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Mathieu Olivier, Columbus Blue Jackets (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Blue Jackets Kept Promise of Being Team That Won’t Be Pushed Around

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Mark Scheig | Last updated Oct 4, 2025 12:55 PM ET

Over the last several seasons, the Columbus Blue Jackets have accumulated young talent thanks in large part to missing the playoffs. They’ve drafted high and landed great talent as a result.

One of their biggest issues in having so much young talent was what other teams tried to do to them. Bigger and stronger teams would impose their will to get them off their game.

For a while, it worked. The Blue Jackets struggled keeping other teams away from their best players. There wasn’t as much of an “enforcer presence” on the team to police the situation.

As we begin the 2025-26 season for the Blue Jackets, the narrative has changed in a big way. Going back to last season, no longer are the Blue Jackets a team that gets pushed around. They’re doing the pushing. They have the players on their roster now that can answer the call anytime a situation arises.

If anyone tries to run at a Blue Jackets’ player, chances are a fight with Mathieu Olivier is on the horizon. He’s not the only one who’s willing to drop the gloves. Opposing teams now know there is a price to pay.

The Blue Jackets said they were going to address this. Not only have they addressed this, there are numbers to back it up.

An Interesting Stat

According to data released by the Sports Geek, the Blue Jackets were by far the most successful team in winning fights. While they didn’t have the most fights as a team, they had the most wins.

In 2024-25, the Blue Jackets squared off in 28 fights. They won 25 of them for an 89.3% win rate. That was led by Olivier going 15-0 in his fights according to the data from the Sports Geek.

To give you some perspective, the next best team in terms of winning fights was the Tampa Bay Lightning. They went 14-7 for a 66.6% success rate.

In the data shared, a win was considered who had more punches land in an individual fight.

Olivier is considered the best fighter in the NHL at this time. On multiple occasions, his fights helped to spark his team at a point in the game where they needed momentum.

Player’s and Coach’s Reaction

We shared these findings with Olivier, Erik Gudbranson and head coach Dean Evason to see how they’d react to it. Then we posed the question is this a sign that the team has a reputation that they can’t be pushed around?

“Yeah, I think so,” Olivier said. “We got the guys to take care of business but I think it’s more of a team mentality as well, right? It’s kind of like a domino effect. When you got a couple guys that’ll do it and they’ll do it against anyone, then everyone feels a little bit bigger.”

“I think we take pride because when I first got traded here, I heard that was kind of an issue. The team was getting stepped on. Fast forward to my fourth year here and we’ve changed a couple guys in and out and now it feels like we can roll over anyone.”

The Blue Jackets were a confident team in 2024-25. Part of the reason for that was they knew they had the guys that could protect their stars.

“That’s the big thing that it does add confidence and with the talent and the offense we have in this room, it’s a necessity,” Olivier said. “Because if you don’t have that, those guys, they don’t have as much time. They don’t have as much space. They don’t have as much confidence to make their plays. Now they know if anything happens, we can stand up to anyone. So that’s a major component to our team and why we took a big step last year.”

Gudbranson echoed Olivier’s thoughts and reiterated how they have the right guys in the locker room who can handle those things when needed.

“Yeah, that’s good,” Gudbranson said. “You just play the game tough. That’s something that happens in hockey and we’re prepared for that. We got the right guys in the room to handle themselves. It’s a good stat.”

Evason says that this is part of their identity and team toughness.

“I think I know every coach probably wants to have that,” Evason said. “That you want to have each other’s backs. If push comes to shove, do we have some guys that can fight? Sure. But I was once told, I asked a long time ago when I was playing, if a guy could fight and our tough guys, his name was Torrie Robertson in Hartford. (He) said ‘Everyone can fight. It’s just if they get pushed into that, you get surprised with some guys that don’t actually do it that are really good at it so you got to be very careful. If they have team toughness (and) a team identity, it’s a good thing for us to have that for sure.”

In the span of a few seasons, the Blue Jackets have gone from a team that could be bullied to one in which they are the bullies. Allowing their young stars the time and space needed is essential to their success.

Thanks to guys like Olivier, Gudbranson and others who are willing to drop the gloves, these Blue Jackets kept their promise in saying they wouldn’t be pushed around anymore.

They now have the stats to back that up.