General manager Jarmo Kekalainen confirmed his willingness to make a big move if it presented itself, swinging a huge deal on the opening day of the 2017 draft. Kekalainen acquired high-scoring winger Artemi Panarin and Tyler Motte from Chicago in exchange for Brandon Saad and Anton Forsberg, a move that gave the Blue Jackets one of the game's more dynamic players.
It's a move that wasn't without risk, but it worked out. Panarin set a new franchise record with 82 points thanks to 27 goals and 55 assists, and the Blue Jackets made a
second consecutive trip to the postseason
for the first time in team history with a 45-30-7 record that gave the team 97 points.
There, Columbus made a little more history, taking a 2-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs for the first time ever by capturing back-to-back overtime games with road wins at Washington. A first-ever playoff series win looked to be on the horizon, but Washington battled back to capture Game 3 in double overtime, won Game 5 in overtime as well and finished off the 4-2 series win on the way to that franchise's first Stanley Cup victory.
It was a bittersweet end to the season, but it was another year in which Columbus made progress toward building a winning culture under the leadership of Kekalainen, head coach John Tortorella and captain Nick Foligno.
It wasn't always an easy path, either, as the Blue Jackets had their fair share of ups and downs during the regular season. A 5-1 start led to a 9-4-0 record through 13 games, but a four-game losing skid followed, starting a pattern of winning streaks and losing runs that left the team at 32-28-5 through 63 regular season games.
Buoyed by the trade deadline acquisitions of Mark Letestu -- the sixth player in franchise history to earn multiple stints with the team -- as well as forward Thomas Vanek and defenseman Ian Cole, the Blue Jackets ripped off 10 straight wins from March 4-22, outscoring teams 42-22 in that span. In all, Columbus went 13-2-2 down the stretch to clinch a playoff bid, outdueling a similarly hot Florida team in the final weeks to punch the postseason ticket.
They also made history in a different way, becoming the first NHL team since 1991 to score four hat tricks in the span of five road games. Cam Atkinson, Panarin, Vanek and rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois did the honors amid the historic stretch that ran through March 15-29, and in the last of those games, Tortorella won his 128th game in charge of the team to pass Todd Richards for the most wins in franchise history.
While Panarin set CBJ scoring records in his debut season in union blue, he wasn't the only one to write his name in franchise annals. Seth Jones finished with a 16-41-57 line to set a new CBJ mark for points by a defenseman, while his 16 goals were matched by Zach Werenski as the two notched a franchise record for goals in a campaign from the blue line. Dubois' 48 points on 20 goals and 28 assists allowed the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 draft to set a new team rookie record for points in a season.
Atkinson overcame an early-season foot injury to score 24 goals among his 46 points, while Werenski finished with 37 points and youngsters like Oliver Bjorkstrand (40 points) and Josh Anderson (19 goals) became bigger parts of the CBJ attack.
And in net, Sergei Bobrovsky had another standout season while making a career-high 65 starts. Coming off a Vezina Trophy-winning campaign, he again could have been in the running for the honor, going 37-22-6 with a 2.42 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.
