The Columbus Blue Jackets have never really been a model franchise for expansion teams. Moribund season after moribund season turned what should have been a thriving, growing small market into one that could be best described as perilous. Even with a long-term arena agreement with Franklin County, it always seemed like the Blue Jackets were the first or second team mentioned in NHL realignment rumors. And with the CBJ compiling a grand total of 1 winning season in their first 11, who could blame Columbus for not exactly catching hockey fever? It doesn’t help that the season falls right in between the climax of the Ohio State football season and, well, the Ohio State football offseason.

But things might be turning around in one of the NHL’s newest markets thanks in large part to an upswing in results on the ice. The Blue Jackets finally won their first two playoff games last year in a highly entertaining series with the Penguins and fans are responding.

According to Columbus Business First, ratings for the CBJ were up 49% from the first half of last season to this season to 82,000 households. Add that on to the fact that the team is second in yearly attendance growth and the successful hosting of the All-Star Game and hockey in Columbus has never looked better. The Jackets have to be helped by moving over to the Eastern Conference as well, where matchups with the likes of the Penguins and Capitals will naturally draw better than the Sharks and Jets.

Those numbers are all the more impressive considering the Jackets aren’t exactly in the midst of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Instead, ratings are up in spite of the team being stuck in 13th place in the conference due to a catastrophic run of injuries to many of their best players. Thankfully for the franchise, it appears that fans are keeping the faith in the long-term direction of the CBJ. Of course, that faith will have to be rewarded next year.

All totaled, it’s a fantastic sign for the NHL to finally see some positive news coming from one of the turn of the century expansion markets that had been clouded by uncertainty.

[Columbus Business First]