The Columbus Blue Jackets have reared their head in the media, with the re-signing of Patrik Laine and acquiring Johnny Gaudreau. In addition, their last two drafts have been successful, yielding young talent like Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, David Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk, and Stanislav Svozil.
Will this team be a contender in two to three years? Possibly, but for now, I think they're definitely a playoff team. Adding the 115-point Gaudreau is a big move and shows that Jarmo is ready to win now.
The only question that plagues the Jackets to this day, since they drafted Pierre-Luc Dubois in 2016, is who will be the 1st-line center? Boone Jenner had a career year, last year with 44 points a stat he hadn't hit since John Tortorella's first year in Columbus.
Gaudreau was paired with Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary, so in my opinion, Jenner is a good two-way center, but Kent Johnson will need to be elevated to help maintain Laine and Gaudreau's production, as he has the speed and skating ability to drive offense.
Lastly, Elvis Merzlikins has the ability to be a great goalie but he's lacked the defensive core to protect him. He's shown flashes of brilliance throughout his short stint in the NHL so far but needs a team to back him up.
