Columbus Blue Jackets

Player: Alexander Wennberg

Drafted By: Columbus Blue Jackets (14th overall)

Position: Center

Final Central Scouting Ranking: No. 5 European skater

Height/Weight: 6'1'', 174 lbs

DOB: September 22, 1994 (18 years old)

Most Recent Affiliation: SWE-1, Djurgarden

Background

Alexander Wennberg had a strong 2012-13 season that allowed him to improve his final ranking with CSS. After coming in at No. 8 at the midway point, Wennberg ended the year as the No. 5 overall skater amongst Europeans.

Wennberg tallied 32 points in 46 games, and he had a plus-10 rating. He played for Djurgarden of the SWE-1, a second-tier league in Sweden.

Wennberg also represented his homeland during the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, and he won a silver medal. He scored three points, and it was his second consecutive year representing Sweden internationally.

Full Scouting Report

Wennberg isn’t a flashy player, but he has attributes that make him a solid player. He is a hard-working forward who is a smart hockey player. Wennberg uses his frame when possible, and he likes to drive hard to the net.

He is a bit undersized right now, but he doesn’t shy away from physical contact. This will benefit him in the long run because he should gain some weight before he hits his peak. Wennberg is a two-way forward who has great wheels, and his versatility allows him to easily compliment his linemates.

According to Corey Pronman of Hockey Prospectus, Wennberg is a solid player who can continue to improve.

His skating is above average, and some scouts have classified it as high end because of his speed and elusiveness. His offensive instincts stand out; one NHL head scout told me his hockey sense and creativity were strong. He has the puck skills and vision to create scoring chances for himself and others. His defensiveness awareness enables him to kill penalties effectively. His game shows a unique power element, but to succeed in North America with that style, he will have to bulk up. 

Right now Wennberg has potential, but he will need to get stronger to completely actualize it. The difference between a 6'1", 174-pound forward and a 6'1", 204-pound forward is only 20 pounds, but that extra size could make a huge difference in how Wennberg carries himself on the ice.

NHL Player Comparison

Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers. Wennberg plays a solid two-way game, and he has great offensive instincts that allow him to chip in consistently.

NHL Timetable

Wennberg is already committed to Frolunda of the SEL for 2013-14, and he will likely be ready by the start of the 2014-15 season.

Top-End Potential

Wennberg is going to be an above-average second-line center. Right now he is still raw, and he has room for improvement. If he can pack on the pounds, he can be a more dominant player physically, and it will make him tougher to play against. He may end up being a skilled scorer at his current weight, but adding some muscle would add another versatile facet to his game. While he is already a good skater and playmaker, it is too soon to tell how good he could be.

If pitching is 90 percent of baseball, how important is goaltending to hockey?

The cliche is that in the NHL playoffs, even a seventh or eighth seed can ride a hot goaltender deep into the playoffs. If that's the case, the Columbus Blue Jackets might just be a very dangerous team this spring if they can hang on and claim one of the final Western Conference playoff spots.

Sergei Bobrovsky has meant everything to the Jackets since being acquired last summer in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. His numbers speak for themselves. With just a couple of games left on the schedule, the man they call "Bob" is second in the league with a .930 save percentage. He also has an impressive 2.06 GAA and a record of 19-11-6.

Thus far, the 24-year-old Russian has gone from a backup on a Philadelphia team that had goaltending issues a year ago to a legitimate Vezina Trophy or even Hart Trophy candidate this season. Along the way, he helped Columbus go from the worst record in the NHL a season ago to being in the thick of the playoff race this year.

Bobrovsky's coach is very well aware of how important his goalie is to his club's success. Todd Richards recently told ESPN,

The big thing [Bobrovsky's] done for our team is he’s just given our whole team confidence. That’s what that one position can do to a team. It’s no different than in baseball when you have your ace of the pitching staff taking the mound; you go in with a different feeling that day. It gives everyone else confidence. That’s what Bobby has really done. He’s played great and he deserves all things people are talking about in terms of maybe awards at the end of the year. He’s earned that. But the big thing for our team even more than the big save here and there is the confidence that it gives everyone else to go out and play.

That confidence is obvious. After a relatively slow start, the Blue Jackets have caught fire in the season's second half, going 16-5-4 in their last 25 games. Bobrovsky has been the key to that turnaround, going 16-5-3 during that time, including a pair of five-game winning streaks for the goalie.

