Blue Jackets aim to keep inspired core together for long haul

Zach Werenski can feel the difference around the Columbus Blue Jackets this season, a sense of calm and a focus lasered on what happens inside the boards and glass.

"It's kind of weird," the 24-year-old defenseman said.
That's because this season, the Blue Jackets are not dealing with any intrigue about pending free agents who may want to play elsewhere or a coach whose shelf life might be coming to an end.
Defenseman Seth Jones, who made it clear he would not re-sign with Columbus, was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks on July 23. Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois was traded to the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 23. Forward Artemi Panarin and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky began the exodus when each left as a free agent after the 2019-20 season; Panarin to the New York Rangers and Bobrovsky to the Florida Panthers.
Each could have stayed in Columbus. None did.
But Werenski, centers Boone Jenner and Sean Kuraly, forward Oliver Bjorkstrand and goalie Elvis Merzlikins each signed a long-term contract with the Blue Jackets. Brad Larsen is in his first year as coach, elevated from his former role as an assistant under coach John Tortorella, who left Columbus on May 10 after six seasons.
The Blue Jackets have finally found some stability and it's making a big difference.
They are 7-3-0 and tied for third place in the Metropolitan Division with the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals despite being the youngest team in the NHL.
"When we were all going through that stuff with Panarin and 'Bob' and even last year with the year we were having with 'Jonesy' potentially leaving and 'Torts,' you don't really think about it too much or think about the noise," Werenski said. "You just try to play hockey. But now, this year, when we don't have any drama, it's kind of crazy how much more easygoing it is, if that makes sense.
"It's the first year I've really realized when you don't have those things looming over your team you can just focus on hockey, playing, having fun."
Werenski said he decided to sign a six-year, $57.5 million contract extension with the Blue Jackets on July 29 after searching for reasons why he shouldn't.
Which was only natural because other top players were finding their own reasoning for leaving Columbus.
"There weren't really many reasons why I would want to leave, and when I thought about reasons why I would want to stay there were a ton of them," Werenski said. "I'm close to home (he grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan). My family comes often. It's a great city. It's an easy way of life. There are so many things that I could go on about with how great the city of Columbus is, how great the fans are, the organization, ownership and just how good I've been treated. So I was just sitting there thinking, 'Well, why would I want to leave?' And I couldn't find a reason why."
Neither could Bjorkstrand, who signed a five-year, $27 million contract extension Jan. 6. Merzlikins signed a five-year, $27 million contract Sept. 21. Jenner signed a four-year, $15 million contract July 1. He was named Columbus' captain Oct. 12.
"We want to set that precedent and put our mark on the team here, lead and be the team we want to be," Jenner said. "We love the city. We love the organization. We want to do it here."
Kuraly, who played his first five NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins, signed a four-year, $10 million contract July 28 as an unrestricted free agent. He grew up a Blue Jackets fan with posters of Rick Nash on his bedroom walls in the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio, and played in the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets program.
"I don't know what it was like here before," Kuraly said, "but I feel like it's just one focus and that's, 'What's going to happen next game, can we get a little better?' We're early in this thing and we know that. There is going to be some learning but we're trying to put one foot in front of the other and string some wins together."

Werenski said it has always bothered him that people outside Columbus viewed it as a place where players didn't want to be, a narrative fueled by the unwillingness of Panarin, Bobrovsky and Jones to re-sign for the long term.
Since signing, Werenski said he has realized the impact of his decision to stay, particularly when fans approach him to thank him for believing in the team, in them and the city.
"There's a guy that if he wanted to go and explore free agency he could probably choose from, I don't know, 20 teams where he would want to go to if not more," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "He's been an elite defenseman in this league ever since he basically stepped on the ice in the NHL.
"For a guy like that to say, 'Hey, I love it here, I got started here and I want to continue here, I believe in the plan,' that's big for us and speaks volumes of the confidence that he has among the other players in what we're building here."
Ownership is trying to do its part with upgrades to the home dressing room at Nationwide Arena and the addition of former defenseman Aaron Johnson in a new role as the team relations specialist.
Johnson's job is to be the Blue Jackets' liaison for the players when it comes to helping organize things like living arrangements, facilitating family visits and securing tickets for family members and friends so the players can keep their focus on the ice.
"Aaron's great," 18-year-old rookie center Cole Sillinger said. "If I need a place to go get a haircut, he's hooked me up with that. All the top spots in Columbus, he gave me a list of them and wrote down his favorites. Even if it's just anything I need in the locker room, a little tip that I would do that would maybe make me closer to my teammates, he's helped me."
The point is to give the players what they want, and what they don't even realize they need, until they have it.
"We're taking notes on everything we can do better so there is no reason for anybody to leave Columbus unless it's for a lack of winning Stanley Cups," Kekalainen said. "This should be a great setup for anybody who wants to just play hockey and get better at it."
But the Blue Jackets won't be free from distractions or the potential of them. No team is.
They still have to iron out the future of forward Patrik Laine, expected to be out 4-6 weeks because of an oblique strain. He was acquired in the Dubois trade and can become a restricted free agent after the season. Does he want to stay?
They are committed to Merzlikins, but what does that mean for goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who can become an unrestricted free agent after the season?
Forward
Max Domi
, acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 6, 2020, is also a pending unrestricted free agent.
But the core of the team is in place long term, along with a new coach.
"There will be stuff that will go on that you maybe don't see coming," Larsen said. "But as far as the core guys, our leadership group, they're locked in. They love Columbus and they really have been looking forward to embracing a bigger chunk of that leadership role and driving it with their play. The committment to the city, to the organization, that's something to be really excited about."