The Columbus Blue Jackets chose a bad time of year to have "dead legs." That is the legs of players who have played a ton of hockey games, with games still on the schedule. The Blue Jackets are looking to win a playoff wild card spot, but there is no room for error.
Nine games, that is how many are left in the Blue Jackets 2025-26 season. The team left for dead in mid January has clawed its way back into the playoff conversation, but they can not afford to let up. Every game must be treated like a playoff elimination game, that is how close and tight the Eastern Conference playoff race is.
The team must grind through the loss of teammates and tired legs, not an easy task. The good news is the losses have been close games but this is not the time of year for morale boosters and the Blue Jackets know full well nobody is going to feel bad for them.
Team leadership and not just coaches need to be the ones to get the team to the finish line. It seems highly likely the race will go down to the wire, which is why winning home games is critical and stealing a couple of road wins would be monumental.
D Damon Severson suffered an upper-body injury and had season-ending surgery. That is a big blow as Severson was having a really good season paired on the top line with Zach Werenski. The Blue Jackets have not been playing with the consistency they were in the past couple of months and have slid out of a wild-card spot. They need to rally.