COLUMBUS, Ohio — Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen has said repeatedly that he’s going to look at multiple forward lines and defensive pair combinations during training camp, that he expects the adjustments to continue into the regular season.
But it was hard to watch rookie center Cole Sillinger play between veteran wingers Patrik Laine and Jakub Voracek in Wednesday’s 5-2 preseason win over St. Louis without believing you were watching the Blue Jackets’ No. 1 line.
Advertisement
Here’s the wildest part: The line didn’t score at even strength, and it had only a few “wow” moments. It was Sillinger’s second game against NHL (preseason) talent, and it was Laine’s and Voracek’s first game of the exhibition season.
In each of their games, however, was an element the Blue Jackets will need to see if this is going to work.
Laine is trying to rebound from an awful 2020-21, and if you think that’s too a harsh description, well, here’s Laine’s response when asked if he had set any goals for this upcoming season.
“I’ve never been a numbers guy, like I don’t set certain goals before the year, like ‘I wanna score this many,’ or whatever,” Laine said. “I just want to be a better player than I was last year, and that’s gonna be easy this year because I was pretty (much) shit last year.”
On Wednesday, Laine’s best moment was a hellacious backcheck in the first period that helped disrupt a developing 2-on-1 for the Blues. He will never get Selke votes, but this was a hustle play, and Larsen was delighted.
Since the start of camp, Larsen has seen a different Patrik Laine from the player who arrived early last season following the trade for Pierre-Luc Dubois.
“One thing with Patty,” Larsen said, “he put in the work this summer. We talked about that, about making sure you come in in good shape. He checked that box right away.
“Two, it’s a fresh start for him. You can tell just by the way he’s carrying himself, how he’s talking … he’s excited about the season. He’s putting in the work.
Laine had 10-11-21 in 45 games last season. The validity of plus-minus as a statistic can be debated, surely, but Laine’s minus-29 rating (fourth-worst in the NHL) was too garish to be ignored.
TUFF 😤 pic.twitter.com/PqXkvILdza
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) September 30, 2021
The Blue Jackets think Laine can be a player, not just a scorer. They needed to help him, so they acquired Voracek from Philadelphia. But he needed to help himself, too. Larsen believes the early signs are promising.
“This was the first game with his linemates, and it’s hard, it’s exhibition,” Larsen said. “But I like that there was some effort there (on the backcheck).
Advertisement
“There’s a long way to go (in camp), but he made a good impression, especially coming out of the summer.”
If you think there are eyes on Laine during this camp, imagine the microscope Sillinger is playing under.
There are two broad questions being applied to the 18-year-old from Saskatchewan, the No. 12 overall pick this summer. First, is he good enough to play in the NHL? Second, is a baptism by fire in the NHL what’s best for his development?
Sillinger has played two of the Blue Jackets’ three preseason games, and he’ll likely see three or four more. Larsen acknowledged after Wednesday’s game that he tried to get Sillinger on the ice against the Blues’ top defensive pair of Colton Parayko and Marco Scandella.
“As much as I could, yeah, just to see what it looks like,” Larsen said. “If he’s going to play with guys like (Laine and Voracek), those are the kind of guys he’s going to face, or maybe even a notch higher when you start playing the real games. I thought he did fine.”
Sillinger played 17:31, had six shot attempts and won 11 of 15 faceoffs Wednesday. He rang a shot off the crossbar in the first period, had a brilliant pass from below the goal line to set up Voracek in close and had his nose in the action throughout.
The Blue Jackets played Sillinger, along with fellow rookie Yegor Chinakhov on the second power-play unit. Sillinger manned the left half-wall, while Chinakhov lurked on the right side.
Larsen is no longer coaching the power-play unit — that’s now one of assistant coach Pascal Vincent’s jobs — but the Blue Jackets have added skill and youth to a unit that was highly ineffective.
“You add Chinkahov and Sillinger and it changes the dynamic,” Larsen said. “They have to respect Chinakhov’s shot. Sillinger has a really good knack for turning the corner, but he’s got a lethal shot, too. It’s different than Chinakhov’s, but it’s dangerous and heavy.
Advertisement
“When you get these one-and-done shooters, as I call them, now you’ve got something.”
Laine needed only a few practices with Sillinger to reach the following conclusion:
“He has top speed and good hands and great vision,” Laine said. “He’s going to be a really good player in this league, for sure.”
Sillinger is trying to establish himself in the NHL. Laine, one could say, is trying to re-establish himself. Voracek needs only to be what he’s always been, a playmaking winger.
Laine stands to benefit from Voracek’s arrival as much as anybody. One of the Blue Jackets’ many woes last season was their utter lack of playmakers, the highly-skilled types who bring others’ games to life.
The line was delivered flatly, but Laine said it with a relieved smile when talking about Voracek’s skill set: “He can find you.”
On Wednesday, Voracek seemed to get a huge energy boost after Sillinger’s setup, and he got stronger as the game moved along. He took a cross-zone pass from Laine and sent a rocket of a pass on goal from the right wall, leading to Boone Jenner’s power-play goal early in the third period.
“Jake has been a producer for a long time,” Larsen said. “What I really like is just his passion to play. He’s 14 years in the league and he still gets excited to play. It’s infectious for our guys. It’s good for our group.”
Larsen has ended most practices with a game — a shootout, or long-range target practice into an empty net, or some such. The losing group always has to do extra skating before they leave the ice, and the competition is usually playful.
Voracek may get more into it than most, though.
“He’s really angry when they lose,” Larsen said. “I don’t know if it’s more that he doesn’t want to skate or because he really wants to win. That’s up for debate.”
(Photo: Ben Jackson / NHLI via Getty Images)
