3 Blue Jackets Who Aren’t Producing Enough

He has to produce, whether on the second or fourth line; he has to be able to put the puck in the back of the net, or at least set someone else up for a goal. He has to be a creator on offense, and so far that has been severely lacking.

If he continues on the second line, surrounded by two highly successful playmakers in Valeri Nichushkin and Sean Monahan, he has to be the finisher amongst them. He needs to be able to put more shots on net, especially after a poor offensive effort against the Minnesota Wild as a team, where they only had 14 shots on goal.

Garland only had one shot in the game, recording only his sixth of the season, despite playing in all seven of the Blue Jackets’ games. He can’t keep falling below expectations and remain in the lineup game after game.

Mathieu Olivier

It has been a season of struggle and discontent so far for Mathieu Olivier, because of untimely penalties and an inability to be a positive influence on the ice. He carries a minus-3 rating in seven games, and is tied for third in the NHL in penalty minutes with 27.

As a guy known for his fighting ability and being one of the toughest players on the ice, he has to channel that aggression and be patient. His penalty where he speared Uvis Balinskis was just another example of growing impatient when the game isn’t coming to him.

His scoring will always be an added plus, but he needs to be a positive impact on the ice, considering his line has always been one of the more dynamic the Blue Jackets deploy. Alongside Charlie Coyle and Cole Sillinger, two of the bright spots from Columbus’ early-season struggles, Olivier has to match the energy or their play.

Fights will happen, but that cannot be the defining trait of his game, and right now it has been. He has proven he can score goals, and as a third-line enforcer, he has multiple 15-plus goal seasons. He has two goals so far this season and has proven that when he gets into the dirty areas, he can put the puck in the back of the net.

He has seen time on the penalty kill as well, and unfortunately that unit has struggled too. It has been successful on 68% of opportunities, ranking 29th in the league. The inability to limit scoring has been a massive disappointment, specifically to Bowness, who takes pride in his team’s defensive effort.

Bowness recently had a media availability where he tore into his team for being 30th in the league in goals against, and that is something he has never had to deal with. Olivier is supposed to be one of the difference-makers in that area. He has to be more involved in the forecheck and be a bigger factor on the penalty kill as well.

His impact has to be bigger than just scoring and fighting. He needs to have an impact on the ice, setting up his teammates, and being good on the forecheck. Otherwise, the clock may start to tick on him remaining in the top-nine, and his ice time may begin to shrink.

Valeri Nichushkin

The Blue Jackets also traded a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a third-round pick in 2027, and a fifth-round pick in 2028, to acquire Nichushkin from the Colorado Avalanche. However, through the first seven games, his value and impact have been much less than the draft capital they gave up.

Nichushkin has played in almost all situations and has been a part of the aforementioned failing special teams units. For a player who has spent his whole career being a positive impact on the ice and making others around him better, he has failed to be that so far in Columbus.

Nichushkin, before coming to Columbus, was a plus-109 with 357 points in 627 career games, and he was expected to be a huge impact addition on offense. However, through seven games he has three points, and his only goal came as a score correction that originally wasn’t credited to him.

He has to be a key cog in the special teams units, and so far he hasn’t been that on either unit. Bowness has looked to move Nichushkin up to the top line during practice to get him going, but never ended up playing him there in game action.

The Blue Jackets have to see these guys who they have invested serious draft capital and cap space in, step up in a big way. They all have to make an impact, and a huge piece of it has to be offensive production.

They all play in the top six, and there is an obvious correlation between the lack of depth scoring and these guys not finding their normal levels of production. The Blue Jackets will hope their play eventually averages out with some positive stretch runs, and they step back up into the elevated offensive roles they needed to take this season.