The recent hot streak is even more impressive when you consider some of the teams Columbus has beaten. The Blue Jackets have March and April wins over playoff-bound teams and contenders like Anaheim, San Jose, St. Louis, Minnesota, Vancouver and Detroit.

Bobrovsky's teammates also know how important he is to the club's success.

"It makes much less pressure for everybody else [when Bobrovsky is playing well]," veteran defenseman Adrian Aucoin told NHL.com. "You get that confidence when even if you give up a two-on-one, you have the feeling he'll make that save. You're never worried about him so you worry about the thing that matter more to you...It's a luxury to have guys you can count on."

Bobrovsky's goaltending coach, Ian Clark, has been impressed by his star pupil's work ethic. Clark told Sports Illustrated:

Bob’s a very athletic, very competitive goaltender. He plays the butterfly like so many others today, but he has that extra dimension with his natural athleticism...He’s naturally gifted with the agility and flexibility that allow him to contort his body in dramatic ways to make stops and keep his eyes on the puck to carry on the fight.

He has the opportunity and the mindset to be an elite goaltender. He has the desire to get better. There isn’t a day that he enters the building without a desire and willingness to get better...There’s no doubt in my mind that he can be an elite goaltender.

Regular-season success is one thing, but as any hockey fan knows, the playoffs are an entirely different ballgame. The young Russian has a very limited NHL playoff resume thus far. In 2010, he played in only one game, which he didn't start. In 37 minutes, he allowed four goals and did not receive a decision.

In 2011, Bobrovsky appeared in six games and started three of them. His numbers were hardly impressive: an 0-2 record, an .877 save percentage and a GAA of 3.23. If anything, Bobrovsky's playoff resume would receive a grade of "incomplete."

If Bobrovsky continues to play as impressively as he did in the second half of this season, the young Blue Jackets could be a dangerous team if they qualify for the playoffs. After all, the Los Angeles Kings were the eighth seed last year. The Kings finished last season 29th in goals scored. So far this season, Columbus is 26th.

Columbus would also be entering the postseason with a young goalie who had never won a playoff series before, just as Jonathan Quick of the Kings was a year ago.

A run to a championship like the Kings accomplished a year ago would be a long shot for the Blue Jackets. Still, if they make the playoffs, all potential opponents would be on notice that a series against Columbus would be anything but an easy win.

The Columbus Blue Jackets weren’t expected to be contenders this season after trading star forward Rick Nash to the New York Rangers in July. Ironically, it’s the Rangers who have now made Columbus a legitimate playoff contender this season.

As part of their plan to add depth, the Rangers sent star forward Marian Gaborik to the Jackets in exchange for a trio of young talents and a draft pick, as reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie:

New York’s interest in trading Gaborik was fairly obvious. The 31-year-old has recorded just 19 points in 35 games this season, and despite several strong campaigns in recent years, his value has diminished.

Carrying a $7.5 million cap hit next season (with the salary cap declining by $6.43 million) didn’t help matters, either, and the acquisition of Ryane Clowe on Tuesday certainly made Gaborik less of a necessity.

New York’s loss is Columbus’ gain.

Granted, Gaborik hasn’t played up to expectations this season, but the seven-time 30-goal scorer has the potential to rebound with a strong late-season push. Sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes to rejuvenate a poor season.

The Jackets have been surprisingly potent in the last month of the season, winning 10 games in the Month of March and picking up four additional points in overtime and shootout losses. Now, just a point out of eighth place in the Western Conference, Columbus isn’t far from sneaking into the playoffs with a strong finish.

The Jackets need another scorer, though. Sergei Bobrovsky has been masterful between the pipes, and he’s the biggest reason for his team’s success in the last month. Columbus is averaging just 2.3 goals per game and has the No. 27 power play percentage (13.3) in the league this season. Bobrovsky can’t be expected to carry the team into the playoffs without some scoring help, though.

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen mirrored that sentiment and expanded on his reasoning for the deal (as quoted by ESPN’s Katie Strang):

Throughout this process our focus was to add a player who could provide a boost to our offense, improve our goal scoring and power play and we identified Marian Gaborik as the player we wanted. He has been an elite goal scorer in this league for many years and we are very excited to have him.

As they should be.

The 6’1”, 204-pound winger is coming off a 41-goal campaign of a year ago—a mark he has eclipsed a total of three times in his career. While he also has the potential to dish out a lot of assists (35 in 2011-12), he’ll be Columbus’ go-to scorer with third-leading scorer Derick Brassard joining New York in the deal.

