NHL: Columbus Blue Jackets – 2025/2026 review
Columbus posted the fifth-best points total in franchise history with 92, but it was also the first time the club has topped that mark without making the playoffs. They finished the season much stronger than they started it, just not strong enough to sneak into the postseason.
Key data
2025-2026 record: 40-30-12 (253 goals for, 253 against)
2025-2026 NHL finish: 5th in the Metropolitan Division
2025-2026 top scorer: Kirill Marchenko (27)
2025-2026 top assister: Zach Werenski (59)
2025-2026 points leader: Zach Werenski (81)
Average roster age (2026-2027): 28.8 years
Available cap space (2026-2027): $12.65M
Recent moves (off-season)
Arrivals:
- Valeri Nichushkin (F)
- Ryan Lomberg (F)
Departures:
- Mason Marchment (F)
- Boone Jenner (F)
Franchise outlook
Columbus Blue Jackets – Future contracts and draft picks
Columbus head into a season with several key pieces still up in the air. Zach Werenski, the team’s defensive cornerstone, briefly considered asking for a trade this summer before recommitting to the organisation, but he has only two years left on his current deal.
Kirill Marchenko, the club’s top goalscorer in each of the past three seasons, is also in the final year of his contract and has yet to show any real appetite for an extension. As for the incoming bodies, Valeri Nichushkin is there to help patch over some of the scoring lost with Boone Jenner and Mason Marchment moving on, and that’s the sort of add that could matter for a team that has now missed the playoffs six straight years despite a midseason high-water mark in points.
The draft stock is healthy enough, with a first-round pick in each year through 2029, but the uncertainty around Werenski and Marchenko matters more than any future pick when it comes to the near-term direction of this group.
Same story, different year
In early March, Columbus looked almost certain to make the playoffs. Then it all fell apart down the stretch, turning a season with real promise into a sixth straight spring without hockey, despite 92 points. It’s a familiar script. Marchenko keeps leading the team in goals year after year, but behind him there’s never really been a second line that can keep up.
Werenski, meanwhile, delivered another huge season for a defenseman, pushing the upper reaches of the league at his position, but one elite player still isn’t enough to drag a team over the line. The arrival of Nichushkin should help; he’s a big, heavy forward who can score too, exactly the kind of profile Columbus has been missing in recent seasons.
The real question is no longer whether Columbus has talent at the top of the lineup. Marchenko and Werenski have shown that plenty of times. It’s whether the rest of the roster can hold up over 82 games instead of folding at precisely the wrong moment.
Player to watch: Zach Werenski (D)
Summer was anything but quiet for Werenski. After using his no-move clause to block a completed trade to Dallas, the reigning Norris Trophy winner eventually reaffirmed his commitment to Columbus in early July, bringing an end to weeks of speculation linking him with Tampa Bay and Toronto.
He called the whole episode a misunderstanding that got out of hand, stressing that he had never formally asked for a trade. The message now is plain enough: he wants to win in Columbus, and he’s tired of being asked about his future.
He has only two years left on his current contract, which means the next chance to talk extension could come as soon as next summer. Until then, Werenski knows there’s really only one thing that will shut the noise up for good: winning. After two seasons of getting close without getting in, the pressure is on for 2026-27 to be the one that finally breaks the cycle.
2026-2027 target
Projected Columbus Blue Jackets lines 2026-2027
The goal in Columbus has been the same for six years: end the drought and get back to the playoffs. They flirted with it for much of the past two seasons without ever crossing the line, and the Metropolitan Division, with a few teams well clear at the top, still leaves a genuine opening for a wild-card spot.
In practical terms, that means building on the defensive progress already made while finding a bit more scoring depth behind Marchenko, with Nichushkin’s help. A playoff berth would finally confirm that this core, led by Werenski and Marchenko, is ready to take the next step.
A seventh straight miss, especially if it comes with another late-season collapse, would drag all those summer questions right back into the light, starting with Werenski’s long-term future.
My prediction
I think it’s going to be tight around the Columbus bubble, but I still have them missing out this year. I wouldn’t be shocked if they nicked a playoff spot, but there are still too many questions hanging over this team.
Photo credit: wallpapersafari.com | bjohnson30
Leave a Reply