Instead of giving the 2014-15 Columbus Blue Jackets a failing grade, it’s tempting to hand them an “incomplete” considering the absolutely ridiculous run of injuries.
Of course, every good organization has to ask a soul-searching question in such times: is it blind, cruel luck or do some people need to be replaced?
As ugly as that spate of injuries was, the Blue Jackets aren’t being reactionary with firings and scapegoating, as the Columbus Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline reports.
“We’ve studied our doctors, we’ve studied our trainers, we’ve studied how our players are conditioned,” Team president John Davidson said. “It’s just flat-out bad luck what we went through last season.”
GM Jarmo Kekalainen observed that “nothing was out of order” when the team studied how the medical and training staffs handled various situations. While he believes the franchise is always looking for ways to improve, it doesn’t sound like he’s blaming anyone ... except maybe the hockey gods?
.@HockeyGods stop it
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 1, 2014
This year-by-year injury breakdown shows just how extraordinary this past season really was for Columbus:
#CBJ man-gms lost by season:
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 19, 2015
01: 176
02: 155
03: 199
04: 213
06: 289
07: 290
08: 233
09: 343
10: 275
11: 244
12: 411
13: 137
14: 297
15: 508
By finishing 2014-15 strong and adding Brandon Saad to the mix, the Blue Jackets are one of those teams that have real potential, although we’ll need to wait and see if that is only realized in video games where you can turn injuries “off.”