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Adam Fantilli recorded his first NHL hat trick in front of his family and friends in Toronto. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Blue Jackets Bring Excitement & Intrigue Into 25th Anniversary Season

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Mark Scheig | Last updated Oct 9, 2025 10:05 AM ET

The Columbus Blue Jackets open their 2025-26 regular season on Thursday night when they travel to take on the Nashville Predators. There is both excitement and intrigue as their new campaign begins.

As we’ve discussed during camp, there is a different feeling around the Blue Jackets’ locker room. There is more focus and urgency than in year’s past. Why? Because the team knows what’s at stake this season.

The pain of missing the playoffs last season by two points festered for a while. It made the team realize that they’re good enough to stay in the race but much more was needed.

But Thursday is a new day. It marks the beginning of a new season for the Blue Jackets looking to take the next all-important step in their process.

This is a team that not only fully believes they can make the playoffs, they expect it. Given what the national perception of them is, the stage is set for 2025-26 to be a fascinating season for several reasons.

What makes this 25th anniversary season fascinating? That’s the focus of my annual season-opening column. Anytime a team has the chance to finish both in the Gavin McKenna lottery and to potentially win in the playoffs, several unanswered questions will dictate where this team goes.

Challenging Schedule

Let’s start with what lies directly in front of the Blue Jackets. Their schedule to open the season is not easy. Look at the caliber of competition they face in their first 10 games. After their opener in Nashville, a place that’s traditionally not treated them well, they will play against:

at Minnesota Wild.
vs. New Jersey Devils.
vs. Colorado Avalanche.
vs. Tampa Bay Lightning.
at Dallas Stars.
vs. Washington Capitals.
at Pittsburgh Penguins.
at Buffalo Sabres.
vs. Toronto Maple Leafs.

Let’s ask an honest question here. In these first 10 games, how many of them would the Blue Jackets be favored in? The Predators open as a slight favorite at home.

This is a hard schedule for the Blue Jackets to start their season. They are more than capable of winning a handful of these games but it will be very challenging. Teams do not make the playoffs now but they can eliminate themselves with a bad stretch.

With five home games and five road games in their first 10, the Blue Jackets are going to have to make an early statement. These good teams are not going to look past the Blue Jackets. It presents a different and unique challenge in that they will get the opposition’s best.

That’s going to put a lot of pressure on the Blue Jackets to stay within themselves and manage these games to have a chance to win. Given the degree of difficulty of this schedule, a 5-5-0 start or better would seem to be taken as positive. Anything better than that is icing on the cake.

The Blue Jackets believe they’re better this season given their new acquisitions as well as their familiarity with the system and with each other. We’re going to find out right away if they are.

Adam Fantilli: Season 3

Let’s turn our attention to why these Blue Jackets come with a level of excitement. Coming off a sophomore campaign that saw him score 31 goals, Adam Fantilli is ready to level up.

Fantilli is well on his way to eventually become the Blue Jackets’ franchise number-one center of the future. He will open this season as the team’s second-line center behind Sean Monahan. He is more than ready to continue building off the momentum he created for himself last season.

“I’m just excited to get going with this group again,” Fantilli said this week. “We had a lot of returning guys. This team’s been great. Personalities in here are awesome. The guys are so much fun to be around so I’m excited to be around these guys for another nine months hopefully however long we can do it, even longer. But it’s been a blast. I love these guys so I’m excited to keep going with them personally. I’m excited to take another step.”

“I want to do more for this team and I want to be more of an impact player. So that’s something I’m focusing on this year. Hopefully, I can get that done.”

Fantilli will center a line with Boone Jenner and Cole Sillinger on it. It’s a unique line in the sense that each player brings their own element and style. But as one line, they have a chance to really impact the game with their work ethic.

Fantilli is excited to work with Jenner and Sillinger.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Fantilli said of his linemates. “Silly’s been awesome to play with. You guys have all seen what Boone has brought to the table for however many years now. He’s our captain. He’s our leader. We’re excited to have him on the line too. He going to bring a lot for this line that maybe me and Silly can’t do. I think we’re going to work off each other really well. We’re going to work hard. We’re going to play hard and hopefully score a lot of goals together.”

Fantilli’s performance will go a long way in determining how these Blue Jackets do. How many goals does he have in him this season? Can he take the next step in his playmaking abilities? The excitement around the 2023 third-overall pick is only growing with each passing day.

