COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Item No. 1: Rating the No. 1s

Rebuilds are no sure things in the NHL. The only near-certainty is that the GM who starts the rebuild won’t be around to enjoy the fruits of his suffering.

Not only does a franchise have to bottom out at the right time and get some NHL lottery luck — did the San Jose Sharks strike gold with Macklin Celebrini or what? — they have to nail their first-round picks, develop them correctly, build around them, etc.

There are so many aspects of the Blue Jackets that could be dissected right now, and nobody should be spared. A five-game losing streak has landed them in last place in the Metro Division and 15th out of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference. But it is striking to look at all those first-round picks they accumulated beginning in 2021 and how those players are currently making their presence felt with the Blue Jackets.

Ideally, those six players — five of them drafted among the top 12 — should be driving play for Columbus. But with one exception, that’s not happening.

It’s likely to come into focus this week when the Blue Jackets host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday in Nationwide Arena. The Ducks, on a similar rebuild timeline as the Jackets, are one of the best stories in the NHL this season, challenging Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division and leaning hard on recent first-round picks Leo Carlsson (17-23-40, plus-11), Beckett Sennecke (10-16-26, plus-4) and Mason McTavish (7-13-20, plus-1), among others.

When you look at how the Blue Jackets’ blue chips are producing, it makes sense why the Jackets aren’t exactly thriving this season. Yes, of course, the veterans aren’t blameless. But these are the players who represent the picks that justified the losing.

2021

No. 5 Kent Johnson: This makes zero sense. Johnson played a big role in breathing some skill into the top six last season (24-33-57 in 68 games), but he’s been missing in action so far this season with only 3-5-8 in 31 games. The 23-year-old played on the fourth line in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Vegas, which tells you how bad this is going.

Johnson can be one of the NHL’s most electrifying players, but it’s really hard to understand how this is going so poorly. Or, frankly, where this relationship might be headed.

No. 12 Cole Sillinger: In his fifth NHL season, Sillinger has defined himself as a third-line player, one who is good for 12-15 goals and 30-plus points a season. He’s also a glue guy and popular in the dressing room, which is why teammates love him.

Having said that, you’re left wanting more from a No. 12 overall pick.

No. 25 Corson Ceulemans: The way Ceulemans started last season before a rib injury, and the way he returned this season, has given many in the organization confidence that Ceulemans is on track to play in the NHL, possibly soon. But the reality is he hasn’t played in the NHL yet and is no longer viewed as a top prospect.

2022

No. 6 David Jiricek: Remarkably, Jiricek’s skating seemed to get worse during his three-plus seasons in the Columbus organization, and GM Don Waddell traded him early last season when he got a trade offer that included a first-round pick.

Jiricek is currently playing for AHL Iowa in the Minnesota Wild system.

No. 12 Denton Mateychuk: Since he debuted in the NHL about this time last season, Mateychuk has held down a top-four job with the Blue Jackets. That’s a commentary on both his composure and the Jackets’ blue-line situation.

Mateychuk is a keeper. He’s not a straight-line showstopper with his speed, but his maneuverability in tight spaces and turns is impressive.

FIRST NHL GOAL ALERT! 🚨

Congratulations, Denton Mateychuk! pic.twitter.com/hpb8c1lWvC

— NHL (@NHL) January 10, 2025

2023

No. 3 Adam Fantilli: The Blue Jackets were delighted Fantilli fell to them at No. 3, although it’s clear Chicago (Connor Bedard) and Anaheim (Carlsson) did well with the first two picks. Fantilli is a two-way demon who is just learning how he can maximize his impact on games.

If there’s one complaint, it’s for Evason: Fantilli wasn’t on the power play at the start of the season, and he’s not always out quickly in OT. Ridiculous. Play him. Heck, overplay him.

2024

No. 4 Cayden Lindstrom: This is not going well, folks. Lindstrom missed almost all of last year following back surgery, and his rookie season at Michigan State has been a struggle. In 11 games, he has 1-2-3 and 22 penalty minutes.

Unless something changes drastically, it’s hard to imagine him stepping into the NHL next season. Frankly, there should be a lot of concern here, with the injury history, the struggle to adapt and so on.

