They're being written off again.
It’s the fourth straight year since Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky left as free agents that NHL analysts’ prognostications have handed the Blue Jackets a forecast of gloom and doom.
Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine have revived postseason hopes in Columbus, but they can’t do it alone. It’s going to take another overachieving season for the Jackets to erase a 19-point gap between their 81 points last season and the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, but it’s not impossible.
A lot has to go right, but Columbus could make a legitimate playoff bid.