Blue Jackets hold media day ahead of start of training camp

The formalities are almost over. Training camp is here.
The Blue Jackets begin formal preparations for the 2021-22 season tomorrow with the first day of training camp, presented by OhioHealth, on Wednesday with medical testing, with the players taking to the ice Thursday.
Tuesday, though, was for the team's annual media day, with local news organizations and television stations coming to Nationwide Arena to meet with president of hockey operations John Davidson, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, head coach Brad Larsen and players Oliver Bjorkstrand, Boone Jenner, Gus Nyquist, Jakub Voracek and Zach Werenski.

It's a new-look Blue Jackets team, one that most NHL pundits will likely expect to miss the playoffs after a number of offseason moves made the team younger, but Columbus doesn't appear to be too worried about that.
"It's funny, for two years now -- especially the first year, I was getting the same questions," Nyquist said about the team's projections in the eyes of the hockey media. "People didn't think we were going to make the playoffs, all that stuff, and we did. We beat Toronto in the bubble to get into the official playoffs.
"I feel like every year is the same. We don't really worry about that stuff. We're really excited about the team that we have. Just gonna prove people wrong, I guess, again."
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Still, there's no denying it will be a new-look Blue Jackets squad when the team takes the ice, first for the preseason opener Sept. 27 at Pittsburgh and then for the home and season opener Oct. 14 against Arizona in Nationwide Arena.
Captain Nick Foligno and veterans David Savard and Riley Nash all were traded at the deadline a season ago, while the offseason also saw the trades of assistant captains Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones. Michael Del Zotto and Mikhail Grigorenko also are gone, with Columbus bringing in a number of new faces.
Young defensemen Adam Boqvist and Jake Bean lead the way, while Voracek was added to bring in a playmaker with veteran leadership skills and local product Sean Kuraly also should add to the leadership group. Forwards Gregory Hofmann and Justin Danforth have been brought over from Europe to add to the depth up front, while first-round picks Yegor Chinakhov (2020) and Cole Sillinger (2021) should push to make the team after performances described as "dominant" by Kekalainen this past weekend at the NHL Prospects Tournament.
"We're excited," Davidson said. "We're really excited. Yes, there's changes. You never know where the changes take you at times … but the players and the additions we've made, the trades we've made, there's sincere optimism. You can't sit here and predict where you're going to go, but as I've said many years past, we're going to go north."
There also will be a new face in charge in Brad Larsen, who has spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach, including six with former CBJ head coach John Tortorella. A highly respected mentor who also spent four years as a coach in the minors in the organization, Larsen will be a first-time NHL head coach but in many ways a familiar face for those on the ice.
"You're excited," he said. "I'm not going to be jumping up and down, but internally, I'm very excited. I'm excited about our staff, excited about the players. It's a very humbling opportunity when you get a role like this at this level so you do everything you can to prepare for it and trust what you do, and then you get after it."
Practices at the OhioHealth Ice Haus will be open to fans. For a training camp roster and schedule, click here.

Media Day Notes

• Davidson said all 67 players on the training camp roster -- 38 forwards, 22 defensemen and seven goaltenders -- are fully vaccinated. Veteran forward Zac Rinaldo, signed to a one-year, two-way deal in August, is not vaccinated and will be assigned to camp with AHL Cleveland, Davidson said.
• Two players on that roster -- forwards Max Domi (shoulder) and Trey Fix-Wolansky (knee) -- are in Columbus with the team but will not be on the ice to start training camp because of injuries. Kekalainen said Domi is ahead of schedule as he rehabs, with the original timetable pointing to a late November or early December return. Forward Nathan Gerbe, who is out with hip surgery, is not on the training camp roster.
• Chinakhov (six goals in three games) and Sillinger (five points in three games) were stars in Traverse City, but Kekalainen pointed to two other players in particular who impressed -- Josh Dunne and Stanislav Svozil. Dunne, who made his NHL debut last season after playing college hockey at Clarkson, "looks like he's taken a step from last year," Kekalainen said, while Svozil is an 18-year-old defenseman taken in the third round of this year's draft. He "had all kinds of courage to make plays" in Traverse City, Kekalainen said.
• Larsen wouldn't tip his hand about possible any line combinations, such as if Patrik Laine and Voracek will play with one another or who will line up next to Werenski on the top defensive pairing. "I've said all along -- chemistry is a funny thing," Larsen said. "That's why we write things down in pencil in the summertime. What looks like it would be perfect doesn't work and there's no rhyme or reason. We're going to try some things."
• The head coach also said there was no timetable for naming a new team captain, noting the decision would be made when the time is right, whether that be during training camp or deep into the season. "We're not going to make a decision just to make a decision," he said.
• Larsen was impressed with Werenski, who signed six-year deal worth just shy of $60 million this offseason to become one of the NHL's top-paid defensemen. "He looks different," Larsen said of the 24-year-old who is going into his sixth NHL season. "You can tell he's put the work in." Werenski said much of his offseason work was in an effort to be ready for the rigors of an 82-game season.
• The two-mile run at the start of camp, a staple of Tortorella's time in charge, will not return, Larsen said. The run -- which was expected to be completed in 12 minutes -- was done as a mental test, Tortorella always said, but the players won't miss it. "I'm OK with that," Werenski deadpanned when asked about its absence.
• On his return to Columbus, the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2007 draft, Voracek said, "Same old faces. It's good to be home."
• The Czech winger was good with a quip. Amid talk that the Blue Jackets are entering a rebuilding phase, the veteran said, "If it was a rebuild, I don't think Jarmo would trade for me. You don't want a player with an $8 million cap hit on a team that is rebuilding." When asked about if it was exciting to be a leader for a young roster, he replied, "It's fun if they listen to you."