The Randomizer has spoken. Today’s entry is Chris Gratton.

An underrated power forward of the 90’s and early 00’s, Chris Gratton made a name for himself with his physical style of play and offensive contribution. During his third stint with the Tampa Bay Lighting, he was acquired by the Blue Jackets off waivers to bolster the roster for the 2008-2009 playoff run. This would be the last stop of his NHL career.

reader (u/manthello) asked me why the Blue Jackets point totals look to be about the same with Merzlikins or Greaves in goal, despite the fact that Greaves has far better numbers. At the heart of it they were wondering if Merzlikins is as bad as he looks / is Greaves as good as he looks.

Here's the short version:

CBJ has roughly the same points rate regardless of who was between the pipes. The way the team earned those points, however, were almost completely opposite. When Merzlikins was in goal, the team shot well above expected and received below-average goaltending. When Greaves was in goal, they shot well below expected and received top-10 goaltending. The two effects basically cancelled each other out and resulted in nearly identical points rates.

Here's the data, split by who started:

Nearly the same points rate, but the Jackets scored 0.61 more goals per game in front of Merzlikins, and he allowed 0.67 more. Another interesting note - with Merzlikins in goal the game totals averaged 7.0, while with Greaves in net it was 5.7.

That's raw goals, but how do things look when we consider expected goals (xG score every shot by how often it results in a goal if taken by an average shooter against an average goalie, the idea is to separate chances from goals). Turns out the chances were nearly equal:

This tells me that it was the same team playing essentially the same way in front of either goalie (although they gave up slightly more with Merzlikins in net). Here's what actually ended up happening:

The Blue Jackets scored a lot more than their chances were worth with Merzlikins in net, and allowed more goals than their shot quality against suggested. With Greaves in net it was the exact opposite scenario - worse finishing and better goaltending.

That's essentially the whole thing - over the season Greaves saved +14.1 more goals than an average goalie while Merzlikins conceded -8.6 more than expected (a 22.7 goal swing). For context, Greaves finished 7th of 29 goalies who played 40+ games in this stat.

Here are a few other stats:

• Greaves wasn't sheltered, he actually faced slightly tougher competition.
• Merzlikins played a larger share of his games on the road.
• It was the same team in front of both goalies

The next table summarizes the actual impacts on the team:

Here is the key takeaway: If I run each skater's expected goals rates through my model while keeping each goalie's actual performance and set finishing to league average the Jackets are a 97.5 point team in front of Greaves and a *75.1 point team in front of Merzlikins.

Finally, here are a couple of other charts that you might find interesting:

I'm surprised Nationwide still has the player murals at the entrances from last season. Boone is still up there. We're only about 2 weeks from games. I thought in the past they took them down after the season at least by summer and the entrances were blank. Can't wait to see who they put up there.

Hopefully they use a different graphics company. The murals lost a lot of color on the windows but not the metal window framing. Looked awful.

The Randomizer has spoken. Today’s selection is Luke Adam.

A second round pick by Buffalo in 2008, Luke Adam shuttled between the NHL and AHL from 2009 to 2015. He was traded by Buffalo to Columbus for Jerry D’Amigo in 2014. He later played in Europe and the ECHL, retiring in June of 2026.

Hello CBJ Fans,

Last season my Fiancee and I had the idea to start a CBJ centered fantasy hockey league for some additional low key and casual fun. There was overwhelming interest that we maxed out at 20 teams and had to unfortunately still had to turn some folks away. This season, we renewed the league with 12 teams. There were 8 managers that decided to return for this upcoming season. We are looking for 4 new managers for this upcoming season to fill the remaining teams. I will include the league settings below.

H2H Points

Goals 3, Assists 2, Points 1 , Power Play Points 1, Shorthanded Points 2, Shots on Goal 0.5, Hits 0.5, Blocks 0.5, Goaltenders Games Started 1, Wins 3, Goals Against -1, Saves 0.25, Shutouts 5

Rosters: 3 Centers, 3 Right Wing, 3 Left Wing, 4 Defense, 2 Goaltenders, 5 Bench and 2 IR

Draft date to be set once league is full.

If you are interested, please send me a DM!

The randomizer has spoken. Today’s selection is Adam Fantilli.

Adam Fantastic Fantilli. What a joy he is to watch on the ice. Whether he’s putting up hat tricks or setting up teammates with assists, he seems to do it all offensively. A first round pick in 2023 and still only 21, he has increased his production in each season he’s played. Let’s get that deal done!

As a Russian person I like to call him Fantillov from when he played on the same line as Marchenko and Voronkov.

Of note since Mateychuk is extension eligible and better

The randomizer has spoken. Today’s entry is Sean Kuraly.

Ohio-born Sean Kuraly brought some grit to his home town team when he signed as a free agent from Boston in 2021. A reliable penalty killer and grinder, Kuraly’s chippy play was witnessed by Blue Jackets fans for 4 seasons. He returned to Boston in 2025 as a free agent.

Tell me your favorite Sean Kuraly moments!

The randomizer has spoken. Today’s selection is Nathan Paetsch.

Drafted twice, Nathan Paetsch found some stability on Buffalo’s blue line from 2006-2010. He was traded to Columbus with a second round pick for Raffi Torres on 03/03/2010. The 10 games he played for Columbus would be his last in the NHL, however he would go on to have a productive tenure in the AHL, winning 2 Calder Cups with Grand Rapids.

Taking a slightly different view from majority on the forum. I obviously do not like paying for the jackets but on the positive side the camera work will be significantly improved.

Last seasons issues included: stream/cable going down, awful camera work in the corners, and limited cameras. The athletic article says multiple cameras will be included including on refs and other devices. This is going to be a massive upgrade to watching the jackets. The production quality last year of simply following the puck and the production going down were abysmal. I’d rather watch a well done product than another free season of the worst broadcast quality.

Alternative options to paying are also VPN if you have espn plus and I’m sure other ways if you research it.

The stars and the ducks are not charging their fans an additional cost to stream games. CBJ is asking you to pay more in order to watch this team lose

❌ cornerstone RFA Adam Fantilli signed to a contract with less than 30 days before the season starts
❌ confirmation and commitment from Marchenko about his future in Columbus
✅ Charging the most loyal fans in the league to watch a subpar on ice product

Winning is not a priority to this franchise. Revenue is.

I have a bad feeling the off-season crap goes right into the first quarter of the season. We're out of any playoff contention by mid-December and we start moving players en masse. Tell me I'm wrong...

• Phone: 614-246-4625

• Email: contact@bluejackets.com

Just like with politics- you have to get your voices heard to make changes.

Please let them Know how you feel about the upcoming streaming policy.

Welcome to The Athletic's seventh annual NHL Player Tiers, Blue Jackets fans.

We've separated the 150 best players in hockey into five groups: MVP cornerstones, franchise pillars, All-Star candidates, the true stars and elite support.

Read more, for free: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7555547/2026/09/02/nhl-player-tiers-rankings-2026/?unlocked_article_code=1.-FA.AmMt.WIb4NeYFrO-9&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

The randomizer has spoken. Today’s entry is Dick Tarnstrom.

An offensive defenseman from Sweden, he led the 2003-2004 Pittsburgh Penguins with 52 points. Acquired by Columbus from Edmonton for Curtis Glencross on 02/01/2008, the Blue Jackets would be his last stop in the NHL before returning to Europe. Overall, Tarnstrom played 306 games in the NHL, not bad at all for an 11th round pick.

Wednesday, August 26 - Tuesday, September 01, 2026

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Got into an argument with someone and wanted some insight. Every game I’ve been to Machine Head would play.