Should Gaborik return to form—and it’s more a question of when than if—Columbus will have improved in its biggest area of weakness with a playoff berth in its sights. The price will have been well worth the payoff.

It seems Gaborik is receptive to the move, and that may be enough to shake him from his slump this season (as quoted by Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News):

I was surprised. I had heard rumors here and there but I didn’t try to focus on that. I can’t control what the teams are doing. So I was surprised, but this is a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it. I enjoyed my time in New York, of course. But when somebody wants you and somebody’s trying to trade you, it’s good that somebody actually wants you on their team. So I decided this way, and they seem like they’re going to have a good team down the road.

There’s no denying the importance of this deal for the Blue Jackets. Gaborik represents the scoring presence they haven’t had since trading Nash last summer, and he gives Columbus a sense of excitement with the playoffs drawing near.

The Western Conference race is only heating up, but there isn’t a team in the conference that made a bigger improvement at the trade deadline. A little momentum goes a long way in April, and Columbus is in prime position to nail down a top-eight finish to close out the regular season.

After dealing forward Rick Nash to the New York Rangers this past offseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets appear to have gotten a superstar back from the Rangers at this year's NHL trade deadline in the form of forward Marian Gaborik.

According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Gaborik will be heading to Columbus provided he waives his no-trade clause.

In return for Gaborik, the Rangers are set to receive forwards Derick Brassard and Derek Dorsett, as well as young defenseman John Moore.

The Rangers have under-performed in a big way this season after reaching the Eastern Conference finals last year. New York currently sits in ninth place and trails the New York Islanders by two points for the final playoff spot.

New York made a move to add to its roster on Tuesday, as it acquired forward Ryane Clowe from the San Jose Sharks, according to Kevin Allen of USA Today. However, it ultimately decided to subtract on deadline day.

With just 19 points in 35 games along with a minus-eight rating, it would be fair to call Gaborik a microcosm of the Rangers' season.

There is a ton of offensive talent on the team, but the Blueshirts have struggled to score goals and provide relief for all-world goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Getting rid of Gaborik may not seem like the right solution on the surface, but maybe the Rangers are hoping for addition by subtraction.

Brassard actually only has one less point than Gaborik this season and is much younger, so perhaps New York doesn't see the swap as much of a drop-off. Also, Dorsett is a rough-and-tumble player who fits in with head coach John Tortorella's style, while Moore is a promising youngster on the back end.

Dorsett is currently on injured reserve with a broken clavicle, though it's possible he could see action in postseason play.

Columbus has shocked many onlookers this season as the Blue Jackets are in 11th place in the Western Conference, but just one point out of eighth. They have actually gotten better since dealing Nash to the Rangers, but apparently they believe some more star power will aid in their playoff push.

Whatever the case, it appears as though both teams involved were able to make some much-needed changes.

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The NHL trade deadline is less than a month away, and the Columbus Blue Jackets need to avoid trading away Jack Johnson.

Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review suggests that the Pittsburgh Penguins are interested in the defenseman. Although it would be a good move for the Penguins, the Blue Jackets need to keep Johnson and build for the future.

The defenseman has two goals and eight assists this season. Those stats aren't jaw-dropping, but the team needs to build around a young nucleus.

Johnson is only 26 years old and is signed through the 2017-2018 season. His contract is going to keep his salary from exceeding $5 million for the duration, and there won't be a better value available to the team.

Columbus is currently riding a season-high three-game winning streak. Johnson has recorded a goal and an assist during the streak.

Despite having the worst record in the NHL, the Blue Jackets are playing close games. The team has played in 16 games decided by one goal, including nine straight. The Blue Jackets have faced the insanely hot Chicago Blackhawks three times this season, and they have lost each game by one goal.

There are solid building blocks on this team, and Johnson is one of the better players. When the Los Angeles Kings traded Johnson for the disgruntled Jeff Carter last season, Columbus got a good deal.

Johnson had four goals and 10 assists in 21 games with his new team. He's had a slight drop-off this season, but the team also jettisoned captain Rick Nash in the offseason.

Columbus has struggled to score without its all-time leading scorer, but they are at least being competitive. Johnson has a chance to lead this team in the future.

The former No. 3 overall pick has been solid on the power play. 

After finishing with the worst record in the NHL last year, Columbus has the best odds to get the No. 1 pick. Trades have helped them add a couple more first-round picks, so the team has three picks in the first round to help build for the future.

