A PGP Guide to the Columbus Blue Jackets

A PGP Guide to the Columbus Blue Jackets

The Basics

Team: Columbus Blue Jackets

Conference: Eastern

Division: Metropolitan

Arena: Nationwide Arena

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Founded: 2000

Team Colors: Navy blue, red, silver & white

Stanley Cups: 0

Biggest Rivals: Pittsburgh Penguins & Detroit Red Wings (historic)

The Columbus Blue Jackets entered the NHL in 2000 alongside the Minnesota Wild, which makes them one of the league's younger franchises. They have never won a Stanley Cup and have only won 1 traditional best of 7 playoff series in franchise history, but somehow that one series became one of the most ridiculous upsets hockey has ever seen.

The Origin Story

The Blue Jackets exist because Columbus basically decided it wanted major professional hockey and then built an arena to prove it. The NHL awarded Columbus an expansion franchise in 1997, and the team officially began playing during the 2000-01 season. The name Blue Jackets comes from Ohio's connection to the Union Army during the American Civil War. Columbus was an important Union center, and blue military uniforms were produced in the area, which is why the team's branding has always leaned heavily into cannons, stars, flags and Civil War imagery. That’s also why a giant cannon goes off whenever Columbus scores.

The cannon was added to Nationwide Arena in 2007. It's a replica 1857 Napoleon style cannon, and although it doesn't fire an actual cannonball into the opposing goalie, it’s LOUD. It fires before the game, after Blue Jackets goals and after wins, and has become probably the most recognizable part of the Columbus game day experience. Visiting players and unsuspecting fans being scared half to death by it is basically part of the tradition and I hope I get to experience it someday!

The Vibe Check

The Blue Jackets are the NHL team that constantly feels like they're almost about to become something. They've had elite players, they’ve had genuinely great teams with exciting young cores, they’ve had multiple stretches where everyone stops to consider if the team is good yet, and almost always, something happens. Injuries happen, players leave and a promising season collapses. Then, a rebuild starts, which starts looking promising, they barely miss the playoffs, then they barely miss them again and again.

Heading into 2026-27, though, the situation is getting harder to call a rebuild because Columbus actually has legitimate NHL talent everywhere. Zach Werenski just won the Norris Trophy, Adam Fantilli looks like a future first center. Kirill Marchenko, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Cole Sillinger and Denton Mateychuk are no longer hypothetical prospects with Jet Greaves looking capable of being the starting goalie. Management added Valeri Nichushkin to a group that has now missed the playoffs by frustratingly small margins in back to back seasons. So the Blue Jackets are reaching the point where being young and promising is no longer enough. They know it’s time to actually make the playoffs, and the management is trying to make it happen.

The History You Need to Know

The beginning was rough.

Columbus debuted in 2000 and spent most of its first decade near the bottom of the standings. The franchise desperately needed someone fans could build an identity around and in 2002 they found him. The Blue Jackets traded up to select Rick Nash first overall, and Nash became the first true superstar in franchise history. By his second NHL season, he scored 41 goals and shared the Rocket Richard Trophy. For years, Columbus hockey was basically Rick Nash trying to drag an expansion franchise into relevance. He eventually became captain and helped lead the Blue Jackets to their first playoff appearance in 2009. Unfortunately, their reward was the Detroit Red Wings. The defending Stanley Cup champions swept Columbus in four games, so the franchise's first playoff experience lasted approximately five minutes emotionally. Nash was eventually traded to the New York Rangers in 2012, and Columbus entered another chapter.

Then came the John Tortorella era. The Blue Jackets hired Tortorella during the 2015-16 season, and suddenly Columbus became incredibly annoying to play against in a way that brought a fanbase hope. They were physical, aggressive, structured and emotionally incapable of making anything easy. The 2016-17 team won 16 consecutive games, finished with 50 wins and 108 points and became one of the best regular season teams in franchise history. Unfortunately, they ran into the eventual back to back Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and lost in five games.

