Blue Jackets Christmas Break Update

This Blue Jackets season has been an absolute roller coaster ride. NHL seasons are full of highs and lows, but ideally, you'd like to see a team have small ups and downs, not extreme's, but that's how this CBJ season has gone so far. And no one should be surprised by it.

Columbus had an insanely sad summer, and no one would've batted an eye if they had decided to roll over and not play hockey. But as many have said, Johnny would've wanted them to play, and play hard, so that's what they're doing. Playing for the memory of their beloved friend and teammate.

They're going into the break on one of those highs we talked about, having won 2 of 3 and getting points in the last three.

Let's look at the standings at the Christmas break.

• The Jackets currently sit 5th in the Metro, 10th in the East, and 21st in the league with 34 points, and are 4 points out of a wildcard spot.

• In the Metro, they're ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, and New York Islanders.

• In the East, they're ahead of the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, and the Buffalo Sabres.

• League-wide, add the Nashville Predators and Seattle Kraken as teams they're ahead of in the standings.

• Their 10 home wins (10-4-3) are the third most home wins in the Metro, and 4th most in the East.

• They only have 4 road wins, which is tied for the worst in the East, and second worst (Nashville) in the NHL.

Other Stats

• The power play is 19.2% which is 19th in the league. They're clicking at a rate of 25.9% in their last 27 power play tries though.

• The PK is running at 74% for the season, which is 27th. They are running at a 92.3% PK in the last 7 games, however.

• Columbus is 9th in goals with 116 and 9th in goals per game at 3.31.

• The Jackets are 4th worst in the NHL giving up 127 goals, and 3rd worst at 3.63 goals per game.

Leading Scorers

• Kirill Marchenko leads with 13 goals.

• Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski both have 24 assists to lead the team.

• Kirill Marchenko has 37 points to lead all CBJ players.

• Zach Werenski leads all players with 14 power-play points and 5 PPG.

• Kirill Marchenko has 10 power-play assists.

• Zach Werenski is tied with Cale Makar with 11 goals by a defenseman. He's also 3rd in points.

• Mathieu Olivier leads the Jackets with 62 PIM and 125 hits. He's 6th in the league in hits and 3rd in PIM. He also has 3 game-winning goals.

The Blue Jackets come back from the break with back-to-back home-and-homes against the Boston Bruins and then take on the Carolina Hurricanes on New Year's Eve, so this doesn't get any easier.

In January they will play a total of 14 games of which only six will be at home, and they have some very tough road games, so they need to continue to play well at home if they want to stay close in the wildcard chase.

Who would've ever thought that the Columbus Blue Jackets would be so close to a wildcard spot at Christmas?

What's Next - The Blue Jackets welcome the Boston Bruins into Nationwide Arena on Friday night.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts on our forum.