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Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins has a goals against average greater than 4.00 so far this season.AP2. Elvis Merzlikins has had a nightmare season<\/p>\nCOLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Prior to the beginning of the 2025-26 NHL season, Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli said that the season would be a \u201cfailure\u201d if the team doesn\u2019t make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, they are trending towards that failure.<\/p>\n
Columbus enters the five-day holiday break in last place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 15-15-6 (36 points). They are closer to having the fewest points in the NHL (32, shared by two teams) than to a playoff spot (42 points).<\/p>\n
This comes despite the additions of veterans including Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood, not to mention solid goaltending from Jet Greaves.<\/p>\n
So why have the Blue Jackets disappointed?<\/p>\n
Here are five sets of stats that explain their problems. All stats are accurate prior to Tuesday night\u2019s games.<\/p>\n
1. Third period nightmares<\/p>\n
Ever since a 3-2 loss to the Islanders on Nov. 2 in which the Blue Jackets gave up two goals in the final 1:07 of regulation, the third period has been nothing short of a disaster for Columbus.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets have a minus-22 goal differential in the third period, which is far and away the worst in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Not only have they given up a league-worst 53 goals in the third, but they are also tied for the second-fewest goals scored in the third with 31.<\/p>\n
Starting with the Nov. 2 loss to the Islanders, the Blue Jackets have blown third-period leads 10 times. They have won four of those, and none in regulation.<\/p>\n
While teams in the NHL are giving up leads more often than usual because of the compressed schedule, the reality is this feels like a constant problem for the Blue Jackets that they can\u2019t seem to fix.<\/p>\n
Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins has a goals against average greater than 4.00 so far this season.AP2. Elvis Merzlikins has had a nightmare season<\/p>\n
Elvis Merzlikins had been alternating starts with Jet Greaves to start the season. But Greaves has emerged as the main man in this tandem and a big reason why is because Merzlikins simply hasn\u2019t played well enough.<\/p>\n
In 14 games, Merzlikins has a 4.04 goals against average and a .877 save percentage, both of which would be the second worst of his career.<\/p>\n
More worrisome, according to Moneypuck.com<\/a>, Merzlikins is giving up 3.3 more goals than expected, which is 10th worst among any goalie to play in the NHL this season. By comparison, Greaves ranks 10th best among all goalies in this stat (14.9).<\/p>\n Merzlikins has only allowed fewer than three goals in a game just once all season. That was on Oct. 21 in a 5-1 win at Dallas.<\/p>\n While the team is having defensive problems in front of its goaltenders (more on that below), the bottom line is Merzlikins is having one of the worst seasons of his entire career.<\/p>\n 3. Too many shots getting on goal<\/p>\n Another main issue with the Blue Jackets is simply allowing their opponents to get too many shots on goal. <\/p>\n The Blue Jackets rank third in the NHL in most shots against per game at 30.8.<\/p>\n Going further, while Merzlikins has really struggled, he hasn\u2019t had much help. According to Moneypuck<\/a>, only 19.08% of the shot attempts he\u2019s faced have been blocked. That\u2019s the fifth-lowest percentage of all goaltenders.<\/p>\n The number for Greaves is slightly better, although still in the bottom 20 of the NHL at 20.83%.<\/p>\n Columbus\u2019 team save percentage of .888 ranks 20th in the NHL, so it\u2019s not completely bad. But when you\u2019re giving up the third-most shots per game in the NHL, even a middle-tier save percentage doesn\u2019t look as good.<\/p>\n The bottom line is the Blue Jackets need to be much better at shot suppression, and that\u2019s not just the defensemen. Forwards also have to be better at pressuring the puck, clearing it out of the defensive zone with more regularity and possessing it more. <\/p>\n One of the big subjects of the offseason was the Blue Jackets bringing back the same group of defensemen from last season hoping for internal development.<\/p>\n That has not happened, particularly in their own end of the ice.<\/p>\n According to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>, of the 24 Blue Jackets who have played at least 20 minutes, only eight have a higher expected goals for number than expected goals against. Only two of them are defensemen \u2014 Zach Werenski and Damon Severson.<\/p>\n For comparison, five of the nine qualified defensemen for the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> are a positive in this category, and four have played at least 22 games.<\/p>\n These numbers show that not only are the Blue Jackets\u2019 defensemen struggling to keep the puck out of the net, but that it\u2019s not about luck. <\/p>\n 5. Not enough time in the offensive zone<\/p>\n One common trend for the Blue Jackets after 36 games is that they\u2019re not spending enough time where a team wants to be on the ice.<\/p>\n![\"Capitals](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UJG7BWIFW5EVXO53IFX5EJACOU.jpg\")
Zach Werenski has been one of the few bright spots on defense for the Blue Jackets.AP4. The defensemen are not taking steps forward<\/p>\n