Then came 2019 which is probably the moment every new Blue Jackets fan needs to know. The Tampa Bay Lightning had just produced one of the greatest regular seasons in NHL history. They went 62-16-4, won the Presidents' Trophy and tied the league record for wins. They were absolutely loaded and entered the playoffs as overwhelming Stanley Cup favorites. Columbus barely made the playoffs, but then Columbus swept them. Columbus didn't take down just any team, they took down THE PRESIDENTS’ TROPHY WINNER IN FOUR GAMES. FOUR!!! Oh, and that was the first playoff series victory in the Blue Jackets HISTORY!!! So, while the team didn’t become champions, fans will still talk about this series because it’s the closest they ever got, but eventually Tortorella's era ended too.

The Blue Jackets returned to the postseason in the 2020 bubble, defeated Toronto in the qualifying round and then lost to Tampa Bay. However, Columbus hasn't made the playoffs since.

In August 2024, the organization experienced something much bigger than hockey. Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were killed while riding bicycles in New Jersey after being struck by a driver who authorities alleged was intoxicated. Johnny was 31 and preparing for his third season with Columbus.

Johnny was not just another star in the NHL. At 5 foot 9, he became one of the players who helped change what people believed an elite NHL forward was supposed to look like. In a league that historically placed so much value on size, Johnny proved that skill, speed, creativity and hockey IQ could make a smaller player one of the most dangerous players in the world. He became known as Johnny Hockey because he was fearless, creative, exciting and capable of making something happen every time the puck touched his stick.

His decision to sign with Columbus mattered just as much. The Blue Jackets had spent years fighting the reputation that stars did not want to play there, then one of the biggest free agents in hockey chose Columbus. He chose the city, the organization and the opportunity to help build something there. For Blue Jackets fans, that meant more than a normal free agent signing ever could. Johnny's loss devastated his family, his teammates, the Blue Jackets organization and the entire hockey community, but reducing his legacy to tragedy would miss what made him so important in the first place. Johnny Hockey was bigger than the game because he made people believe there was room in hockey for players who didn't fit the traditional mold, and because everywhere he went, he made people fall in love with watching him play.

The 2024-25 Blue Jackets season became deeply connected to honoring Johnny and Matthew. Johnny's number 13 remained present in the locker room, the team wore memorial patches and his family participated in multiple Blue Jackets events. Columbus unexpectedly stayed in the playoff race until the final days of the season, and while they ultimately fell short, that team created one of the strongest emotional connections between the players and the city in franchise history. Further, the infamous American Olympic team, which Johnny would have more than likely been part of, honored his life and legacy by hanging his jersey in the locker room, then bringing it onto the ice to celebrate their gold medal win.

The Controversy You Need to Know

The strangest coaching tenure in Blue Jackets history lasted zero games. Columbus hired Mike Babcock as head coach in July 2023. Babcock was already a controversial hire because of allegations surrounding how he had treated players during previous coaching stops, but Columbus believed he could return to the NHL after several years away. Right so…. he never made it to opening night LOL.

In September, the Spittin' Chiclets podcast reported that Babcock had asked players to show him photos from their phones during meetings. Babcock and then captain Boone Jenner initially said the situation had been mischaracterized, but the NHL Players' Association investigated after concerns emerged that some players had been uncomfortable with the interactions. Babcock resigned on September 17, 2023, before coaching a single regular season game for Columbus.

The most recent update of this story is that the NHL conducted another review before Babcock returned to coaching in 2026 and announced in June that it found no current basis to restrict his employment in the league. This means that Babcock is free to continue coaching. Still, from a Blue Jackets history perspective, hiring a head coach in July and losing him before training camp really even got going was… something.

The Icons

Rick Nash

Nash was drafted first overall in 2002 and basically became the face of professional hockey in Columbus. He won a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy at 19, served as captain and carried some Blue Jackets teams that did not give him much help. He remains the franchise's all time leader in goals and points, and his number became the first number retired by the Blue Jackets in 2022. He's also back in the organization and currently works in the Columbus front office.

Sergei Bobrovsky

Before he became the Stanley Cup winning goalie everyone now associates with Florida, Bobrovsky spent seven seasons in Columbus and became one of the best players the franchise had ever had. He won two Vezina Trophies as a Blue Jacket and was the goalie during the 2019 Tampa sweep. For a franchise that spent years trying to establish credibility around the league, having one of hockey's legitimately elite goalies mattered enormously.

