Jenner rose to challenge in first year as Blue Jackets captain

It's not hard to figure out how much respect Boone Jenner has among his Blue Jackets teammates and within the CBJ organization.
It's clear by the "C" on his jersey, as Jenner was named the team's seventh full-time captain this season after six years as an alternate. In hockey, the captaincy isn't just handed out, and Jenner has earned it by his actions over the years, with teammates going out of their way to rave about what he brings to the table.

But no scene quite encapsulates what Jenner meant to the team than Brad Larsen's postseason news conference.
When talking about what members of his leadership core meant to his young team throughout the season, Larsen started talking about the back injury that ended Jenner's season March 11.
"A tremendous year," the head coach said, "and we lose him at a very key time.
"You know, the poor guy, he's coming to me in tears and, 'I can't do it anymore.'"
At that point, Larsen choked up with emotion when thinking about that conversation. Thirty seconds later, Larsen said, "He cares. A tremendous amount he cares, and it was killing him he couldn't go play."
In that scene, the level of respect the head coach has for his captain was clear, and it's the same when talking to anyone around the team just how much Jenner means to the club on a daily basis.
Which is exactly why alternate captain Gustav Nyquist said Jenner was the "obvious choice" to wear the "C" after the departure of Nick Foligno. For Jenner, leadership is something he's become used to over the years -- he was the two-year captain of the Oshawa Generals in juniors and was the longest-tenured alternate captain in CBJ history -- but the chance to ascend to the captaincy of an NHL team was certainly an honor.
"Exciting times, obviously, and a huge honor to have that letter this year and try to do it with pride, stay true to who I am as a person and player," he said. "It was exciting for me. I wanted that challenge and opportunity. It's a learning experience. I want to keep growing. I don't think you can ever be happy, so I want to keep growing in that role. It's a little bit different, but I try to be myself and be an example for us. You just try to keep going there."
It helped a ton that he also delivered one of his most productive seasons in years. Talk to anyone in sports who is a leader and they will say it's a lot easier to do that job when one is contributing to the cause, and Jenner did that in spades this season.
His eight power-play goals led the way on the team when he went down with injury, and Jenner finished the campaign third on the team with 23 tallies to go with 21 assists for 44 points. His goal total was the second highest of his career, following only the 30 he tallied in 2015-16 and serving as the first time he topped 20 since that memorable campaign when he was just 22 years old.
Jenner was on pace to have gotten back to the 30-goal mark were it not for the injury, and his relentless work ethic and willingness to position himself at the net front allowed him to reap the rewards when players like Nyquist, Patrik Laine and Oliver Bjorkstrand got the puck to the net. But the Dorchester, Ontario, native also showed some pretty good skill with some beautiful snipes as the year went on.
"It's nice when you can chip in offensively," he said. "I just tried to play my game, put myself in spots. I was playing with some good players. We just started clicking. Things were going in. You just keep building off that. You put a lot of work in during the summer to get your game better each and every year. I tried to do that and coming into the season I had high expectations for myself, always. Just tried to play my game and things were going in, so, yeah, try to keep building off that."
Jenner's goals often were big ones, too, none bigger than his goal in the final minute Feb. 8 that gave the Blue Jackets a 5-4 win at Washington. In total, eight of his goals tied the score while six others gave Columbus the lead, showing the majority of his tallies came at crucial times.
"You want to be that guy, be that player that can step up in those situations," he said. "You just want to be here in those spots and put it in the back of the net for your team."
And the good news is that while Jenner's lower back injury did cost him the end of the season, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen expects him to be ready to go when the 2022-23 season begins.
"I think had we been in a playoff race, Boone would've been back a lot sooner than what it appears right now," Kekalainen said. "We didn't need to rush him because we weren't going to make the playoffs and we knew that while he was rehabbing. So, now, he's well on his way to preparing for the next season. He knows what he needs to do.
"We have the training staff here and therapists who know what he needs to do to endure through a full season next year and I have no doubts that he will. That's their job. They know what they need to do, and they do it. But I wouldn't expect anything less from Boone Jenner, that's for sure."