With Johnson, R.J. Umberger and James Wisniewski signed for the foreseeable future, the Blue Jackets have talent to build on. Johnson and Wisniewski will solidify the defense, and the team has 2012 first-round pick Ryan Murray going through the system.

The three draft picks in this year's draft gives fans hope for the future, and Columbus needs to keep Johnson as part of its core.

*All stats are from ESPN.com

The Columbus Blue Jackets were, by far, the worst team in the NHL last year.  They were robbed of a first overall pick, which went to the Edmonton Oilers, and are currently waiting for their second overall pick, Ryan Murray, to make a full recovery from his recently-successful shoulder surgery.

Coming into this season, the Blue Jackets were ready to prove that they are much better than their 2011-12 record suggests.

The Blue Jackets are 8-12-3-1, tied for worst in the Western Conference and second-worst in the NHL. However, they have pushed their last five games to overtime and have won three straight. The most interesting part is the Blue Jackets sit four points out of a playoff spot.

In their last 10, the Blue Jackets are 4-4-2, and much of this success is due to the emergence of three young players: Sergei Bobrovsky, Ryan Johansen and Matt Calvert. 

Bobrovsky, as it would seem, has stolen the starting gig from struggling Steven Mason for the time being. He has played in four consecutive games, winning three, and has posted a record of 6-6-3 so far this season. On a Columbus team that continues to struggle from the back end, Bobo has been almost spectacular for the Blue Jackets. In his most recent outing against the Vancouver Canucks, he stopped 34-of-35 shots and earned the win in overtime. If he continues his strong play, look for the up-and-coming netminder to get the starter's chunk of games for the remainder of the season.

On the offensive side, the production of Ryan Johansen has been evident throughout the recent success of the Blue Jackets, and coach Todd Richards seems to be gaining more faith in the youngster, too. Since his recent call-up, Johansen has solidified a top-six center role, gained some time on the power play, and shown good chemistry with Nick Foligno, Vinny Prospal and R.J. Umberger. In the month of March, Johansen currently has three assists in four games, one of which came on the power play. However, if Johansen hopes to keep his role in Columbus afloat, he must continue to show his skills at the NHL level or risk another stint with the Springfield Falcons. 

Lastly, Matt Calvert, though his statistics are not overly impressive, has been a significant part of the Blue Jackets' top-six unit. He is positioned on Artem Anisimov's wing on both the power play and even-strength situations, while also showing flashes of a top-line player.  If there's any way to prove that quality trumps quantity, Calvert did just that against the Canucks last night. He scored a gorgeous goal in overtime to get the Blue Jackets a win over a very tough opponent. Nevertheless, his beautiful game-winner was his first in six games, so he will need to pick up the pace if he plans to keep his top-six role with the team.  

While the recent success of the Blue Jackets is something to get excited about, they have played the most games in the Western Conference and will need to compile a very good record down the stretch to have any chance at the postseason. 

Wouldn't it be nice to hear more of "JACKETS WIN, JACKETS WIN, JACKETS WIN"? 

Though a playoff berth could be a stretch, the Blue Jackets' success is indicative of a much brighter future. 

The Columbus Blue Jackets fired general manager Scott Howson on Tuesday (via TSN's Pierre LeBrun), and team president John Davidson wasted no time finding a replacement. Davidson announced on Wednesday that Jarmo Kekalainen would take over the general manager role.

Per BlueJackets.com:

The Columbus Blue Jackets have agreed to terms on a multi-year contract with Jarmo Kekalainen to serve as the club’s general manager, Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations John Davidson announced today. Kekalainen, who has been the president and general manager of Jokerit in the Finnish Elite League since 2010, becomes the third general manager in Blue Jackets history.

"Hockey is a truly global game and there are very few people whose knowledge of the game in North America and abroad surpasses that of Jarmo Kekalainen," said Davidson. "He is intelligent, hard-working and a tremendous evaluator of talent. He is a terrific addition to the Blue Jackets family and will play an important role in our efforts to move our organization forward in the coming years."

Kekalainen (pronounced kehk-uh-LIE-nehn) spent eight seasons with the St. Louis Blues from 2002-10 before joining Jokerit. He most recently served as the club’s assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting and was involved in all facets of hockey operations, including professional scouting efforts and overseeing the club’s amateur scouting and draft preparations. During his eight years in St. Louis, the Blues drafted players such as David Backes, Roman Polak, David Perron, T.J. Oshie, Patrick Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo.

Kekalainen has become the first European general manager in NHL history, and he is a perfect fit for this organization.