Cam Atkinson

One of the ultimate fan favorite Blue Jackets. Atkinson spent a decade in Columbus, developed from a sixth round draft pick into one of the franchise's best goal scorers and became part of the core that made the late 2010s Blue Jackets genuinely competitive. He never had Nash's superstar profile, but if you're talking to someone who lived through the Tortorella era, Cam Atkinson is absolutely part of the conversation.

Nick Foligno

Foligno captained Columbus from 2015 until 2021, meaning he wore the C through the 16 game winning streak, the franchise's best regular seasons and that 2019 Tampa sweep. He wasn't necessarily their biggest superstar, but he embodied what those Blue Jackets teams wanted to be which was physical, competitive, emotional and extremely irritating to play against.

Boone Jenner

For years, Boone Jenner felt like Columbus itself in hockey player form. The Blue Jackets drafted him in 2011, and he eventually spent 13 seasons with the organization. He became captain in 2021 and ultimately played a franchise record 808 games for Columbus. His departure in July 2026 genuinely marked the end of an era. Jenner signed a four year contract with Washington, leaving the Blue Jackets without a captain heading into the new season.

Johnny Gaudreau

Johnny's time in Columbus was tragically short, but his place in franchise history is permanent. When Gaudreau unexpectedly signed with Columbus in 2022, it was one of the biggest free agent moments the franchise had ever experienced. Here was one of hockey's biggest offensive stars actively choosing Columbus at a time when the organization had struggled with the reputation that elite players didn't want to stay there. He led the team in scoring in both of his seasons as a Blue Jacket, but his impact on Columbus eventually became about far more than points. The organization and his former teammates continue to honor both Johnny and Matthew, and Johnny was selected to the Blue Jackets' official Quarter-Century Second Team in 2025.

The Current Era

The Blue Jackets rebuild is over whether they're ready for that or not. Columbus has missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons, but the past two misses have been different from the hopeless rebuild years, because the Blue Jackets have actually been in the race.

In 2025-26, Columbus finished fifth in the Metropolitan Division and stayed in playoff position deep into the spring before collapsing late. Rick Bowness replaced Dean Evason as head coach in January 2026 and made it very clear after the season that he thought the culture needed to change. Columbus retained him, and the message entering 2026-27 is basically that losing cannot continue to be treated like an acceptable part of development.

But, their offseason got a bit weird.  Longtime captain Boone Jenner left for Washington, Mason Marchment left for San Jose, and for a brief period, it appeared even Zach Werenski could be traded after he expressed uncertainty about his future beyond his current contract, but Werenski ultimately decided he didn't want to leave. That was HUGE because he had just won the Norris Trophy and become arguably the best player in franchise history not named Rick Nash. Werenski has since said he would have no issue committing to Columbus long term if the team continues moving forward.

Management also traded three draft picks to Colorado for Valeri Nichushkin, added Stanley Cup champion Ryan Lomberg, brought in goalie Pheonix Copley and re-signed Jet Greaves and Cole Sillinger. However, there is still one MAJOR piece of unfinished business – Adam Fantilli remains unsigned as a restricted free agent and is eligible to sign an offer sheet. This doesn’t mean he's leaving Columbus, but until his next contract is actually signed, it's one of the biggest unfinished storylines of the Blue Jackets' summer.

Also, Columbus currently has no captain following Jenner's departure, but yes, Zach Werenski is staring everyone directly in the face for that ‘C’.

The Players You Need to Know

Zach Werenski

The face of the franchise.

Columbus drafted him eighth overall in 2015 and he's spent his entire NHL career with the organization. He gradually went from an exciting young defenseman to one of the best defensemen in hockey, and in 2025-26 he finally won the Norris Trophy as he finished 2nd among NHL defensemen in scoring and became the first Blue Jacket ever to win the Norris. He is also an alternate captain, the obvious leader of the current roster and probably the first person everyone is looking at when discussing who should replace Jenner as captain.

Adam Fantilli

The future No. 1 center.

