Number:8
Age:23
Birth date: July 19, 1997
Birthplace: Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Height, weight:6-2, 212
Stats: 63 GP, 20-21-41, 9.1 point shares, 52.48 xGF% at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick
Contract:Signed through 2021-22 season (Two years remaining before RFA status)
In some ways, it's felt like Zach Werenski hasn't gotten the respect he deserved over the past few years with the Blue Jackets.
It's not that people didn't think Werenski was plenty talented, as evidenced by the fact he was a top-10 pick in the 2015 draft. People have always known about his talent with the puck on his stick, but two things have kept Werenski from getting more national acclaim.
First, it's a blessing to play with Seth Jones, but a bit of a curse from the standpoint that Jones draws much of the attention from the hockey media. Jones has been mentioned as a potential Norris Trophy winner for the past few seasons, topping out at fourth in the vote in 2017-18, leaving only so much airtime for pundits to mention Werenski as one of the league's top defensemen as well.
Secondly, it's that defensemen who excel offensively sometimes get downgraded until they prove they can get the job done at both ends of the ice. His play in his defensive zone was the biggest early criticism of Werenski, something that he has addressed and improved upon greatly over the past two seasons.
The result is that Werenski is now one of the top blueliners in the league, someone who is capable of leading the NHL in goals among players as his position, as he did this year, while playing standout defensive hockey as well.
"I think the top pairing that we have in Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, I'll put it up against any pairing in the league," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said after the season. "Zach has taken huge steps on the defensive side as well as scoring 20 goals.
"I was a little bit offended when somebody asked him how he feels to be on the ice with such great defensemen as Seth Jones and Victor Hedman (in the playoffs), when whoever asks the question was talking to the leading goal scorer in the National Hockey League for defensemen."
Entering the season:It felt like Werenski was in line for a huge season. He struggled at times early in 2018-19, especially defensively, after losing much of the summer of 2018 to rehab from a shoulder injury. But his increased defensive focus, highlighted by his standout performance in the playoffs vs. Tampa Bay and Boston, and having a full summer to train meant that Werenski was coming into the season fully ready to go.
Season recap: As most Blue Jackets fans know, Werenski filled up the net in the 2019-20 season, with his 20 goals topping all NHL blueliners by a gap of four goals. That mark of 20 goals also set a CBJ single-season record for defensemen and allowed him to take the franchise's career lead for players at his position with 58 tallies.
It was as though all of his offensive abilities meshed together at one in his fourth season, as Werenski scored 14 times at even strength, added five power-play goals and even scored a shorthanded tally, using excellent anticipation and a fantastic shot to rack up scores.
"I have goals going into each year that I set for myself," Werenski said late in the season. "Obviously you have to take every game and every season in stride. You never know what is going to happen, you never know what a team is going to do or whatnot.
"Twenty goals was a number I thought I could hit. Whether it was 17 or 19 or 22, I don't really know, but that was the kind of number I wanted to get near. Scoring 20, that has a lot to do with your teammates. I have said this before, but it seems like I'm just getting ice and they're finding me and pucks are finding me. I've been pretty fortunate this year with that."
As head coach John Tortorella mused at one point late in the season, where would the Blue Jackets have been without Werenski's offense? He ended up second on the team in goals behind Oliver Bjorkstrand, ending up with some hot streaks like a three-game goal streak in November and a stretch in December and January in which he tallied seven goals in a five-game span.
It would have been fun to see what his final tally would have been had Werenski been able to complete a full season, as he missed seven games after suffering an upper-body injury Nov. 30 at the New York Islanders and then saw his season end with 12 games to go because of the coronavirus pandemic. He did add a goal and two assists in 10 postseason games.
Defensively, he also put together an impressive season, playing 23:59 per game, often against some of the best competition in the league. He finished plus-9 and the Blue Jackets had a 49-38 edge in goals at 5-on-5 when he was on the ice, including a 52.48 percent share of expected goals per Natural Stat Trick. The Blue Jackets gave up 2.07 expected goals per 60 minutes with Werenski on the ice at 5-on-5, a mark that placed 19th among the 99 defensemen who played at least 1,000 minutes.
Add it all up and Werenski placed eighth in the voting for the Norris Trophy, a deserved placing after a standout campaign.
