SvoNotes: Foudy starting to build confidence as he fills up the net

In the first 62 games of Liam Foudy's NHL career, he scored zero goals.
In the last 11, he has scored four times, including a key goal in last night's 6-5 overtime win over San Jose.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little something to go right for everything to click into place. Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen talks about it all the time -- once a player sees a puck go into the net, everything in the game just seems to make sense.

The air is cleaner, the puck less bouncy, the net a lot bigger. Everything is easier, and that's the life Foudy, finally, is living.
While he maintains he didn't let the goal-less streak -- which ended when he scored Feb. 18 at Dallas -- weigh on his mind, the 23-year-old admits that things have seemed a bit easier once a puck finally went in the net.
"For sure," he said. "I think I did a good job of not thinking about it too much. I was just trying to play my game. Obviously once one goes in, you're gonna feel better about yourself and you're not gonna grip the stick as tight. So I think that was a big factor."

Now, Foudy is a big factor. It's a nice turn of events for the team's first-round pick in the 2018 draft, who has gone from someone who was fighting just to get into games at the NHL level to someone who is looking more and more like a building block for this team going forward.
The oddest part? Three years ago, Foudy's NHL career looked to be taking off.
He was playing so well in juniors -- and the Blue Jackets were so in need of a scoring spark -- that he went straight from London to the NHL, not looking out of place as he made his NHL debut with two games in the winter of 2020.
Then, after the league's COVID pause of nearly five months, he was dropped right into playoff hockey and looked the part again, scoring a goal that helped eliminate his hometown Maple Leafs from the postseason.
Things were looking up.
And then, well, not much else went right for a while.
Just like about everyone on the Blue Jackets during the ill-fated, COVID-shortened season of 2021, he struggled to get on track. Then, last year, he was starting to play some pretty good hockey with Cleveland of the AHL only to see his season end after just 30 games with a shoulder injury that would require surgery.
That meant he had played in just 66 games -- 25 at the NHL level, 41 more in the minors -- over his first two full professional seasons. Coming into this season, he needed to simply play games.
"You can practice as much as you can, but there's nothing like the game feel," he said. "When you get in the game, you get that feel for the puck and it's game speed. It helps everyone's game out.
"I think anyone who sits out time, it's not the easiest thing to come back in."

The best thing that has happened to Foudy this year, then, has been consistent playing time, as he's skated in 46 contests and seems destined to finish up the season in Columbus barring injury. He's also made a fair share of progress, as Foudy has used his God-given speed -- thank his mother and father, an Olympic sprinter and CFL football player, respectively -- and skill to start carving out a full-time role with the Blue Jackets.
"It's not about the scoring," Larsen said. "It's all the other intangibles that go with it. If you start thinking about the goal scoring, you forget about all the important stuff. There are so many guys on every team that don't score a lot, but you can impact the game, and that's been a lot of our conversations. With his legs and his speed, getting more physical, getting dirty, blocking shots, he has value on the penalty kill because of his speed and his smarts.
"There are a lot of areas you can impact the game, and I think he's starting to play some of his best hockey."
Taken with the 18th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Foudy posted a 28-40-68 stat line in 45 games during his final season of juniors, showing he can finish, and his speed and ability to finish on the break made him a dangerous penalty killer as well. He played a fair share of center in juniors, and he seemed like a potential second- or third-line pivot who could impact the game with his legs while adding scoring.
But at the NHL level, you have to figure out a way to carve out a role. It's a hard enough job when you're fully healthy; when you essentially miss two seasons of hockey, it's even tougher. But now, Larsen sees him making progress.
"It's coming," Larsen said. "Sometimes it doesn't come natural, some of those things, and you have to push yourself into those areas. In the NHL, it's hard to stay and build a career. It's easy to play a few games in the sense that you have energy, but then you have to settle in and you have to create an identity for yourself.
"That's the main thing for a lot of these young guys. What are you going to be? How are you going to impact the game? What's that going to look like on a daily basis? Sometimes -- most times -- you gotta add to it. It can't just be status quo, especially if you're not scoring."
But now, finally, Foudy is scoring. And with each goal that goes in the net, it's easier to see how he much can help the Blue Jackets going forward.

