Columbus Blue Jackets eliminated from playoff contention

After a valiant run spanning most of the second half of the season, the Columbus Blue Jackets have officially been eliminated from contention for a spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Blue Jackets’ fate was sealed as a result of the game between Carolina and Philadelphia going to overtime, as the Flyers recording a point was enough to knock Columbus out.

While the result is a disappointing one given where Columbus stood a month ago, the fact that they were able to make such a strong push after their first half of the season is a testament to the group.

On January 1, the Blue Jackets were three points behind the New York Rangers and dead last in the Eastern Conference. Things turned around in a hurry when the team dismissed head coach Dean Evason to bring in Rick Bowness, who was able to generate enough momentum for a sharp upturn in both results and morale.

General manager Don Waddell made the switch on January 12, and from there, the Jackets rattled off a 19-3-4 stretch that had them second place in the Metropolitan Division after March 24.

Things fell apart from there, as a 2-7-1 run in their past 10 games has seen them get caught by Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston and Ottawa in that three-week span.

Columbus was led by another stellar season from superstar defenseman Zach Werenski, who has comfortably exceeded a point-per-game pace of production while winning his minutes, which check in at a whopping workload of 26:37 of time on ice per game.

Center Adam Fantilli has had the best season of his young career, while winger Kirill Marchenko continues to look like a solid bet to score 30 goals a season moving forward.

Waddell will have flexibility to bolster the roster as he looks toward next season. The Blue Jackets own all seven of their picks in the upcoming draft, and he’ll have plenty of cap space to work out an extension for emerging goalie Jet Greaves while still adding pieces to what is a solid core.