Need to Defend Better

The Blue Jackets brought mostly the same players back on the blue line and in it. The only exception being Daniil Tarasov was traded to the Florida Panthers.

It’s Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves in net. It’s the same blue line. But at least to start the season, everyone has a clean bill of health.

Recall last season, the Blue Jackets dealt with massive injuries at different points including to Erik Gudbranson. With everyone healthy, refreshed and focused, the team believes they’re ready to take the next step with a year together and knowing exactly what’s expected of them.

If the Blue Jackets want to take the next step this season, they have to defend better as a team. Their goalies need to make key saves no matter who’s in net. Their defense needs to play a sound game while avoiding the bone-crushing mistake. They will be put to the immediate test with the hard schedule to open the season.

Can Zach Werenski duplicate last season? Will Dante Fabbro continue to play at a high level next to Werenski? Does Ivan Provorov play at the level of his new contract? What will Denton Mateychuk do for an encore? Will Damon Severson put last season behind him and play at the level he’s capable of? Will Gudbranson continue bringing his steady, veteran presence? Jake Christiansen might be the seventh defenseman but will be an important part of the unit. How will he impact the blue line.

Then there is the system overall. Will the tweaks and adjustments help the Blue Jackets get to the next level? There are many questions in which we will start to get some answers to. If the team is able to defend better, they’ll have a great shot of making the playoffs. They cannot start this season like they did last season.

Other Reasons for Excitement

These Blue Jackets enter the 2025-26 season as the fifth youngest team in the NHL. Their window of contention is just starting to crack open given the talent they have.

On top of Fantilli and Werenski, the Blue Jackets have several players who are hungry for more and ready to take the next step. At the top of that list is Kirill Marchenko.

Marchenko is coming off a career-high 31 goals and 74 points in 79 games. He’ll again be playing on a line with Sean Monahan and Dmitri Voronkov, which was one of the best lines in the NHL last season. Can they rekindle the magic they had together?

Kirill Marchenko says they need to stay positive and work every day without Voronkov and Jenner in the lineup. (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Kent Johnson might be starting on the third line, but his skill and playmaking ability is undeniable. He gets to play with Mathieu Olivier and newcomer Charlie Coyle. As head coach Dean Evason said this week, Olivier and Coyle can muck things up to allow Johnson some room to operate. How quickly can they find chemistry together?

Speaking of newcomers, Isac Lundestrom and Miles Wood join Zach Aston-Reese in a new-look fourth line. Evason earlier in the preseason praised this line for what they were able to do from a forechecking standpoint.

The Blue Jackets have never been stronger at center ice. That will give them a boost this season compared to several of their opponents.

But perhaps the biggest reason for excitement is the head coach. Evason came in late last season and didn’t have the benefit of the full offseason to work with. He helped the Blue Jackets navigate the unimaginable. Now with a full offseason to plan their course and a track record of regular-season success in his career, we will start to see the full Evason impact.

Evason wants the Blue Jackets to play hard and fast while limiting the time and space the opposition gets. We’ve talked about the forecheck a lot this preseason. It’s one of the areas the team has focused improving on. Can the team execute the plan set forth in front of them?

Prediction

So what’s going to happen this season? Most sportsbooks project the Blue Jackets to finish around 85 points. That would leave them short of the playoffs.

I tend to believe the defense and goaltending will be better given the continuity they have. What will be interesting to see is how much better?

The Blue Jackets were in the top-10 last season scoring goals. There’s no reason to think they’ll have a massive drop off given the development path of their young stars.

What’s going to challenge them is their own division as well as those in the Atlantic such as Ottawa and Montreal. How the Blue Jackets start their season will be of utmost importance. Fantilli said it best.

“There’s a little bit of urgency. There could be some points that we drop at the start of the season that could end up biting us at the end. So we don’t want to have that happen again. We’re trying to come in guns a-blazing.”

In my mind, the Blue Jackets will be in the race all season. I see them getting to around 90-91 points. That may or may not be good enough for the playoffs depending on other teams.

They will need to stay healthy. They will need to do much better in back-to-back games. They will need to dramatically improve in goals against. These Blue Jackets are more than capable of meeting these goals.

Prepare to sweat out this season. The Blue Jackets should be around the cutoff all season. One or two key moments yet to be seen will determine how their 25th anniversary season will go.

Enjoy what’s about to unfold.