Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips January 11-13, 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02 The Columbus Dispatch: Flaws come back to haunt Columbus Blue Jackets as long points streak ends PAGE 04 The Columbus Dispatch: Carlsson patient despite limited NHL time PAGE 05 FOX Sports Ohio: Local ratings for Blue Jackets games on FOX Sports Ohio up 41%, pacing best in franchise history PAGE 06 The Athletic: Portzline: Failure to launch, and other observations from the Blue Jackets’ loss to San Jose PAGE 11 The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets determined to get off to better starts PAGE 13 The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 3, Golden Knights 0 | Elvis Merzlikins gets hot in Vegas, recording first NHL shutout PAGE 14 The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 3, Golden Knights 0 | 3-2-1 postgame breakdown PAGE 18 The Athletic: Portzline: Viva Las Elvis! … and more observations from Blue Jackets’ shutout win over Vegas Cleveland Monsters/Prospects PAGE 23 The Athletic: Wheeler’s 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 31 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL/Websites PAGE 28 Sportsnet.ca: Q&A: CapFriendly's founders on signing trends, building an online giant 1 The Columbus Dispatch: Flaws come back to haunt Columbus Blue Jackets as long points streak ends By Brian Hedger – January 10, 2020 SAN JOSE, Calif — It started awhile ago, but the Blue Jackets have overshadowed their diminishing play with a run of great goaltending and a lot of gutsy wins. Despite a flood of injuries that threatened to submerge the season in adversity, the Jackets rattled off 12 straight games with at least a point to claw back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Jackets went 8-0-4 between Dec. 9 and Jan. 2, finally losing in regulation to the San Jose Sharks a week ago in Columbus. But trouble lurked. The Jackets didn’t have much zip in that one, and the funk lagged into back-to-back games to start this week at Los Angeles and Anaheim. The Blue Jackets won both in find-a-way fashion, but the problems persisted. Poor starts. Goals allowed early in periods. Difficulty clearing their own zone. Intermittent offensive pressure. It all finally caught up with them Thursday night at SAP Center, where the Jackets weren’t able to mask their flaws in another loss to the Sharks — a 3-1 defeat in a disjointed game. “I think the big part of the night was we just didn’t get a sustained forecheck until the end of the game,” captain Nick Foligno said. “We got running around a little bit in our end. That’s what they do, though. They funnel a lot of pucks at the net so it gets you scrambling as a defense, and we allowed that too much tonight.” Actually, they’ve allowed it too much, period. Going back to New Year’s Eve at Nationwide Arena, when the Jackets thumped former teammate Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers 4-1, the Blue Jackets have been outshot in five of their past six games, including 37-28 in that game. They were also outshot by the Kings (37-24) and Ducks (40-27) but won each game after falling behind early. The Sharks — a team that averages close to three shots more per game than it allows — also outshot the Blue Jackets twice in a six-day span, including 33-31 Thursday. That’s not a brand of hockey the Jackets want to continue. Having nine injured players is part of it, as the roster stays afloat on the inspired play of replacements from the Cleveland Monsters, but how long can that last? The Jackets have put together a memorable run to claw their way back into the playoff race amid a sea of adversity, but time has a way of exposing deficiencies. If the Jackets can’t correct theirs quickly, it will be even tougher Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where the Jackets will conclude their four-game western trip against the Golden Knights, who have a slow-start issue of their own to fix. 2 “I don’t think we were sharp,” coach John Tortorella said of the loss to the Sharks. “I don’t think we sustained enough constant forechecking. My biggest concern is just the start of periods. It’s an epidemic right now with our club, even though we’ve won some games.” 