Item No. 2: Two trades

The NHL was rocked by two big trades on Friday.

First came a trade between Edmonton and Pittsburgh, with the Penguins trading goalie Tristan Jarry and forward Samuel Poulin to Edmonton for goalie Stuart Skinner, defenseman Brett Kulak and a second-round pick in 2029.

Just a few hours later, that trade was pushed off the front page when the Vancouver Canucks traded all-world defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild for forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, defenseman Zeev Buium and a first-round pick next summer.

Blue Jackets fans were probably wondering if Waddell could — or should —have been involved in those talks, given how beneficial it could be to shake up the dressing room right now.

Let’s deal first with the Hughes trade. The asking price, if you look at the Blue Jackets’ roster and apply what Minnesota paid, would have been Fantilli, Mateychuk and a first-round draft pick. That’s a steep price to pay for Hughes, especially since he isn’t currently signed beyond the 2026-27 season.

As for the goaltender trade, if the Oilers were ever interested in Merzlikins — which seems unlikely — it probably faded sharply over the last month of the season when Merzlikins returned to the struggles he’s dealt with over the past three or four seasons. There’s no trade market for Merzlikins. If the Blue Jackets want to make a change, they’d likely have to put Merzlikins on waivers and send him to AHL Cleveland. In that scenario, Ivan Fedotov would come up from Cleveland to be Jet Greaves’ backup.

Item No. 3: ‘Z’ in Italy

It’s widely expected that Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski will get the call officially inviting him to play for Team USA at the Olympics in Milan this coming February.

Werenski has become a major player for the Americans, especially with his performance last winter at the Four Nations Face-Off. Like many in the hockey world, he’s paying attention to what’s going on in Milan ahead of the Games as they race to get the arena finished in time. The men’s hockey tournament runs Feb. 11-22, so it’s going to be a close call.

Quick peek at the main arena in Milan. Obviously, a lot of work needs to get done. The NHL sounded positive earlier this week at BOG meetings the work will get done in time for the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/58UXkwmDFd

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 12, 2025

“I’m sure they’ll figure it out,” Werenski said. “Hopefully, it’ll be ready. Somebody said it’s Feb. 2 now (for an official opening). That’s cutting it close. That’s the biggest issue for me, I feel like, going into a building that’s really never been used before. There’s a lot of stuff they’ll have to work out there.

“It’s out of our control as players. I’m hoping I’ll get to go over there to experience it. I guess we’ll find out in the next couple of weeks, so cross that bridge when we come to it.”

It was revealed earlier this month that the ice sheet, expected to be NHL-size, is actually three feet shorter than the typical 200 x 85. Those three feet will be taken out of the neutral zone so neither of the attack zones will be affected.

“You’ll notice it, maybe a little bit, getting to the red line,” Werenski said. “Getting to the red line might be harder. But in terms of the actual game, I don’t think it means much, to be honest. I don’t think, as players, we’ll really notice, and I don’t think fans will, either.”

Item No. 4: Snacks

• Tough guy / right winger Mathieu Olivier has been out of the lineup since suffering an upper-body injury on Nov. 24 in Washington, but he joined a few other players for an optional morning skate on Saturday. He’d skated once on his own previously, and is now in queue to build his way back into the lineup. The next step will be joining the group for a full practice, then taking full contact before he’s cleared to return. There’s no timetable yet, the club has said, but it’s moving in the right direction.

“We’re just trying to go through the stages here and make sure that when I do come back it’s 100 percent, and that I’m not thinking twice about what I do out there and I can play the way I play,” Olivier said.

• Olivier was asked to set the scene as he was watching the Blue Jackets and New Jersey during their fight-filled game on Dec. 1.

“I’m watching the game in my basement and my kids are sleeping on the second floor,” Olivier said. “My wife came down (to the basement) to tell me to calm down. So, that’s pretty much all I can say, really. The guys did a really good job standing up for themselves.”

Good to see Mathieu Olivier back on the ice with #CBJ today. Not a full practice, but progress nonetheless. pic.twitter.com/Ye6ePdpig2

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) December 13, 2025

• The Blue Jackets’ goal differential by period: first period, +1; second period, +2; third period, minus-19. That third-period figure is the worst in the NHL.

