Season Outlook: Columbus Blue Jackets Grading

[Derrick - Senators]

Roster


Centers

Brad Boyes*
Jarret Stoll**
Sergei Fedorov
Doug Weight
Mike Richards*

Left Wing

Dany Heatley
Henrik Zetterberg
Martin Straka

Right Wing


Michael Ryder**
Jason Pominville*
Pierre Marc-Bouchard**


Defensemen

John-Michael Liles**
Philippe Boucher
Andrei Markov
Joe Corvo
Ryan Suter*


Goaltenders

Ryan Miller**
Cam Ward*
Pascal Leclaire*

Farm Team

Nikolai Zherdev*
Carlo Colaiacovo*
Roman Voloshenko*
Nick Foligno*
Kyle Okposo*
Noah Welch*
A.J. Thelen*
Denis Grebeshkov*
Aaron Johnson*
Hugh Jessiman*
Brandon Bochenski*
Jeff Frazee*
Matthew Corrente*
Mathieu Carle*
Tom Pyatt*
Kevin Klein*

[Mark - Bruins]

Centers - a mix of young (Boyes, Stoll, Richards) and old (Federov, Weight) down the middle for Phil. While servicable, there are no stand-out offensive talents in the group.

Left Wings - Deep and talented. Phil has perhaps one of the top core of LW in the league. Heatley and Zetts are superstars and Straka is great on offense as long as Jagr stays in NYR.

Right Wings - Ryder, Pominville, and Bouchard are all young players and have yet to reach their peaks. They'll continue to improve, which is good since they aren't dominant fantasy contributors, yet. Zherdev's return is big news and could become the dominant force that is currently lacking.

Defensemen - Solid group led by the ready-to-breakout Liles. Corvo could be huge in Ottawa if he ends up with #1 PP time.

Goalies - Boasting two of the top young goalies in the league, Columbus has top notch goaltending. Miller and Ward will do excellent for years on their championship-caliber teams. Leclaire plays for a defensively unreliable team, but he's got talent to do well, too.

Overall, I'd give Phil a B.