Fantilli was drafted 3rd overall in 2023 and Columbus has spent the past three seasons watching him develop into exactly the kind of center the franchise desperately needed.. He's big, skilled, fast and plays with enough chaos that he looks like he's personally offended whenever the puck is not headed toward the other team's net.

Kirill Marchenko

The scorer you need to stop overlooking.

Marchenko has become one of the most important forwards in Columbus. He's a big winger with legitimate finishing ability, and the organization increasingly views him as part of its young offensive core alongside Fantilli, Johnson and Voronkov. 

Kent Johnson

The skill guy.

Johnson was selected 5th overall in 2021 and has always been one of the most naturally creative players in Columbus' young core. He isn't built like the stereotypical giant, bruising Blue Jacket. His game is much more about hands, creativity, skating and making something happen offensively.

Jet Greaves

The goalie who may finally be the answer.

Goaltending has been one enormous question hanging over this rebuild and Greaves may finally be turning it into an answer. He established himself as the Blue Jackets' primary goalie last season and Columbus clearly believes in him because the team signed him to a 3 year, $15 million contract in July.  If Greaves becomes a legitimate long term NHL starter, Columbus suddenly has one fewer massive rebuild question to answer.

Valeri Nichushkin

The major new addition.

Columbus acquired Nichushkin from Colorado on June 25 for a 2026 second round pick, a 2027 third and a 2028 fifth. He's 31, has already won a Stanley Cup and gives Columbus another big, powerful scoring winger who can play alongside Fantilli and Marchenko. The Blue Jackets didn't trade three draft picks for him because they're planning another five year rebuild, this move is what a team does when they expect to win now.

Sean Monahan

The veteran heart of the room.

Monahan signed with Columbus in 2024 partly because he wanted to reunite with his close friend and former Calgary teammate Johnny Gaudreau, but that reunion tragically never happened. Since then, Monahan has become an important veteran presence for a very young Blue Jackets team. His connection to Johnny has made him especially meaningful within the organization, but he's also still an important center and leader on the actual roster. 

The Rivalries

Pittsburgh Penguins

The closest thing to the real rivalry.

If you ask Blue Jackets fans who they hate, Pittsburgh is probably the answer you'll hear most often. The geography helps considering Columbus and Pittsburgh are relatively close and Pittsburgh fans travel extremely well, so much so that Penguins fans have historically invaded Nationwide Arena in numbers that Columbus fans find deeply irritating.

Then there are the playoffs. Pittsburgh eliminated Columbus in both 2014 and 2017, and the Crosby-Brandon Dubinsky battles gave those games some actual hatred. Dubinsky spent years making Sidney Crosby's life miserable, which naturally made him beloved in Columbus and considerably less beloved in Pittsburgh. The funny part is that Pittsburgh has much bigger historic rivals, so this rivalry has always been a little uneven. Even Blue Jackets fans joke that Pittsburgh probably doesn't hate them nearly as much as they hate Pittsburgh, but Columbus definitely does not need Pittsburgh to reciprocate in order to be annoyed by them.

Detroit Red Wings

The old division enemy.

This rivalry is much more historical as most Red Wings rivalries are. Columbus spent its first 12 seasons in the Western Conference's Central Division alongside Detroit, so the Red Wings were one of the teams Blue Jackets fans saw constantly during the franchise's earliest years. Detroit swept Columbus in their first ever playoff appearance in 2009, which didn't exactly create warm fuzzy feelings.

When Detroit moved to the Eastern Conference in 2013, the teams were no longer divisional opponents and the rivalry cooled considerably. BUT the 2025 Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium gave it a very fun revival. Columbus hosted Detroit in front of a massive outdoor crowd and finally got the kind of major national event moment the franchise had been waiting years to experience.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Not really a rivalry, just permanently connected by trauma.

Columbus and Tampa are definitely not traditional rivals. However… 2019. That's it. That's the explanation.

The Tampa Bay Lightning produced one of the greatest regular seasons in NHL history and Columbus swept them out of the first round. Then Tampa eliminated Columbus the following year and proceeded to win the Stanley Cup. So while these teams aren't exactly obsessed with each other anymore, they will forever be spiritually connected by one of the most humiliating playoff upsets in NHL history.

