The first goal against for the Blue Jackets this season gives us a good look at how the speed of NHL hockey, combined with a brand new rookie, some miscommunication, and (hopefully) some opening night jitters can quickly turn a positive seeming play into a goal against.

This goal really starts with possible miscommunication or lack of communication between Sergei Bobrovsky and Seth Jones. It’s tough to tell what should have happened here, as there isn’t really a perfect play just whatever Jones tells Bob to do with it. It’s entirely plausible that Jones told Bob to dump it, but I would have rather seen Bob knock it around behind the net, and let Jones either dump it around or try and cut the net to drop the forechecking Brandon Carlo. I prefer my chances of Jones doing something with a stumbling rookie defenseman on him, than of Bob making a perfect play with guys bearing in on him

I’m going to also highlight Werenski right here for not really doing anything. He’s just coasting back in the general direction of the puck/net. There is more than enough going on here for him to realize he should be making himself an option. Bob has three options that maintain control for the CBJ: leave the puck for Jones to pick up, send it around the back of the net for Jones to retrieve, or fire it on his forehand to the corner for Werenski to retrieve. Had Werenski started heading in the direction of the corner, he would have been a passing option to Bob, or been a quick option for Jones had Bob left it for him. Instead he doesn’t factor into this part of the play at all.

Bob fires the puck around the boards, likely trying to just dump it out of the zone. Instead, David Backes is able to keep it in, knocking it down into the corner. At this point in the play, the CBJ have Atkinson, Jenner, and Dubinsky very high in the zone, Jones in front of the net, and Werenski with an easy path to the puck. Backes is more or less standing still, while Pastrnak and Carlo are heading back up in the zone, anticipating the coming break-out. Marchand is the only Bruin forechecking, and he is very far away.

At this point, it is completely unacceptable that the Bruins scored a goal a couple seconds later. In fact, this should have been a pass from Werenski to Jones, then a quick up ice pass to Cam or Boone, and an odd man rush for the Jackets.

What happens next brings me to the primary point I want to discuss. Werenski sees Marchand coming and completely bails on the play. His feet stop moving, he turns his back on the play, and he makes an incredibly weak pass over to Jones. Yes, Marchand made a nice play batting the puck out of the air, but that was a meatball of a pass and probably 75% of the players in the NHL could have broken that play up. Let’s continue on with the goal and revisit Werenski’s play later in the post. From here, we see Marchand with the puck, and the Jackets in serious trouble.

Jones is moving in the wrong direction to get to either Marchand or Pastrnak. Boone is able to slow up Backes, but Dubi, Cam and Werenski are functionally useless by now. The Jackets almost get lucky, as the puck hops on Marchand and he can’t even make a clean play with the puck as he comes around the net.

It’s “almost” for a reason though, as the hopping puck means Marchand’s probably wrap-around attempt becomes a pass to Pastrnak. He makes no mistake, firing it right past Bobrovsky.

Back to the Werenski play now. This sequence isn’t exactly like a standard puck retrieval, but it more or less mimics a situation that all defensemen face multiple times per game. Back sort of to the play, have to go and get the puck, and an opponent is bearing down on you. I went back through the game to see just how many times Werenski was faced with this kind of situation. Only three times all game was Werenski tasked to pick up a puck with his back to the play and someone on him. The first time was early in the first period, and Werenski got to the puck first, made the play, and took a hit from none other than David Pastrnak. It wasn’t much of a hit, but it sure did seem to surprise Werenski.

The second time he was faced with a play like this, he curled away, made a very soft pass, and was primarily responsible for a goal against. I watched him intently following that to see if he would have learned a lesson about both strong plays on the puck, and retrievals with a man on him. However, his third situation like this left a lot to be desired as he had another soft play with the puck on a retrieval in the middle of the 3rd period that was tipped and nearly intercepted by Dominic Moore.

Now we come to what Werenski should have done. In the play that resulted in the goal against, he could have just continued skating in the direction he was heading, made a stronger pass to Jones, and taken a hit from Marchand. This is the old school play that pretty much every coach ever loves. We can be pretty certain that this is the play John Tortorella would prefer. He’s old school that way, and it’s been well covered that he treats all players the same. Everyone is expected to block shots, to stop on pucks, and take the hit to make key plays. Personally, I think this kind of philosophy is crap. You should expect different things from different players, because players are different and your expectations should fit what kind of player the guy is. You absolutely 100% want Dalton Prout taking a hit to ensure he makes the safe play. If he takes the hit every time, he’s not going to make these kinds of mistakes, and worst case scenario he gets injured. But you can replace Dalton Prout. Zach Werenski looks to be the kind of talent you can’t replace.

For a guy like Werenski, or Seth Jones, or Brandon Saad, I’d rather see them minimize the hits they take. That means pulling up from time to time, and not making the play the absolute safest way possible. That generally works out fine, as the players that have that kind of skill are able to make a better play with the puck while under pressure and minimizing contact. However, that isn’t what Werenski did here. He made the move to curl away from a potential hit far too early, and before he’d really gotten full control of the puck. To my eyes, the second two retrievals are over-reactions to what happened on the first one. For the initial retrieval, Pastrnak was on him much quicker than he anticipated. That isn’t shocking. It was his third shift at this level, and the NHL is much faster in the regular season than the preseason, the AHL, or the NCAA. That is why he looked so surprised, and also why he panicked when he saw Marchand coming. He knew he was going to get there faster than he was used to, so he tried to make a play too quickly. Then finally, on the last one he was expecting Moore to be closer to him and that he could get the puck past him cleanly, and instead put the puck off Moore’s stick.

These are what we call rookie mistakes. They are plays made because Werenski just hasn’t adapted to the speed and skill of the NHL yet. He’s got all the tools to be a top pair defenseman for the next decade. When he truly gets to that level depends on how quickly he picks up the finer points of the game. Considering how calm and controlled he is, and how often he makes the smart play, I expect him to pick things up pretty quick.