Many team presidents choose to surround themselves with people they know and trust, and this appears to be what's happening in Columbus with Davidson in charge.

Davidson's previous experience working with Kekalainen has helped build a level of trust and respect that will help improve the team's decision making on important roster decisions including trades, free agency and the draft.

These two men were a major part of the St. Louis Blues' success in the draft since the 2004-05 lockout, and because of their hard work, the team has a solid core of young players that will help the franchise contend in the Western Conference for many years.

The Blue Jackets have three first round picks (Rangers, Kings and their own) in a deep 2013 NHL draft, and the team needs to nail all of these selections to accelerate its rebuild.

Kekalainen's ability to identify the most talented European prospects will be a valuable addition to the Blue Jackets. As ESPN Boston's Jimmy Murphy explains, almost a third of the NHL's players are from Europe.

Even though general managers don't scout as often as other people in the hockey ops department, expect Kekalainen to do plenty of scouting year-round because of his prior experience in this kind of role.

Wherever Kekalainen has worked in the NHL, his teams have drafted well, especially in the first round. As the chart below shows, drafting quality players in the first and second rounds wasn't a strength of the Blue Jackets organization during Howson's tenure.

Ryan Murray and Boone Jenner could be solid NHL players, but Howson has not picked any star players despite having four top-seven picks in the first round. Voracek is the best player from this group, and he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2011 in the Jeff Carter deal, which in hindsight was a poor move.

At the end of the day, Howson's legacy will be the Rick Nash trade with the New York Rangers from July of last year, which was a complete disaster for the team.

He accepted a package of a first round pick in 2013, prospect Tim Erixon and forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov in exchange for the only superstar on his team's roster. Unless the first round pick turns into a star player, this Nash trade could go down as one of the worst deals in NHL history.

He probably could have gotten a better deal at the trade deadline, but for some reason, Howson decided to keep Nash for the entire 2011-12 despite the fact that his captain clearly wanted to move on.

Failing to acquire enough quality assets for Nash and not drafting enough top talent gave the Blue Jackets plenty of reasons to fire Howson. The team clearly needed to make a change because repeated failures cannot be tolerated by a franchise with just one playoff appearance in its 11-year history.

Blue Jackets fans deserve a good hockey team to watch each night, and there is no question that Columbus is a good hockey market because the community has supported this team despite having very few reasons to be proud of its on-ice performance.

With Davidson and Kekalainen running the show and making the important roster decisions in Columbus, expect the Blue Jackets to finally become a winning franchise with an impressive young core to build around moving forward.

This is the first time that the Blue Jackets are being led by an experienced hockey ops group with a history of great success, so there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the team's future after the Kekalainen hire.

Nicholas Goss is an NHL Lead Writer at Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have been taking heavy criticisms for the past year after finishing with the worst record in the NHL last season. Now, the team has sold off their household superstar Rich Nash and hopes to build a new identity in the 48-game schedule in 2013. 

The real question is, can the Blue Jackets actually succeed in doing that?

Scott Howson was under the spotlight for quite some time before he pulled the trigger on a deal with the New York Rangers, which sent Nash to the Garden and brought in Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky and Tim Erixon. He was also able to get a first-round pick in the deal, but it's safe to assume the pick will be a late one. 

In any case, the Blue Jackets were able to get skilled players that can help bring this team some success. While Dubinsky is a great two-way center that will definitely benefit from top line minutes, Anisimov is in the same position, and will look to use his size and offensive gifts to put some points on the board. While Erixon was sent back to Springfield, he still is a great defensemen in the Blue Jackets' system. 

It would seem quite difficult for young Erixon to make the team when Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski, Fedor Tyutin, Adrian Aucoin, Nikita Nikitin, David Savard and John Moore are his competition. Nevertheless, after hopefully dominating the AHL, he will see time with the big club sooner or later.

At forward, the additions of Anisimov and Dubinsky help a struggling corps of players in Derick Brassard, R.J. Umberger, Vinny Prospal, Derek Mackenzie, Derek Dorsett, Jared Boll, Mark Letestu, Colton Gillies and recent acquisition Nick Foligno. 

While the group above looks to be well on it's way to a respectable team, it's the identity crisis the Blue Jackets are trying to fix after the departure of Rick Nash. Enter Cam Atkinson, Ryan Johansen and Matt Calvert.

