I’ve certainly belabored this point time and again on this website, but as the lucky gal tasked with reviewing Vladislav Gavrikov’s season, I am happy for the opportunity to re-emphasize all of the reasons I love having this man on the roster.
After all of the trades of the 2020-21 season, the Blue Jackets were left with a vacuum in both leadership and identity - with the departure of David Savard and Seth Jones, most notably, the defense that had always stood as a cornerstone of the Jackets’ late 2010’s identity of blue-collar, gritty style of play began to crumble and shift.