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Puckstopshere Kukla's Korner

Published on Thursday, December 8, 2016

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Blue Jackets Improvement

The most improved team in the NHL this is the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Last season they finished second last in the East Conference with 76 points.  So far this year they are one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division with games in hand.  They have a 15-9 record with four regulation tie points.  This is good for 34 points.  How has this team improved so much?

The answer is largely due to goaltending and offence.  In goal, Sergei Bobrovsky has proven to be a top level goalie when he is healthy but doesn't always have successful healthy stretches.  Last season he put up a .908 saves percentage and a 2.75 goals against average.  Those numbers have improved tremendously this year.  He is posting a .930 saves percentage and a 2.03 GAA.  This is an improvement of over 26% percent in his goals against average.

Offensively there were no significant scorers on the Blue Jackets.  Brandon Saad and Cam Atkinson tied for the team lead in points with only 53 points.  This season there are six Blue Jackets on pace to better that mark.  They are Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Alexander Wennberg, Brandon Saad, Sam Gagner and Zach Werenski.  Gagner and Werenski are both newcomers to the team.  Werenski is a rookie and Gagner is a free agent signee from the Philadelphia Flyers.  Of the other players making significant offensive improvements, only Wennberg is young enough that he might be making a sustainable jump.  He is 22 years old.


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