Offseason Fantasy Quick Hits: Metropolitan Division – Columbus Blue Jackets

Written By: Daniel Render

It’s already been a pretty wild off season in the NHL with lots of big names changing teams. As we are in the dog days of summer, we might as well get prepped for the 2016-17 season and discuss the fantasy impacts of all these moves. I introduce to you Offseason Fantasy Quick Hits. I will be discussing the fantasy impact of all major moves made by all NHL teams over the course of the summer. Part two of the series previews the Columbus Blue Jackets for this upcoming season.

Previous Articles:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Got: Scott Harrington, Sam Gagner

Lost: Kerby Rychel, Fedor Tyutin, Jared Boll

Fantasy Impact:

The above players gained and lost for Columbus have no fantasy impact on the current year. Columbus had the 2nd lowest points of all teams last year and figure to be a basement team again this year. Don’t expect newly drafted rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois to contribute any fantasy worthy numbers right away for Columbus as he is a raw talent that will need a few years to acclimate to the NHL.

The one guy who you will definitely want to own in Columbus is Seth Jones, who was part of the blockbuster trade last year which sent Ryan Johansen to Nashville. Jones inked a monster 6 year extension in the offseason, therefore expect Jones to be Columbus’ go to guy in almost all situations. Jones should play upwards of 25 minutes every night. 40-45 points shouldn’t be out of reach for the young d-man, but with it will come bad +/- totals as Columbus will be letting in more goals than they will be scoring this year. Depending on where Jones is ranked and where you can draft him he may be a good play.

To be honest, similar to Carolina I don’t see anyone on Columbus getting more than 60 points there next season. Boone Jenner was a nice surprise last year, posting 30 goals, but I wouldn’t expect much more from him this year. Outside of Jenner and Jones, the only other Jackets definitely worth owning are Brandon Saad and Cam Atkinson. If things go right for them they can both hit around 60 points. David Savard still has the potential to be a 40 point fantasy contributor, but after a disappointing and injury filled season last year, he has fallen down the team’s depth chart. He could be a late round snag in deep drafts, but will most likely be a guy you have on your watch list

I wouldn’t touch Brandon Dubinsky unless you are in a very deep league. Ditto for Scott Hartnell (although he does have value in PIM leagues). Youngster Alex Wennberg could hit 50-55 points this year but I wouldn’t expect much more. He does have 70 point potential although I don’t think he hits it or comes close this year. Expect Nick Foligno to improve on last year’s disappointing season, however don’t expect him to return to his production from two seasons ago. Somewhere in between the two is probably where he will end up.

Thanks for reading! Your comments and questions are welcome below and I will try to answer as soon as I can. Feel free to send all your fantasy hockey related questions to akiberg@gmail.com!

Also, tune into The SportsCrew’s next radio show, Monday, July 25th for the Sports Buffet, where site founder Lou Landers will be discussing a wide range of topics across all the different sports. Anything goes on the Monday Sports Buffet, right here on thesportscrew.com!