From the moment the Blue Jackets were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the playoffs last spring, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was talking about how he wanted Blue Jackets in Columbus. At the time, he knew Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky were on their way out the door. Everyone did.

Panarin signed with the New York Rangers, Bobrovsky with the Florida Panthers (and president of hockey operations John Davidson went home to Manhattan), and the Jackets have been purified. By and large, that was the theme of the summer, and it carried over into media day, the 19th annual, on Wednesday.

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What is a Blue Jacket?

There is the obvious answer: The team name is a nod to the Civil War history of Columbus (where bluecoats were manufactured) and Ohio (producer of a raft of Union officers, including U.S. Grant, W.T. Sherman and P.H. Sheridan).

Then there is the answer that has become the rallying cry for the organization. War is hell, as Sherman said, but Columbus is not, as coach John Tortorella makes clear.

“If you want to keep making strides as an individual, a team, and organization, you want to be here,” Tortorella said. “I’m looking forward to this year because (the players) want to be here.”

A year ago, it was clear that Panarin and Bobrovsky would be playing out their contracts. This led to 357 team meetings, all of which were productive, of course.

A year later, Tortorella has a young team that will have to “play above the puck.” Perfect. He has a team that is being “written off” by the pundits. Insulting. Tortorella is agitated. Beautiful. Jackets, Jackets, Jackets.

If you have sat through 19 media days over 20 years, you might’ve looked around Wednesday and taken measure of the GM, the coach and the players — captain Nick Foligno and alternate captains Seth Jones, Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson — and you might’ve thought: This is the Blue Jacketiest bunch of Jackety Jackets that has ever been assembled. There are no Adam Footes.

This core group has created an identity and begun to demand respect. They racked up 108 points, without Panarin, in 2016-17. They’ve made the playoffs four times in the past six seasons, including the past three. They finally won a round last spring, and their sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning might be the biggest upset in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Bread didn’t want to stay here? Really? Bob? The Jackets remain friendly with their former mates. They respect the “business decisions” made by their union brethren. They also hope the door didn’t hit anyone on the way out.

“I have so much respect for those guys, but they’re not my worry anymore,” Foligno said. “And I think they know what I mean by that.”

Jackets, Jackets, Jackets. The poster boy may well be Atkinson, who after eight seasons trails only Rick Nash on the Jackets’ all-time lists of goals (289-186), points (547-342) and game-winning goals (44-38). There will come a time when we look back at Atkinson and marvel at how we underrated him.

“He shows up every year,” Jones said, “with numbers as consistent as anyone.”

Atkinson played on a line with prolific Panarin and sat next to Bread in the locker room. Atkinson had 41 goals and 69 points last season. Conventional wisdom is that Atkinson will pine for No. 9.

“I scored 35 goals before Bread,” Atkinson said. “Bread went through the same thing when he left Patrick Kane (in Chicago). You’ve got to prove you can do it again. I’ve always been about proving people wrong.”

Such is the collective task, to win with fewer stars, more Jackets and a better trap. There have been worse plans.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1