scrappy, physical play meshes well with the Jackets younger, faster style.<\/p>\n

As the current longest tenured Jackets player, Calvert is not only a fan favorite but also an invaluable leader. While not a huge offensive producer, finishing the 2016-17 regular season with 15 points, Calvert’s contributions lie in his ability to show up in big moments. Calvert has proven that he’s no run-of-the-mill winger. Simply put: he’s the quintessential Blue Jacket. (Yes, that includes dirty hits on Penguins<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

David Savard<\/a><\/h3>\n

While the success of the Jackets defense is often attributed to youngster duo Zach Werenski<\/a> and Seth Jones<\/a>, Columbus fans are well aware of David Savard<\/strong>‘s contributions. A standout player in the 2016-17 season, Savard brings consistency to the Jackets. He was second in blocked shots during the 2016-17 season, behind only his defense partner Jack Johnson<\/a>. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a> has even joked, “He makes more saves than me.”<\/a><\/p>\n

The combination of Savard and Johnson has worked out incredibly well for the Jackets, giving them a solid top four defense. Overall, Savard is a workhorse who should continue to produce consistently for the Jackets. While not an offensive player, he has put up 20-plus points in his past three NHL seasons.<\/p>\n

While it’s unlikely that we’ll see a Jackets sweater at the top of the scoring leaderboards, Columbus is getting by just fine. Due to players like Anderson, Calvert, and Savard, the Jackets have managed to become a formidable force in the league even without a “superstar” to keep them afloat. The contributions of these players should definitely not go overlooked.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:<\/p>\n

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Can an NHL team truly survive without a superstar? Can they be a legitimate contender without a big name player leading the way? The Columbus Blue Jackets and a group of valuable players are proving that the answer is yes. While the Jackets lack big name talent – the player who could most arguably be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2221,"featured_media":14965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,858,37,968,911,38],"class_list":["post-14857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluejackets","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-david-savard","tag-hockey","tag-josh-anderson","tag-matt-calvert","tag-nhl"],"modified_by":"Nic Hendrickson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}