All three youngsters have seen success at the AHL level, and need to make a smooth transition to the NHL with hopes of remaining with the top club. These are the future faces of the Blue Jackets that need to excel now. Atkinson hopes to be a deadly scorer on the wing, while Johansen plays a very sound two-way game with offensive playmaking upside, and Calvert will likely stick in a bottom-six role hoping to prove himself.

He's good, but it will take a lot for him to earn a top-six roster spot, especially after the upgrades.  

One of the best parts of Blue Jacket's training camp was the position battles—they were all over the place. Even still, Steven Mason and Sergei Bobrovsky will continue to battle for the starting gig until a clear cut winner emerges. Based on Mason's last season performance, along with Bobrovsky's showing in the KHL, don't be surprised if the Russian gets the first call. 

In fact, coach Todd Richards has been extremely impressed with the young netminder's work ethic and drive after joining the Blue Jackets (via The Columbus Dispatch).

Mind you, Mason hasn't been that bad in camp, either. So, this battle seems to be raging on for the time being. Not to mention, with a shortened schedule, both goalies will have ample time to earn their stripes. 

To conclude, a surprise? Maybe a stretch. But do not be taken aback if the Blue Jackets find themselves fighting for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, with some of the more respected teams around the league like the Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche and the Nashville Predators. 

If not anything else, be sure that the Blue Jackets will be one of the most difficult teams to play against. They are big, mean and have something to prove.

Wouldn't you overachieve in those circumstances? 

With that said, the shortened season looks to be a great one, and hopefully the Blue Jackets can find success in fighting for a playoff spot by season's end. 

Easier said than done, to say the least. 

If the 2012-13 NHL season had begun as planned, the Columbus Blue Jackets would be banking on a pair of uncertain under-25 netminders to stabilize their crease in Steve Mason and Sergei Bobrovsky.

As it happens, the lockout is casting light on one more potential option in a 29-year-old journeyman, Curtis McElhinney.

A veteran of 69 NHL games with four different organizations, McElhinney is charging up his best professional numbers and bolstering a pleasant surprise in Springfield, which has not seen AHL playoff action in a decade.

McElhinney will enter this weekend’s action with the AHL’s third-best goals-against average (1.92) and save percentage (.940). In addition, he boasts the vast bulk of the credit (13-2-2) for the league’s best record (14-4-4 for a .727 winning percentage).

It is safe to assume that McElhinney will soon see his heaviest single-season workload in any league since he made 41 appearances with the Quad City Flames in 2007-08. Barring a catastrophic crumble, he will have a chance to surpass his performance in 2006-07, when he stamped a 35-17-1 record coupled with a 2.13 GAA and .917 save percentage.

By staying on this reckonable pace and delivering at least a little vindication to a long-suffering Falcons fanbase, he ought to write himself in as a third-party candidate for Columbus’ crease.

While it might be premature to make any firm assertions, McElhinney’s transcript is looking as good as any other options for the Blue Jackets.

Mason, who has kept away from extramural action during the lockout, still has yet to follow up on his rookie season in 2008-09, which was also the only time the Columbus franchise has seen postseason action. Since then, he has posted successive single-season save percentages of .901, .901 and .894 and failed to bump his GAA below three.

Bobrovsky’s outlook is ambiguous, at best. For a time, he appeared to be the logical goalie of the future in Philadelphia, but he was then swapped to Columbus this past summer after a sophomore slump, wherein he posted a .898 save percentage and a 3.05 goals-against average in 29 ventures.

As it happens, he is passing the time during the lockout in his home country’s KHL and currently bears an irreproachable 12-2-2 record with a .918 save percentage and 2.35 GAA. And, naturally, he is competing against dozens of fellow established NHLers and other NHL-caliber talent.

Perhaps the change of scenery, coupled with his skill-honing KHL stint, will make Bobrovsky the solution, though nothing is guaranteed and that still does not yield an answer for Mason. It is always ideal to have two reliable netminders immediately available.

Enter McElhinney, a most welcome third option, if need be.

From his personal winning percentage to the caliber of opposing talent, McElhinney and Bobrovsky are not far apart in the early going this season. The AHL, too, is dense with would-be NHLers for as long as the parent league is idled.

The Falcons have Cam Atkinson and Ryan Johansen testing McElhinney in practices and warm-ups. Divisional and regional rivals have included Jordan Caron, Sean Couturier, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Adam Henrique, Jacob Josefson, Dwight King, Chris Kreider, Nino Niederreiter, Jordan Nolan, Brayden Schenn and Slava Voynov.

All of that emboldens the credibility of the Springfield stopper’s stat line just a little more.