• Werenski will play his 600th NHL game on Tuesday when the Jackets host Anaheim, becoming the fourth player in franchise history — after Boone Jenner (759 and counting), Rick Nash (674) and Cam Atkinson (627) — to reach that milestone. Last Thursday, Werenski passed David Savard (597) for most games played by a Columbus defenseman. On Tuesday, he’ll break a deadlock in games played with former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno (599), now playing in Chicago.

That said, he’s not a big milestone guy. Asked what these “games-played” marks mean, Werenski verbally shrugged: “I love playing here and I feel fortunate to be here for a long time. I just want to keep playing, adding to it. I’m good friends with Savvy and I’m a big fan of his game … but I didn’t even know that was coming up, so I guess that tells you how much I really don’t care about it.”

• As part of their 25th anniversary celebration, the Blue Jackets celebrated a third batch of former players on Saturday, including Tyler Wright, Jody Shelley, David Savard and Chris Clark. Wright, an original Blue Jacket, was this franchise’s first fan favorite, not just for the way he played — he was undersized and over-motivated — but for his tireless charitable work off the ice, helping to start the franchise’s Hats For Heroes program, which raises funds for cancer research.

• Here’s Wright on his time in Columbus: “I’ve been retired now for almost 20 years. You have a lot of time to reflect on where you played, the cities you played in, and how you spent your career. I recognized that it was a unique situation for me, coming from Pittsburgh, where I had to play a specific role to stay in the lineup. This city and these fans in the original days, they appreciated hard work and tenacity. I mean, I bit off more than I could chew a lot of times. But I relished my time here. For me, when I think of myself as a player, I think of myself as a Blue Jacket.”

• In 2002-03, the Blue Jackets had a wild game against the New York Rangers that ended in a three-on-three line brawl that forced Wright to fight with noted NHL tough guy Sandy McCarthy. Wright did his best to hold off McCarthy until the linesman could arrive, but that wasn’t the end of the mayhem. “It’s on YouTube, so my kids play it for me all the time,” Wright said. “I was cut from both eyelids. I was getting escorted off the ice (by the linesmen) and there was a Rangers helmet at center ice and I tried to kick it, and I fell. So, you just got beat up in front of 20,000, you’re bleeding from both eyes, now you fall …. my wife is waiting for me (after the game), and she says, ‘That is the funniest thing I have ever seen.’ So, yeah, that’s very much alive in our household.”

• Wright on his trade from Columbus to Anaheim on Nov. 15, 2005: “Crushed. It was crushing for me. I never really fit in Anaheim, I really didn’t. It tore my heart out. You’re in this game and anything can happen, obviously. It was the first time I’d been moved mid-season. I was pretty crushed internally, and I didn’t last long. I think I retired the next year.”

• Blue Jackets Monday Gathering trivia question: Wright had the third hat trick in the history of the Blue Jackets when he scored at even strength, on the power play, and on the penalty kill in a 3-0 win in Atlanta on March 16, 2001. At that point in the franchise’s arc, it may have been the greatest single performance in a game by a Columbus player. Your question: which players had the first and second hat tricks in franchise history?

• You know Fedotov is watching the Blue Jackets closely from Cleveland. On Saturday, he stopped 21 of 22 shots in a 4-1 win in Belleville, improving to 6-6-3 with a .901 save percentage.

• The Blue Jackets had internal discussions about changing the start time of the New Year’s Eve game vs. the New Jersey Devils, but it will remain a 7 p.m. start in Nationwide Arena. Why consider changing? Because it overlaps with the Cotton Bowl, where Ohio State will face either Miami or Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. Why not make it a matinee? Well, the Devils play in Toronto at 7 p.m. on Dec. 30. The NHL has a 22-hour rule, precluding clubs from starting a game within 22 hours of their previous game. That means the earliest the Blue Jackets could schedule the game, assuming New Jersey agreed, would have been 5 p.m.

• The first hat trick was by Geoff Sanderson against the Nashville Predators on Feb. 10, 2001 in a 3-2 win. The second was by Deron Quint on March 9, 2001 against the Florida Panthers in a 7-6 win.