Familiar Faces

When the Blue Jackets sent defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo to Los Angeles in a trade deadline deal March 1 -- just two weeks ago -- fans were sad to see the two unrestricted free agents-to-be go.
Korpisalo (eight years with the CBJ) and Gavirkov (four) were fan favorites both for their excellent play and their humble, engaging personalities, so while the business side of the game was understood, it didn't make it any easier to say goodbye.
So far, though, the two have flourished in Los Angeles as part of a Kings team that is 5-0-1 since their arrival. They will try to extend that point streak tomorrow against the Blue Jackets, and they admit it will fell different to go against the former teammates.
"That will be kind of weird," Gavrikov said after the Kings' short Wednesday practice. "It's not been such a long time (since the trade), but I will do my job. There's not much I can say."
Added Korpisalo: "It's just like it was yesterday I played for Columbus."
Korpisalo can breathe a little easy in this realm, as Kings head coach Todd McLellan said goalie partner Pheonix Copley is expected to get the start against the Blue Jackets tomorrow. The two have been in a rotation since Korpisalo's arrival, one that has worked for the former Blue Jacket, who is 3-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .929 save percentage since arriving.
Gavrikov has thrived as well, posting a goal, three assists and a plus-7 rating in six games since the trade. Both on the ice and off, it seems to have been a seamless transition, as the Kings' front office and locker room have welcomed the two players and their families to LA. Meanwhile, Gavrikov has been the rugged defender the Kings needed, while Korpisalo has shined for a team that was 31st in the NHL in save percentage when he arrived.
"It's been good," Gavrikov said. "The guys helped me out tremendously. The organization gave us a warm welcome. That was perfect. It made things easier. Now we are settled and found a spot to live. All good."
Things could have been a bit difficult for Korpisalo, who was acquired amid the firestorm that was created when the Kings traded 16-year veteran and two-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Quick to Columbus as part of the deal. Quick was a legend in Los Angeles, and fans and players were shocked by the move, so there was the potential things could be awkward for Korpisalo upon his arrival.
But as anyone who knows Korpisalo would expect, the Finnish goalie hasn't worried too much about stepping into that situation.
"I'm just trying to be me," he said. "No one else can be Jonathan Quick. He's a living legend here, so no one can replace that guy. No one. So I'm just trying to be me and not replace anyone but just bring myself here and do the things I do best."
The two admitted things are slightly different -- Los Angeles traffic, for example, can take some getting used to, and Korpisalo said he can see the ocean from his new place, which you won't find in Columbus -- but they seem to be settling in as best as one could expect in LA.
While their focus is on trying to capture a Stanley Cup, with the Kings currently second in the Pacific Division and also tied for second in the Western Conference in points, it's easy to see they still treasure the time they spent in Columbus.
"Eight years with a club, that's a long time," said Korpisalo, who was the longest-tenured CBJ goalie in terms of years played when he was traded. "I was fortunate enough to spend that many years with a club. I don't think too many guys do that anymore in this league.
"Great memories, ups and downs. Everyone always backed the team there. It's just a great place and great memories for me. Great people."

Got the Power

The Blue Jackets came close to making a little history on Tuesday night.
When Kent Johnson scored just 1:53 into the second period, it appeared to be a power-play goal, which would have given Columbus man-advantage tallies in six straight games for just the eighth time in franchise history.
But, upon closer review, it wasn't a power-play goal. Johnson's goal went down in the books as happening at 1:53, exactly two minutes after the penalty on Oskar Lindblom had been assessed. So while Lindblom wasn't back in the play and the goal was functionally a power-play goal, it was not literally, by the rules of the game, a power-play goal.
Alas, because the Blue Jackets have been doing something of late you haven't seen a ton in Columbus - scoring consistently on the man advantage. In fact, since Jan. 21, a span of 21 games, the Blue Jackets are 14 for 56 on the power play, a mark of 25.0 percent that is tied for sixth in the NHL in that span.
So what's behind the success? The returns to health of Adam Boqvist, Patrik Laine and Boone Jenner, all of whom have missed extended stretches of time this year, have helped. Kirill Marchenko has settled nicely into the middle "bumper" spot, and the Blue Jackets have built some chemistry now that the unit has largely stuck together the past few weeks.
"For an extended period of time here they've been pretty dangerous," Larsen said. "It's something you need. It's a weapon you have to have. All the good teams have it. But there's a good body of work there over a long period of time where you can see they're trending the right way."