Who's in? Blue Jackets have a lot of choices to fill out the lineup

Columbus has been busy this offseason, and the result is filling out a lineup card might be tough for new head coach Mike Babcock once the season gets under way.

Additions include top draft pick Adam Fantilli as well as Alexandre Texier and Dmitri Voronkov up front, while the defense has been bolstered by the acquisitions of veteran blueliners Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov.

The result is the Blue Jackets should be stronger on defense, have more depth up front and have added another young, fresh face to watch in Fantilli, the third overall pick.

But it also means things are a bit crowded, as the Blue Jackets didn't give up any players to add the five names above. Of the 19 players to skate in at least half the games a year ago for Columbus, 15 of them remain under contract with the squad, while in all, 36 of the team-record 47 players to play in at least one game a season ago are signed as well.

That will likely make for some difficult decisions when it comes to playing time, as there are a lot of worthy names in the discussion. The good news is that the Blue Jackets, as currently constructed now that we are nearly a month into free agency, should have improved depth from a season ago.

The next question -- how will the lineup shake out? It's something Blue Jackets fans have been discussing in recent weeks, and this time of year, it's become a bit of a tradition that I give my early thoughts on how things will look come the season opener Oct. 12 vs. Philadelphia.

It's always difficult to do this, but this year might be the toughest yet given how many players are in the mix. That won't stop us, though, as it's always fun for discussion's sake to take an early stock of how things might go this season.

Take it all with a grain of salt, but here's our first guess at what we can put together for an opening lineup as the Blue Jackets approach the upcoming season.

Forwards

Johnny Gaudreau - Boone Jenner - Kirill Marchenko*

Patrik Laine - Jack Roslovic - Kent Johnson*

Alexandre Texier - Adam Fantilli* - Yegor Chinakhov*

Eric Robinson - Sean Kuraly - Dmitri Voronkov*

Also in the mix: Mathieu Olivier, Cole Sillinger\, Emil Bemstrom, Liam Foudy, Justin Danforth, Hunter McKown\, Josh Dunne, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Carson Meyer

(\ denotes waivers-exempt player)*

As we said, this is difficult because of the number of names at play, and many of the team's younger players gained valuable experience a year ago that will make them hungry for more. If everyone is healthy -- a big if, CBJ fans learned last season -- some very difficult decisions are going to have to be made.

Starting at center, you have six players -- Jenner, Roslovic, Fantilli, Kuraly, Sillinger and Voronkov -- who could reasonably be described as potential regulars, making it hard to slot them into the lineup. Let's also not forget that such players as Johnson, Texier and even Laine could play the position as well.

We started in the middle and put Jenner and Roslovic at the top of the lineup because of their NHL experience. Fantilli seems ready to contribute right away and should get every chance to do so, so we're putting him in the lineup, while Kuraly has proven he can be a steady bottom-six center over the years as well.

We put Voronkov in the lineup but on the wing because he has played a fair share of wing in the KHL in recent years, and it's hard not to like the thought of the massive, feisty Russian barreling in on opposing defensemen on the forecheck. It's hard to leave Sillinger out to start things, but if he can come back after a tough sophomore season -- and I'm not betting against him -- he'll earn his fair share of playing time as well.

Personally, I'm not ready to give up on having Gaudreau and Laine together on the same line, even if it didn't generally work all that well last year. Laine's injury issues could be pointed to as a major culprit, but for now, we put Marchenko on the top line simply because he had a great rookie season and has the intangibles and drive to follow it up with an even better second campaign. Plus, moving Laine to play with Roslovic keeps two players together who always seem to have some chemistry.

Johnson likely starts on the wing as he continues to add size, and he deserves to be a top-six forward after one of the best rookie seasons in team history, so that fills up the top half of our lineup.

Texier had a tremendous start to his last NHL season and our guess is he returns ready to go, and he projects as an ideal middle-six wing who can play a 200-foot game, so we're putting him on the third line. I might be going out on a limb here with Chinakhov on the other side, but it felt like he was on the cusp of a breakout a year ago before suffering a season-ending leg injury, and I have a gut feeling he might be ready to pop on the goal-scoring front.

