Blue Jackets believe they have the personnel to score more

John Tortorella is many things, but a psychic he is not.
As a coach, his goal entering the season is to try to free his team to create more offensively, but what impact that will have on the team's goal-scoring total and by proxy its win output remains to be seen.
"What month is it? Are we in January?" the Blue Jackets head coach said. "Talk to me mid-February and I'll let you know."

It's a fair point, but what also must be acknowledged is that to be a true contender, the Blue Jackets simply need to find more goals.
By the head coach's acknowledgment, it was simply too hard to do a year ago, when Columbus tied for 27th in the NHL in goals per game. That was enough for the Blue Jackets to make a fourth straight playoff appearance, but true contention -
which general manager Jarmo Kekalainen expects this season
- will require a team that can put the biscuit in the basket with a bit more regularity.
An offensive strategy that will encourage pushing the puck up the ice more than a year ago, when Tortorella looked at his roster and concluded defense would have to be the focus, should help. But on the personnel front, Kekalainen sees a chance for improvement as well.
There's the new acquisitions, as center Max Domi has averaged 55 points per 82 games in his NHL career with a high of 72 two seasons ago, not to mention the veteran savvy of Mikko Koivu and the addition of Mikhail Grigorenko, a first-round draft pick in 2012 who found his offensive game the last three seasons in Russia.
There's the potential for bounce-back seasons out of veterans Nick Foligno, Cam Atkinson and Boone Jenner, all of whom have 30-goal campaigns under their belts but who combined for just 33 tallies a year ago. There's the hope for better health, which kicked the team in the butt last year, including long-term absences for offensive drivers like Atkinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones.
There's also some young talent that should come into its own, as young forwards Alexandre Texier, Liam Foudy, Emil Bemstrom, Kevin Stenlund and Eric Robinson all carved out bigger roles last year and now enter the season with experience under their belts.
Add it all up and there's a strong belief out of the front office that the chance to score more goals is a strong one.
"There are lots of guys who didn't have their best years as far as the offensive numbers go; they can get back there," Kekalainen said. "We have young guys that can get better. We have players from the outside that have joined us like Max Domi and Grigorenko. I think Mikko Koivu can get back to some of the offensive levels that he's seen in his long and very successful career. The Bemstroms and the Texiers and Oliver Bjorkstrands have to get to the next level. Cam Atkinson can show that he can put the puck in the net more than he did last year.
"We have a lot of players who are very hungry to prove they can put offensive numbers on the board and we can be a much better offensive team than we were last year."
If each one of those bets cash out, then the Blue Jackets would really be on to something, but odds are it'll be a mixed bag. Still, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Full seasons out of Bjorkstrand and Atkinson should help, as each battled injuries a year ago that cut into their production.
To start, Bjorkstrand appears ticketed to be on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Grigorenko, and you can add Dubois to the list of CBJ youngsters who has another level he can reach. Now 22, Dubois is coming into his own as a No. 1 center, and he and Bjorkstrand were a bear to handle at times a year ago when they were on the same line together.
The hope is the addition of Domi also jolts together a second scoring line, and he'll start the year with Atkinson and Foligno, who are the Nos. 2 and 3 goal scorers in franchise history. Add in improved years from Texier and Bemstrom, a pair of 21-year-olds who will be on the power play and have been high scorers in Europe, and it's not hard to see how Columbus will put more pucks in the net.
The last piece of the puzzle might be strategic, as Tortorella has pushed to encourage more offense out of his team. The coaching staff's faith in goaltenders Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins will allow Columbus to take more chances, and while the aim isn't to lose their defensive integrity, the Blue Jackets are encouraged to push the pace at the right times.
"Scoring goals is a focus of ours," Bjorkstrand said. "We just have to create more chances out there and make it harder for the other team. I think in these (preseason) scrimmages, that's what we were trying to do -- make more east-west passes, trying to find a way to get odd-man rushes more. That's something we have to focus on and try to be better than last season."
There was no splashy free-agent signing for Columbus at a time when many pundits thought that was needed. Instead, Kekalainen has faith that what he's built will continue to blossom in 2021, and Tortorella is hopeful that will be the case.
"You need to develop from within," Tortorella said. "We have some young guys we feel are eventually going to be goal scorers, and we're relying on some veteran guys to have better years and relying on coaches to try to open it up for them also without losing ourselves as a team. All those things come into play. But I don't have an answer."
The proof, as always, will be in the pudding. And the process of making the pudding starts tomorrow.