A year ago, Mathieu Olivier established himself as a full-time NHLer, not only using his physical nature to make an impact with the Blue Jackets but showing a little scoring touch as well in a career-high 66 games.
But from the word go, the 2023-24 season has been lived on the other side of the coin. The 27-year-old wing has dealt with a fair share of frustration that goes all the way back to training camp, when he had to miss the start of on-ice work because of a lingering leg injury.
From there, Olivier has had plenty of ups and downs, posting a goal and four assists in 29 games while finding regular playing time hard to come by. When asked if it’s been a frustrating season, he couldn’t help but agree.
“It’s a fair assessment I think,” Olivier said. “Part of it is on me. Maybe there’s some things I could have done differently earlier in the year. I was coming back from an injury that wasn’t easy to come back from, but there are some moments for sure I could have been better. (The coaching staff) made their decisions. My job was to stay ready and try to get better, and when I get in, try to have an impact.
"It’s been a frustrating season but there’s a lot of games left and I can make the best of it.”
Which is part of what made Sunday night so special. Olivier was an integral part of the Blue Jackets’ 4-2 win in Nationwide Arena against the league’s top team, the New York Rangers, going blow for blow with New York rookie sensation Matt Rempe in an early scrap that set the tone for the night.
Another sellout crowd in Nationwide Arena didn’t need much reason to get going, but Olivier provided a spark that lasted throughout the night. Dmitri Voronkov scored a few minutes later and the Blue Jackets never trailed, posting one of the season’s better performances while snapping the Rangers’ 10-game win streak.
“We knew we were gonna be ready,” Olivier said. “There’s not a better challenge than that, when you get a team that can’t seem to lose. They’re doing well. They’re getting ready to be in playoff mode and all that. For us, it was a good opportunity to rise to the occasion, and as a whole team today, we did that.”
It wouldn’t have been the same, though, without Olivier sparking things just 2:12 into the game on his first shift. He chatted with Rempe – who has taken the NHL by storm with his old-school pugilistic skills – during pregame and said the Rangers rookie asked him to go when they first hit the ice together.
By the time the tilt was over, the Nationwide Arena crowd – as well as the CBJ bench – was on its feet.
“I mean, the reaction of the fans tells you,” CBJ head coach Pascal Vincent said. “But the bench was the same, right? Olivier is our guy, and he's really good at it. He's a strong man.”
It was a shining moment in what Olivier acknowledged has been a tough year at times. Coming off a five-goal, 10-assist season in which he established himself as a fourth liner who could bring both physical play as well as some production, Olivier had to deal with the injury right off the bat. He was activated early in the season but has been a healthy scratch as much as he’s been in the lineup, skating in 29 of the Jackets' 57 games to this point.
Like any hockey player, he wants to contribute more offensively, and he’s no stranger to putting in extra work after practice to try to hone his skills. But like any hockey player, the most important thing is contributing to a winning team, and on Sunday night Olivier did just that.
“I did my role, but it was a whole team effort today,” he said. “It started from the first minute all the way to the end. Elvis (Merzlikins) made some big saves at the end. All four lines were going today. Like I said, it was a full team effort.”