Robinson has shown to be a great compliment to Kuraly over the years and brings a lot to a fourth line, so he's in our projected lineup, but it's tremendously difficult to have Olivier, Bemstrom, Foudy and Danforth out of this first run. All have a fair share of NHL experience under their belts, and it feels like all will get their chances in the lineup as well. Foudy and Danforth, in particular, are hard to keep out, as the former is a first-round pick who started to blossom a year ago and the latter is a glue guy who seems like he could thrive under Babcock.

I remain intrigued by Dunne, Fix-Wolansky and Meyer, who all were impact players in Cleveland last year and are young players who should keep getting better. McKown debuted with Columbus last year but seems ticketed to start in the AHL just to add pro experience.

Defensemen

Zach Werenski - Damon Severson

Ivan Provorov - Adam Boqvist

Jake Bean - Erik Gudbranson

Also in the mix: Andrew Peeke, Nick Blankenburg\, Tim Berni (unsigned RFA), David Jiricek\, Marcus Bjork, Jake Christiansen

(\ denotes waivers-exempt player)*

Again, let's not get too married to the initial setup here, as just off the hop, we can point out that Peeke has been a regular the past two seasons, Blankenburg has proved to be tough to keep out of the lineup when healthy, and Jiricek is the team's top prospect and aced his season in the AHL a year ago -- just to name a few options.

It's good to have depth, after all, and the Blue Jackets have certainly added to it on defense. The numbers are particularly strong among right-shot defensemen, one of the hardest spots to fill in the league, as Severson, Boqvist, Gudbranson, Peeke, Blankenburg, Jiricek and Bjork can all play the right side.

That's a bit of a logjam, but one thing it does do is give the Jackets options, and it allows the team not to force Jiricek into the lineup should he require a bit more seasoning at the young age of 19 years old when the season starts.

Columbus also could play one of those right-shot defensemen on the left side, but to start, we'll put Bean there after he showed some strides to begin last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. The return of Werenski and addition of Provorov, who played first-pair minutes with Philadelphia throughout much of his career, should hold down the left side of things and allow Babcock to fill 45 to 50 minutes a night if he so desires.

There are certainly still strides to be made, but adding two dependable blueliners in Provorov and Severson should help fortify what has been a young, inconsistent group in recent years. Severson, in particular, is a solid puck-moving and possession defenseman whose game could mesh quite nicely with Werenski's as Jiricek and Boqvist -- whose offensive bona fides are real -- continue to add experience.

Goaltenders

Elvis Merzlikins

Daniil Tarasov

At the moment, this one doesn't seem that difficult, as the Blue Jackets have four goalies under contract in Merzlikins, Tarasov, Jet Greaves and Nolan Lalonde.

The way things break down right now, Merzlikins and Tarasov will be the NHL duo, Greaves will continue to gain experience in Cleveland, and Lalonde will head back to the junior ranks.

There is still the potential for this to change, though, as Kekalainen has acknowledged that the Blue Jackets would like to add a veteran netminder to the mix. The ideal candidate would seemingly be someone who is OK with playing in Cleveland, considering both Merzlikins and Tarasov would need to clear waivers to go down, while also being able to handle NHL minutes should the need arise.

That's a fair need considering the number of injuries that have popped up the past two years for Merzlikins and Tarasov, as the former played in just 30 games last year and the latter combined for 28 appearances between Columbus and Cleveland.

Considering the stats each posted a year ago -- Merzlikins went 7-18-2 with a 4.23 GAA and .876 save percentage, while Tarasov was 4-11-1 with a 3.91 GAA and .892 save percentage -- this is a position that is in a bit of a prove-it mode. But as Joonas Korpisalo showed a year ago, goalies can have a big turnaround from one year to another, and the talent is there for this to turn into a strength if everything breaks right.