'Raise the standard': Blue Jackets look to take the next step

The expectation was set by Brad Larsen not on the first day of
OhioHealth Training Camp
but when the Blue Jackets went their separate ways last April.
Columbus didn't make the playoffs a year ago, but by most accounts, there was a lot to like about the season. A squad that entered 2021-22 predicted to finish at or near the bottom of the NHL by many pundits was feisty all the way into the spring, exceeding outside expectations while seeing much of the team's young talent make major strides on the ice.

From a growth perspective, it was a big season for a squad with a new head coach, a new leadership corps and many new players.
But for all the good vibes, the end result -- 19 points out of a playoff spot -- was far from where the Blue Jackets want to be.
"(The growth last year) was tremendous, but there's still a long ways to go," Larsen said in his media exit interview last spring. "Look at the improvement that's going to be required. You look at the teams that are in (the playoffs) this year -- we have to get better."
The early returns are that the Blue Jackets heard the message loud and clear. One year after Larsen took over and admitted he wasn't sure what would happen as he began his tenure as the head coach, he has a much better understanding of his squad this time around.
With that in mind, he thought he had a good feel for how his charges would arrive for training camp, but the test came on the first day of on-ice work in camp. To see how the team compared, Larsen and his staff designed a workout that would mimic what the Jackets did a year ago at that time.
It was an early test -- and the players passed.
"I think the first day of camp was almost identical other than maybe a couple of little tweaks we made, and that was by design," Larsen said. "I wanted to see their heart rate, how they reacted, because last year I really felt they hit a wall maybe two-thirds of the way into that practice. This year they sustained. They were able to push through. When you asked the guys after day one, they felt like it wasn't that bad, which is a good thing.
"It doesn't mean the camp gets easier. (Tuesday) was a really hard day by design, but the standard has to go up. Day one and day two are easy. When you get into day four, five, 10, that's when it starts to get hard. You're sore, you're tired. Instead of complaining, you just do it and you do it together. And that's what I've seen from this group."
After last night's preseason win over St. Louis, Larsen again reiterated how happy he was with how his team attacked both the offseason and the first two weeks of camp. That is all well and good, but the proof in the pudding will come as the ups and downs of the season go by.
On paper, the Blue Jackets believe they are a better team than a year ago, for a variety of reasons. That young roster matured immensely a season ago, with a handful of players impressing and such prospects as Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko arriving. Some weaknesses were attacked this offseason as well, as Erik Gudbranson should help stabilize a defense that finished near the bottom of the league while adding some muscle and toughness along with trade acquisition Mathieu Oliver.
And then, of course, was the franchise-altering move to sign six-time All-Star wing Johnny Gaudreau to a seven-year contract, one of the first times the Blue Jackets have waded into the big-ticket free agency market, let alone landing the biggest fish on the market.
The addition of Gaudreau admittedly put a pep in the step of the CBJ players during their offseason training, but it also will bring something in sports that can be difficult to deal with -- expectations.
"I think that the biggest thing for us is always the internal expectations that we have, and I think the biggest one is that we need to improve every day with our group," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "That's something that has to be sort of painted onto every wall of the locker room and in the mind of every player -- that we come here every day and we mean business and we want to get better.
"Our group is still very young, so the emphasis has to be in the process of getting better instead of listening too much to the external expectations."
That's a message that, in conversation, the players appear to have heard loud and clear after two straight seasons without postseason hockey.
"I think for us as a group, coaches and as a leadership group and throughout our lineup, is now we take the next step," captain Boone Jenner said. "Now we challenge ourselves a little bit more and push that envelope. I think that's what we're excited for. We have what we built last year, but we have to keep going and raise that standard."
Sounds a lot like his head coach, right?
"I think the biggest thing for me is our standard, it has to raise," Larsen said. "You can go to every guy and individual, how they played, and the standard changes for them. … We can go through the whole lineup. And I think as a group."