Monahan is expected to play on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau at left wing. The two previously played together for the Calgary Flames from 2014-22, and reuniting them may reinvigorate Gaudreau, who has 134 points (33 goals, 101 assists) in 161 games with Columbus the past two seasons after he had an NHL career-high 115 points (40 goals, 75 assists) in 82 games during his final season with the Flames in 2021-22.
Regardless of who he plays with, though, Monahan said his goal is to be a leader on the team.
“It’s important to have good leadership in the dressing room,” he said. “It creates a good culture, and I think I’m a guy that can serve that purpose.”
Behind Monahan at center could be Adam Fantilli, who was selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. But the 19-year-old, who had 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 49 games as a rookie before his season was ended because of a calf laceration on Jan. 28, is just one of many young players Columbus could begin to rely on this season.
Forward Kent Johnson, who was selected with the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, is one of them. The 21-year-old signed a three-year, $5.4 million contract ($1.8 million AAV) on July 27 after he had 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 42 games last season, which was ended on Feb. 28 because of a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Kirill Marchenko, 24; Dmitri Voronkov, 23; Yegor Chinakhov, 23; and Cole Sillinger, 21, are also expected to take that next step. Marchenko, who signed a three-year, $11.55 million contract ($3.85 million AAV) on July 28, scored 23 goals last season after getting 21 as a rookie in 2022-23. Voronkov had 34 points (18 goals, 16 assists) in 75 games as a rookie, and Chinakhov had 29 points (16 goals, 13 assists) in 53 games. Sillinger, who is currently a restricted free agent, had 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) in 77 games, a marked improvement after he had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 64 games in 2022-23.
On defense, the Blue Jackets allowed Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist to leave as free agents, possibly opening the door for David Jiricek, 20, and Denton Mateychuk, 20.
Jiricek, who was selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, had 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in 43 games as a rookie last season. Mateychuk, who was selected with the No. 12 pick in the 2022 draft, won the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the Western Hockey League’s defenseman of the year last season.
“There’s a lot of good pieces here,” Waddell said. “The previous management has done a good job with drafting. There’s challenges, of course, that’s why they bring you in, but it’s not like this is an organization that’s going to take a long time to fix.”
Although some uncertainty remains surrounding forward Patrik Laine, who has reportedly requested a trade, the Blue Jackets are hoping the moves they made this offseason provide some stability, which in turn could help them return to the postseason for the first time since 2020.
“It’s like a machine, it’s hard to start and it’s hard to stop,” Blue Jackets forward Sean Kuraly said. “No matter who’s coming in and who’s going out, it takes a [heck] of a lot of work to get it going and build. It takes less (work) to keep it going than it does to start it.”
