CBJ Q&A: Checking in with Alexandre Texier

The last time Blue Jackets fans saw Alexandre Texier, he was playing in the team's New Year's Eve game against Florida -- and riding a hot streak.

The 20-year-old rookie from France had nine points in 13 games leading up to that battle against the Panthers and was starting to look more and more like the impact player the team envisioned after he stepped right into the Stanley Cup Playoffs the year before and didn't look out of place.

But on what was an otherwise illustrious night for the Blue Jackets, Texier saw his regular season come to an end as he left midway through the game and soon went on injured reserve with a stress fracture in his back. His campaign was over with six goals and 13 points in 36 games on the year.

The coronavirus pause gave Texier a chance to work his way back to health, though, and he did just that and is expected to be ready to go when the team begins training camp July 10.

Texier returned to his native France for part of the NHL's coronavirus pause but as of Saturday is back in Columbus. He spoke earlier this week with BlueJackets.com about his recovery, what it was like to be back home in Grenoble and his thoughts on his first full NHL season.

Was it nice to be home in France? It's almost like the summer where you got a chance to go back and spend time where you're from.

Yeah, that was nice. Just being around my family and friends, it was a good time. For me, on the ice and off of it was good.

You're from Grenoble, which is in the southeast portion of the country near Lyon. What is that area like? I don't know a ton about it.

It's not that big, but there's mountains all around the place in Grenoble, so you can go to the mountains. There's things to do, but it's not that big like Paris. But it's really nice.

So you saw some friends, saw some family. Is there anything else you were able to do?

Not much. Back home, they're fighting the coronavirus too, so when you go out to restaurants you have to be careful. It was only friends and family, having a good time. That was about it.

I've seen on social media that it looked like you've been playing some video games with Elvis Merzlikins. How has that gone?

Yeah, I played a couple of video games, but I don't want to become an addict on PlayStation. But it was a good way to kill the time. I don't want to play too much, but it's good.

I was on a stream with Elvis recently and asked him who was better, him or you, and he said he was better at Call of Duty. Is that true?

He's better than me at NHL (2020) for sure, but I would say I am better at Call of Duty right now.

Also back home, we saw some video on social media of you getting back on the ice. Has it been exciting to get back out there and skate, especially since it had been a while since you could do that because of the injury?

Yeah, it was actually really nice. Twice a week on the ice, and I've been on the ice about three weeks. The first couple of times you get on the ice, it's really hard because I had been off the ice for a few months, but other than that it was pretty nice to get back on the ice and feel like myself again, work to get in game shape and see how my body reacts to being on the ice and off the ice. It was a great time. I feel really good right now.

That was going to be one of my questions. How do you feel physically? Do you feel like you're ready to go now that you've gone through the rehab?

Yeah, I am in good shape right now. I feel good with everything, so I can't wait to get back on the ice (with the team). I wanted to train, do some exercises for my back and every day do something so I don't have pain or anything. I feel really good right now. I can't wait to get back on the ice with the guys and start doing some more exercises.

Let's talk some hockey now. This is your rookie season, and I think as the year went on you started to play better and really contribute offensively. After playing 20-30 games, do you think you felt like the player you wanted to be came out?

Yeah, I think there were some good games, some bad games, but I think that's how it is. I expect that. There's a lot of games. At the end, just before my injury, I was playing good offensively and defensively. I think I played some good games, the injury just happened. It's sports, so you have to get through that and you can come back stronger.

Coming back here to Columbus, are you looking forward to the competition? Obviously there's a lot of guys coming back into training camp that got chances to play this year, so there's going to be a battle for spots, but will it be exciting to be a part of that and get back on the ice with the guys and see how that works out?

Yeah, exactly. It's going to be great. It's going to be a good competition between each other. I think that's very good, getting in good shape and get back with the boys on the ice. I'm excited to do everything. It's been a long time that I haven't skated with the guys on the team, so yeah, that's going to be exciting. I'm ready and I can't wait, but there is a lot of things going on with the virus so we have to be safe first and then see how it is after.

As you look at your career, you came in and got playoff experience last season. This year, you learned the day in and day out of being an NHL player, then you even had some adversity with the injury, so a lot has happened over the last year. Can these things help you as you go forward and are you excited to see what's next?

Yeah, I am. I think playoffs, I learned a lot. Especially with us being in the playoffs right now, I learned last year how the playoffs are in the NHL so I think I'm going to be ready when the season starts again. I know what to expect. I know exactly what kind of player I want to be in this league, so I just need to work out and work hard and be myself and try not to do too much.

You said you know what kind of player you want to be -- what is that?

I want to be an offensive player, I want to score some goals, but at the same time I want to be good defensively. Like I don't want to make mistakes, I want to be good defensively first and do some little things like you don't pay attention to, and after that I felt good offensively. I can score some goals and not worry about that. I am just worried that I try to be good defensively and gain some minutes on the ice off that.