Five games into the preseason, the Blue Jackets are 2-2-1 and showing signs of what they could become.
They’re also still working through a few kinks, assessing what their NHL roster may look like and sorting through lineup possibilities at all positions.
More: Columbus Blue Jackets stop St. Louis Blues comeback, finish off preseason win
Here are five observations with three games left in the preseason:
Ivan Provorov impressive in preseason debut with Columbus Blue Jackets
After not playing in the first three preseason games, defenseman Ivan Provorov has impressed while skating in the last two ― a 4-3 loss Saturday in Buffalo and a 5-3 home victory Monday over the St. Louis Blues.
Provorov, acquired in June as part of a three-way trade, logged more than 20 minutes each game and finished with two assists against the Blues. He also had a +4 next to his name on the scoresheet after a 24:22 performance in which he skated 28 shifts, including power play and penalty kill minutes.
Skating on the left side with rookie David Jiricek on the right, Provorov caught Vincent’s attention.
“It seems like he’s on a mission,” Vincent said. “He wants to steal somebody’s job. He wants to show off that he can be that No. 1 defenseman, and that’s what we want. We want that internal competition within the team.”
Zach Werenski, Damon Severson and Provorov are the Jackets’ clear top three defensemen, but what pairings they’ll skate with may be in flux. Stay tuned.
Laine played center Monday for the second time this preseason and fourth time in his career, so there’s a lot of assessment time left. Should it work, Vincent must figure out the best combination of wingers to play on his flanks. It was Johnny Gaudreau on the left wing and Kirill Marchenko on the right against the Blues and they proved to be a strong combination.
Marchenko crashed the net, won puck battles and was credited with his first goal of the preseason to put Columbus up 2-0 in the first period. Laine assisted on that goal and Gaudreau scored into an empty net to seal it late in the third.
According to Natural Stat Trick, they dominated as a line.
During during 10:54 of 5-on-5, the Blue Jackets took 72.2% of the game’s shot attempts with Laine, Gaudreau and Marchenko on the ice (13-5). They also outshot the Blues (8-4), outscored St. Louis 1-0 and built advantages in scoring chances (6-3) and high-danger chances (4-1) with the top line in the game.
“A guy like Patrik, he can carry the puck,” Vincent said. “We need a shooter, we need a guy that can make plays with Patty, and we need a guy that goes to the net because that puck will go to the net. So, we need a combination of different things.”
Vincent said it’s too soon to make long-term decisions about which forwards to play with Laine, but he did give some clues.
“He needs a playmaker and a guy that can shoot the puck, but it doesn’t mean that one guy cannot do both,” Vincent said. “I’m thinking about ‘Marchy’ for example. We have Johnny, (who) can make plays and think the game like Patty. So, yes, there is a recipe. I just don’t know yet how Patty’s going to look in the middle over time.”
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Dmitri Voronkov continues progress
Dmitri Voronkov is experiencing life in a new country while not speaking English and is getting used to a new brand of hockey too.
That’s a lot to process, so getting up to speed will take a little time. That process continues moved forward and has since Voronkov played his first game for the Jackets during the Traverse City NHL Prospects Tournament.
“He’s from Siberia,” Vincent said. “He’s from Russia. I mean, it’s a huge culture change. First of all, the language, the lifestyle, the food, everything is different … the way we practice, the game, everything is different. So, it’s good for us we have (Marchenko) here, we have Provorov, we have a few guys that can speak Russian and translate to him.”
Voronkov, who picked up an assist against the Blues by forcing a turnover while forechecking, isn’t the fleetest skater. His hockey sense is high, though, and his skill is undersold. Voronkov’s size and brute strength are also something to behold, and he’s just warming up.
“Every game it gets better,” Vincent said. “He knows his style. He knows what he brings. He’s a big man that will do some damage in the NHL. I don’t know if it’s going to be early, but at some point, this man will be a beast in the NHL.”
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves making case for backup role
Daniil Tarasov is supposed to be the Blue Jackets’ designated backup goalie, but a knee injury has him out of practices. If he’s not ready to go by the Oct. 12 season-opener against the Philadelphia Flyers, there’s going to be an opening on the NHL roster that wasn’t supposed to be there.
The Blue Jackets have veteran Aaron Dell in camp on a professional tryout offer and claimed goalie Spencer Martin off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks, but rookie Jet Greaves is making his own case. Greaves started Monday against the Blues, played the entire game and picked up a win with 36 saves on 39 shots.
“You look at him in practices, you see the same guy,” Vincent said. “He’s consistent. He works. He works and he works, and when the games come, he’s ready for it. He played a good game (against St. Louis), but we believe in him. Since the start of the camp, he’s been really good for us. This guy can play.”
Columbus Blue Jackets building foundation for hard working culture
It’s showing up for stretches already, but the Blue Jackets are in the early stages of transitioning to what they hope to become.
“We want to be a team that is ‘hard to play against,’ and that’s a cliché, but there’s a way to do it, and we want to be doing that consistently,” Vincent said. “It’s all about culture and we’re going to work on that culture.”
It’s also about staying connected as five-man units, offering puck support, getting into good positions away from the puck and increasing possession time.
“There’s a few stages that we need to respect in order to get to a point where the players don’t think … they just play,” Vincent said. “We’re not there yet and it’s going to take some time, but the first stage is to create a foundation of what we want to do.”
bhedger@dispatch.com
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 Columbus Blue Jackets takeaways five games into the preseason
