If Don Waddell had any lingering doubts about signing veteran forward James van Riemsdyk, he didn’t have to go very far this week before having them alleviated.
All it took was one trip into the locker room to see the reaction of the Blue Jackets players for the CBJ general manager to feel good about the decision.
“Even on Tuesday, when you walk in the locker room, the players are like, ‘This is great,’” Waddell said. “A lot of guys know JVR well, so the players were excited about it, too.
“For us, we just thought it was a good fit. It takes goals to score to win hockey games, and we think he can add that to us.”
From van Riemsdyk’s perspective, the story was very similar. He had some suitors throughout the offseason but found himself unsigned until Sunday, when the Blue Jackets gave the wing a one-year, $900,000 contract to keep the pads on and play a 16th year at the highest level.
In the end, the deciding factor in a lot of ways was the same as it was for the Blue Jackets – the fit just seemed right.
“I was really happy when it worked out with Columbus,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think there’s a lot of good foundational pieces here as far as the players and a lot of youth that’s looking to take the next step. I think how I can fit in with that is exciting for me. I’m excited to be a part of this group.”
And that’s how van Riemsdyk found himself wearing union blue in the OhioHealth Ice Haus on Thursday’s first day of on-ice drills in camp. The 35-year-old comes to Columbus with plenty of NHL experience (1,011 games), a boatload of production (311 goals and 629 points), and a good perspective that the Blue Jackets think will help the standout young forwards in the organization.
For van Riemsdyk, it’s a win-win – he'll have the chance to continue his playing career and add to those lofty totals while serving as a mentor. As he looks back to his career beginning back in Philadelphia – the second overall pick of the 2007 draft in Columbus, he broke into the league with the Flyers in 2009 – he remembers plenty of players who showed him the ropes.
Current Blue Jackets broadcaster Jody Shelley is on the list, as are such names as Danny Briere, Chris Pronger, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Brian Boucher and a host of others that he felt remiss in not mentioning.
The biggest thing he learned – never getting too high or too low and focusing on the next day would be paramount to having a long career. In this business, consistency wins.
“When I was a young guy, I found it was just watching the guys who had been playing for a while and see how they go about their business, see how they approach their craft on things like that,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think I was very fortunate for that because I think that really set me up to have an approach that you can have that longevity with.”
One of the key focuses of the offseason for Waddell was bringing in veteran players who can help youngsters learn the ropes, and van Riemsdyk joins such players as Sean Monahan and Jack Johnson in that regard. For the veterans already in the room like captain Boone Jenner, it’s nice to have more players of that nature around.
“He’s got 1,000 games in this league,” Jenner said of van Riemsdyk. “He’s been around for a while. He’s seen a lot of things. You add someone like that into the locker room, it’s going to help us, not only on the ice but in the locker room and what he brings day-to-day around us. We’re looking forward to that. He's a great guy that’s gonna help us.”
That’s not to say van Riemsdyk is only here to add leadership. He can still play, as well, as evidenced by the fact he had 11 goals – six on the power play – and 38 points a season ago while playing a limited role in Boston. That output gave him 15 straight seasons with double digits in goals, and van Riemsdyk says that while he wished he had put a few more pucks in the net, his game continues to mature as he gets older.
“You have to always evolve as a player and try to find new ways to be more effective and successful,” he said. “Certain situations, I think obviously fit-wise, maybe you maximize your skill set; other times, you maybe have to do things that are a little bit different than you are used to doing.
“Even looking at my year last year in Boston, obviously I would have liked to maybe contribute more goal-wise, but just playmaking-wise, that’s something I’ve worked on a lot the last few years. It’s something that was really able to jump out in my game, and I was able to have some success doing that.”
So for the 16th time, van Riemsdyk shows up for an NHL camp with an eye on making an impact. He skated the opening day with forwards Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov, and while he has more than a decade on each of those players, he still brought the same enthusiasm to workday No. 1.
“Obviously it’s a privilege and a blessing to play in this league, and I definitely don’t take any day of that for granted,” he said. “Starting out my 16th year, it definitely flies by, but I’m just as excited now as I was for year one.
“It’s fun to get started, fun to get to meet some of the guys and some of the people within the organization and things like that. A little bit of a whirlwind coming together and finalizing things over the past few days, but I couldn’t be more excited to be here.”