3 The Columbus Dispatch: Carlsson patient despite limited NHL time By Brian Hedger – January 10, 2020 SAN JOSE, Calif. — One of the offshoots of the Blue Jackets’ injury plague is hard to miss. He’s a blond Swede who stands 6 feet 5, 192 pounds and was selected 29th overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2015 NHL draft. In case you’ve forgotten, his name is Gabriel Carlsson and he’s a rangy defense- oriented defenseman who’s still striving to make his NHL goals a reality. “Sometimes it takes time,” said Carlsson, 23, who was recalled from the Cleveland Monsters on Dec. 26 along with Swedish forward Jakob Lilja. “Everyone develops differently, but my dream coming here is always to play in the NHL, and that’s what I just keep building for, even when I’m in the minors.” Including this season, the “minors” is where Carlsson has spent the bulk of the past three seasons. After starting 2017-18 in the NHL, he’s been sidetracked by injuries — including a back issue last season — and has slugged it out with the Monsters in the American Hockey League. It’s not the way he envisioned his career path going, especially after making his NHL debut in 2017 and logging five playoff games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it’s become his road to the show. “You’ve just got to stick with the process,” said Carlsson, who hasn’t scored in six games since being recalled. “Usually, as they say, it’s not a sprint. It’s kind of a marathon. It usually takes defensemen a little bit longer, and I’m still pretty skinny. I can develop that part of my body more.” Until he does, Carlsson has a challenge to overcome. In the NHL, winning one-on-one defensive battles is paramount to success. Assistant coach Brad Shaw said the job can be done without brute physicality — look no further than Markus Nutivaara — but Carlsson still needs to adapt. “He has really put on a lot of strength, but he’s not a grizzly bear out there,” Shaw said. “He’s not going to maul a guy to death in the corner and, ‘Boy, look at that wrestling match.’ That’s not going to happen. So he has to find a way to go against a team’s best players because as much as we try and match things up, there’s always minutes you play against the top guys. You’ve got to find a way to not be on the wrong side of those equations.” Ratings on the rise The Blue Jackets might have lost a gaggle of star players to free agency last summer, but their interest locally continues to grow. The latest Nielsen ratings for their broadcasts on Fox Sports Ohio are an example, showing an increase of 41 percent in average game rating from the same point of the season a year ago. If their average audience rating of 2.12% of television households holds up through the end of the season, it would top the 2.09% rating in 2016-17 as the highest-rated season in franchise history. 4 FOX Sports Ohio: Local ratings for Blue Jackets games on FOX Sports Ohio up 41%, pacing best in franchise history By Staff – January 10, 2020 According to Nielsen, the FOX Sports Ohio’s 2019-20 Blue Jackets regular season average game rating to date is 2.12 HH, which is up +41% to last year at the same number of games. Last season’s average of 1.61 HH is the third highest ever for the Jackets on FSO. Their second highest rated season currently is their 2008-09 season (1.86 HH), when the Jackets had their first playoff berth. The highest rated season in franchise history is the 2016-17 season (2.09 HH), when the club set numerous team records and made their third trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The current average is up +10% to the average rating at the same number of games in 2016-17 (1.94 HH). 2019-20 mid-season ratings highlights #1 highest rated game of the season to date is the game from Nov. 29 against the Penguins, which posted a 3.08 HH. #2 highest rated game this season to date is the game from Nov. 19 vs. Canadiens, which posted a 2.94 HH. Games in the month of December averaged a 2.33 HH, on pace with the average December game rating in 2016 and up +50% to the average December game rating last year. Five of the top 10 rated games so far this season came in December: 12/23 vs. Islanders 2.93 HH (3rd) 12/31 vs. Panthers 2.87 HH (6th) 12/19 vs. Kings 2.8 HH (7th) 12/3 vs. Coyotes 2.78 HH (8th) 12/5 vs. Rangers 2.77 HH (9th) STREAMING & SOCIAL All Blue Jackets programming televised on FSO streams live on FOX Sports GO. FOX Sports GO is currently available on mobile and tablet devices, including iOS and Android as well as foxsportsgo.com. FOX Sports GO is also available on connected devices including, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku Players and Roku TV, and Xbox One.