As a hockey fan, I love digging up nuggets about players who interest me. What makes them tick off the ice? What hobbies do they enjoy? It makes for great water-cooler conversation and humanizes them to me. Sometimes we think of athletes as these super people who never make mistakes and are just programmed to
Elvis Merzlikins
They need a nickname. How’s Jelvis or Korpikins? Maybe the Blue Blockers? Whatever you want to call them, the dynamic goalie tandem of Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins is likely the Columbus Blue Jackets’ greatest strength heading into the 2020-21 season. They are both 26 years old, entering their prime, and have shown flashes of
Is a 3-0 lead the new “most dangerous lead in hockey”? For the second straight night, a team lost a three-goal lead, then lost the game in OT. This time it was the Toronto Maple Leafs beating the Columbus Blue Jackets to force a deciding Game 5 in their Qualifying Round series. The Blue Jackets had three
The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Thursday night in Toronto. Let’s discuss our five things we learned from this game. 1. Liam Foudy Didn’t Look Out of Place All eyes were on Liam Foudy. Coach John Tortorella said he was going to play, but wasn’t sure which line he’d start on.
Generally speaking, you are as good on any given night as your starting goaltender. If your starting goalie pitches a shutout, you will win. If they give up four goals in the first period, chances are you can’t wait for the game to be over. That can’t come soon enough. The concept of good goaltending
With the NHL’s proposed plan to return to play, the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves in the playoffs for the fourth season in a row. They will be included in the play-in series against the Toronto Maple Leafs to determine the top 16 teams. Considering the Blue Jackets’ limited playoff success last season with a
Monday night’s National Hockey League schedule gave us some intriguing matchups and made things even tighter in already ready close playoff race. We had a successful return in Philadelphia and a grudge match in Columbus. Also, we will look back at a big milestone for one of the all-time greats. Hart Honors Emery in Return
We now continue our month-long series on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the NHL Trade Deadline. In part one, we discussed why the Toronto Maple Leafs make a perfect trading partner. In part two, we explored why the Blue Jackets have reasons they could trade Josh Anderson. Today, we get right to the heart of
It was a very historic night for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night for multiple reasons. Elvis Merzlikins did it again. He pitched his fifth shutout in his last eight games to help the Blue Jackets to their 19th win in their last 26 games. He only had to make 16 saves in the
Let me give you a couple of names to think about. Joonas Korpisalo. Elvis Merzlikins. Matiss Kivlenieks. If you’re a Columbus Blue Jackets or a die-hard hockey fan, you know who these players are. If not, you’re now seeing three reasons why the Blue Jackets are on a roll. Imagine that I walk up to
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Joe Thornton is being asked to take on a bigger role these days. And at 40, Jumbo Joe has responded. Thornton scored and moved into a tie for 11th place on the NHL’s career list for games played as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Thursday
The Columbus Blue Jackets have now completed half of their preseason games after losing in St. Louis Sunday afternoon 5-3. Now is the time to start talking real takeaways from the four games we have seen. As it stands, the Blue Jackets have 34 players remaining in camp as we approach the final week of
As has been recent tradition, the Columbus Blue Jackets are racking up wins in the Traverse City prospect’s tournament. With two wins in two showings this weekend, that makes six consecutive wins for the Blue Jackets at Centre Ice Arena. Coming into this version of the tournament, all eyes from a Blue Jackets’ perspective were
The summer is starting to wind down. Fall is in the air. And the Columbus Blue Jackets are ready to defend the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup in Traverse City. The annual prospect’s tournament in upstate Michigan is set to begin on Sept 6 with eight teams vying for the championship. The Blue Jackets are seeking
report this ad The thing that most fans feared would happen happened. July 1 came. July 1 went. And every Columbus Blue Jacket who was an unrestricted free agent decided to move on. Ouch. We knew this was a possibility ever since the trade deadline. But to see every player walk with no return still
Flames aren’t concerned about a Tkachuk offer sheet Pat Steinberg: Calgary Flames assistant GM Craig Conroy said that they aren’t concerned for restricted free agent forward Matthew Tkachuk signing an offer sheet. Conroy on contract negotiations with Tkachuk. “Matthew has always said he wants to be back. It’s not like anything is negative here. Both