Blue Jackets Notebook: Issue 3, Jenner’s impending return and more – Hockey Writer – Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets are looking forward to the new month after a 5-5-5 performance in November that put up important points, especially late in games. They hit the ground running against the New Jersey Devils on Monday night in Newark.

Most of the discussion surrounding the Blue Jackets has focused on their tendency to blow leads in the third quarter. In two home games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blue Jackets have taken the lead in the third quarter. In both instances, they ultimately lost in overtime.

In November, they lost six points like this. We’re not talking about the teams at the bottom of the division, we’re talking about the teams that are near the top.

This is where we start our Blue Jackets notebook today. We had a meeting of the minds on Saturday, the day after their 4-3 loss to the Penguins.

Waddell/Evanson Meet

Head coach Dean Evason addressed the gathered media after practice on Sunday morning. Players may have a day off on Saturday to recover. But coaches almost never take a day off.

Evison said he spent part of Saturday’s meeting with general manager Don Waddell discussing the status of the recent third period.

“Don and I actually had a great meeting (Saturday),” Evenson said. “I’m sure you guys have written about it or talked about it or whatever forum you did. But we’re trying to figure out what’s going on. Yeah, absolutely. Do we see some pattern? No. That’s what we look back on. Is there something? Is there something in our defensive zone? Coverage? Did we cheat on offense? We came up with a few different things and the bottom line is, we have to stay the course and do what we do and believe that things will turn around, but you can’t dwell on it, right?”

The Blue Jackets made Sunday’s practice interesting. The team spray-painted the ice to divide it into two different smaller areas to allow for goals to be scored in the tight space. It’s a fast-paced four-on-two game so players can hit the ball in a dynamic, fun environment.

“The movement of the puck is good,” Evason said. “But they performed well. They were happy. It was fun for them to score goals. The drill before was a puck moving up and down the ice. Same thing. I think we want them to feel good about playing a hockey game.”

What was the team’s ultimate takeaway from the moment they tried to solve this problem? Evason was asked what the sweet spot is when a room is full of people with different personalities.

“You have to stick together,” Evenson said. “The most important thing is, we’re all in this together. It’s not just the players. It’s not just the coaches. It’s not just the managers. It’s all of us, right? The Columbus Blue Jackets are in this together. We’re still in a very good place. We’re collecting very positive points. Do we want more points? Do we want more wins? Yeah, sure. But we’re going to do it. We’re going to get out of this together as a team, as an organization and move forward, and we believe our team will not only come together, but come together and get the job done.”

Jenner returns this week?

Captain Boone Jenner is set to return after being forced to leave the Seattle game with an upper-body injury. He practiced with his teammates on Sunday.

Coach Evason acknowledged that Jenner is improving. Maybe we can see him Thursday night? perhaps.

“As you guys know, the improvement is his own skating,” Evenson said. “(He) went out with (Jared Bol) and just did a little bit of pushing and pushing and what have you. And then, if we were to have a combat drill today, he probably wouldn’t be involved. But he’ll get a few more skates (Monday) and then hopefully he’ll be available soon.”

Meanwhile, Jenner admitted that he’s about to return. However, he wasn’t ready to definitively announce a return to play on Thursday.

“I think any time you can work out with guys, it’s a step in the process of getting back to playing,” Jenner said. “So it’s a good step to get back out there (Sunday)… Timetable? Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see how things go and keep working.”

Jenner said he feels better. He had been skating alone for some time before joining his teammates on Sunday. He also admitted he knew immediately what his injuries were. It came at the end of the first quarter in Seattle. He tried to get a fight in the second round but knew he couldn’t continue.

“We came back here and took a look and realized we needed to do some rehab,” Jenner said. “That’s where it was. Obviously, I tried to go, but it didn’t get anywhere close to the game.”

Jenner initially hoped it would only be a matter of days rather than weeks. But after seeing the injuries, they both realized they needed time. He did not specify exactly what injury he suffered but admitted it was an injury he had never suffered before.

As for Thursday, “I mean, nothing is impossible,” Jenner said. “I want to be as quick as possible. We’ve talked about timelines before, but there’s no real timeline. I think it’s just one day at a time. (Sunday) is important in the process and building on that and seeing where we go. So I’m just doing what I can control right now. And that’s taking the right steps every day to get there as quickly as possible.”

side dishes

• Remember last week, Evison acknowledged that Sean Monahan was injured during the game. Did they ever consider letting him out to recuperate? Evenson said with a smile: “Of course. You go tell him.”
• Evanson elaborated. “Listen, he’s a hockey player. He wants to play hockey. He’s going to continue to play hockey and play well. He’s done a lot of things for our hockey team, right? So, yeah, if he can play and he’s not injured, just injured, he’s going to play.”
• Evason also reiterated that Friday’s third-period issue was a clear mistake that led to the Penguins’ goal. This was in response to a question about whether he felt certain players weren’t playing as well as they should have been. “There’s no lack of competition. There’s no lack of trying. There’s no lack of fighting or whatever you want to call it.”