The Fanbase

Blue Jackets fans call themselves The 5th Line, and honestly, they have had to develop a very specific sense of humor to survive this franchise. Columbus is sometimes dismissed by outsiders as a place that doesn't care about hockey because Ohio is overwhelmingly associated with football, especially Ohio State. That stereotype doesn't really match what happens inside Nationwide Arena. The fanbase has repeatedly shown up even during awful seasons. In 2023-24, when Columbus finished last in the Eastern Conference, the Blue Jackets still averaged more than 17,000 fans per game, their strongest attendance in two decades.

They also have some genuinely elite weird little traditions. There is obviously the cannon, which terrifies visitors. There is Leo the inflatable Elmo, an Elmo balloon that somehow became lodged in the Nationwide Arena rafters and eventually turned into an unofficial fan mascot/rallying cry. And then there's the general Columbus experience of watching a promising young player score twice, hearing the cannon explode, deciding THIS is finally the year, and immediately remembering what team you support.

The fanbase is extremely protective of Columbus as a hockey market because they've spent years hearing jokes about relocation, attendance and whether players actually want to live there. Which is why moments like Johnny Gaudreau choosing Columbus, Werenski deciding he didn't want to leave and players publicly talking about loving the city matter so much more here than they might somewhere else.

The Retired Numbers

Columbus has retired exactly one player's number:

No. 61 — Rick Nash

Nash became the first player in franchise history to receive the honor when his number was raised to the Nationwide Arena rafters on March 5, 2022.

However, there are obviously future conversations coming.

No. 8 — Zach Werenski could eventually become an easy candidate if he finishes his career in Columbus anywhere close to his current trajectory.

No. 13 — Johnny Gaudreau carries enormous emotional significance to the franchise, although Columbus has not formally retired the number.

And after 13 seasons and a franchise-record 808 games, No. 38 — Boone Jenner will probably receive some kind of major franchise recognition eventually even if that doesn't necessarily mean number retirement.

The Team Identity

The Blue Jackets have spent most of their existence searching for a permanent identity. The Rick Nash teams were basically built around one superstar trying to make an expansion franchise matter. The Tortorella teams finally gave Columbus an unmistakable personality of being physical, structured, stubborn and absolutely exhausting. That team didn't care whether the other team had bigger stars because the entire goal was making every game as unpleasant as humanly possible, but the current team is different.

Columbus still values size and competitiveness, but now it has legitimate high end skill with players like Fantilli who can become an elite center, Marchenko who can score, Johnson who can create, Mateychuk who’s developing on defense. Greaves may be the goalie going into the new season. And now, Werenski isn't just the best player on the Blue Jackets anymore, he's officially the reigning best defenseman in the NHL.

There is also something deeper connecting this current group to Columbus. The loss of Johnny Gaudreau fundamentally changed the organization. The 2024-25 team played through an amount of grief no hockey team should ever have to experience, and the relationship between that locker room, Johnny's family and the city became part of the team's identity.

This is no longer a team that needs to rebuild.  They have a Norris Trophy winner in his prime, they have a former number 3 overall pick approaching superstardom, they have young players who have already accumulated multiple NHL seasons, they traded meaningful draft capital for a 31 year old Stanley Cup champion, and their coach is openly demanding a different standard. The Blue Jackets are officially entering the era where potential has to turn into results.

Why You Should Watch Them

Columbus might be one of the NHL's most interesting “get in before everyone else does” teams. Zach Werenski is playing ridiculous hockey and somehow still doesn't receive the mainstream attention that other superstar defensemen do. Adam Fantilli is developing into exactly the kind of chaotic, emotional young star that's extremely fun to become attached to before his team becomes nationally relevant. Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson give Columbus real offensive skill, Jet Greaves gives you a young goalie storyline, and the organization has finally reached the point where making the playoffs is an expectation instead of a cute little dream.

There's also something incredibly lovable about a franchise whose biggest historical achievement is essentially ruining Tampa Bay's life for four games, and if Columbus finally gets this right, you'll get to watch a fanbase that has spent more than two decades waiting for sustained success experience it in real time. Also, every time they score, they fire a cannon. I really don't know what else you need.