The Blue Jackets improved from a league-worst 59 points three years ago to genuine playoff contention - and then stalled. Fantilli had a career high in back-to-back years. Marchenko had 60-plus points for the second consecutive season. They struggled down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the sixth time in a row. The roster is better. The result is the same. The summer writes the next chapter.
By Mike Holloway · May 2026 · 2025-26 Season Review Series · #17 of 32 · Final Entry in the Non-Playoff Reviews
Phase 1 · Oct-Nov: Competitive Start
Marchenko and Fantilli producing. Greaves emerging as the No. 1 goaltender. The opening months suggested 2025-26 was the year the rebuild finally arrived.
Dec 22: Marchment Acquired
Trade from Seattle adds 15 goals in Columbus and gives the middle six the depth scoring the roster had been missing.
Jan-Feb: 2nd-to-Last East
A minus-16 goal differential pulled them out of contention. Merzlikins benched. Structure issues exposed against the conference best teams.
Mar-Apr: Struggled Down Stretch
Faded from contention. Sixth straight missed playoff confirmed. The same March pattern that defined the prior two years.
In 2022-23, the Columbus Blue Jackets won 25 games. They were the worst team in the Eastern Conference, the second-worst team in the NHL, a franchise processing catastrophic injury, roster depletion, and the devastating death of Matiss Kivlenieks while simultaneously trying to develop the youngest roster in the league. It was a low point so clearly defined - 59 points, 330 goals allowed, a goaltender winning eleven games all season - that the only direction available was up. They went up. 27 wins in 2023-24. 40 wins in 2024-25. A 23-point improvement, the fourth-best record in the Metropolitan Division, inspiring hockey played in the shadow of Johnny Gaudreau's death that made the franchise the emotional story of the season. And then 2025-26: not the playoff appearance that seemed imminent, but also not a step backward. The sixth consecutive missed playoff on a team that is definitively better than the team that produced the first, second, and third of those misses - and still not quite good enough.
That gap - between definitively better and good enough - is where the 2025-26 Columbus Blue Jackets lived. Kirill Marchenko had 67 points, his second consecutive 60-plus-point season, joining a franchise list that includes Rick Nash, Johnny Gaudreau, and Artemi Panarin. Adam Fantilli had 59 points - a career high for the second consecutive year, establishing the development trajectory as genuine rather than coincidental. Charlie Coyle contributed 58 points. Jet Greaves emerged as the team's legitimate starting goaltender, outperforming Elvis Merzlikins across the season in ways that make the goaltending debate settled for the first time since Merzlikins's own prime. They struggled down the stretch and missed the playoffs. Both things are true.
From the Second-Worst Team in the NHL to Genuine Playoff Contention in Three Years. The Fourth Year: Still Contending, Still Missing.
The arc is genuinely encouraging by any objective historical standard. A team that won 25 games in 2022-23 that is competing for a playoff spot three years later - with a 22-year-old centre on a career-high scoring trajectory, the franchise's most consistent winger in a generation, and a goaltender who has emerged ahead of schedule - is a rebuild that is working. The question is whether "working" and "stalling" are the same thing at the exact moment when a push to the next level is most critical. The prior season's 89 points missed by two. This season missed by more. The trajectory is right. The result is the same. The summer must produce the addition that converts trajectory into achievement.
The Most Important Individual Story
Adam Fantilli: Career High in Back-to-Back Years. 54 Points at 20. 59 Points at 21. The Youngest Player in NHL History to Score 30 Goals Is Developing Exactly as Advertised.
Fantilli was the second overall pick in 2023. He became, in his rookie season, the youngest player in NHL history to score 30 goals in a single season - 31 goals at 19, a milestone that put him in a historical category occupied by Connor McDavid, Wayne Gretzky, and a handful of others who scored 30 at ages most NHLers are still in junior. In his second season he had 54 points. In his third season - 2025-26 - he had 59 points, another career high, another step on a trajectory that has been consistent and measurable and encouraging every year of his NHL career so far.
His faceoff percentage improved to a career-best 49.8% - up by more than six percentage points from his prior season. That is not a superficial improvement. A centre who wins faceoffs at nearly 50% is a genuine two-way asset; a centre who wins them at 43% is a liability in defensive-zone draws. Fantilli at 49.8% is a different player than Fantilli at 43%. That improvement, combined with the continued offensive production growth, is the evidence that he is not merely a goal scorer with a notable draft position - he is developing into the complete first-line centre that the rebuild needs him to be.
He is an RFA at season's end. The extension negotiation is the most important individual transaction of the Blue Jackets' offseason - more important than any UFA signing, more important than any trade. Getting Fantilli locked into a long-term deal at a fair rate, before he reaches the arbitration years where his leverage grows, is the first item on Don Waddell's summer agenda. A franchise that fails to extend its second-overall pick during his first major contract negotiation is a franchise that has not learned the industry's most basic lesson about building from within.
Goaltending Finally Answered
Jet Greaves was the Blue Jackets' best goaltender in the prior season: a 1.91 GAA in limited starts that ranked him among the best goalies in the NHL by that metric while Elvis Merzlikins held the starting job with 26 wins. In 2025-26, the competition became the result. Greaves played approximately 31 or more games and posted a 2.71 GAA and .908 save percentage - not elite numbers, but the best on a team whose defensive structure limited his opportunities. Merzlikins played 15 games and posted a 4.03 GAA and .877 save percentage before being effectively benched. The changing of the guard happened in real time during the season, and it happened decisively.
The goaltending question that Columbus has been answering for three years - whether Merzlikins was still their starter and whether Greaves was ready to take the job - was answered in 2025-26: Greaves is the starter. He is 24, a restricted free agent at season's end, and the most important developmental piece of the Blue Jackets' current roster after Fantilli and Marchenko. His extension, like Fantilli's, is a summer priority. A team without a signed starting goaltender heading into September is a team whose competitive ceiling for 2026-27 is uncertain from the day training camp opens.
Decisions That Define the Next Three Years
Jenner, Coyle, and Marchment All Unrestricted. Fantilli and Greaves Both Restricted. The Summer's Decisions Will Tell You Whether This Rebuild Has a Ceiling.
Boone Jenner is an unrestricted free agent. The captain - one goal short of 200 in his Blue Jackets career as recently as the prior season's preview, the franchise's most important veteran voice, the player who centered the team through its most difficult emotional period - is entering free agency. The decision about whether to re-sign him or transition to a younger centre group (with Fantilli and Sillinger absorbing more responsibility) is the most human decision of the offseason. The hockey argument for keeping Jenner: veteran leadership, faceoff dominance, net-front presence that no other player on the roster replicates. The hockey argument for moving on: he is 32, his production has peaked, and his cap hit would be better deployed elsewhere on the roster.
Charlie Coyle (58 points, veteran depth) and Mason Marchment (acquired from Seattle in December, 45 combined points) are also unrestricted. Both contributed meaningfully in 2025-26. Both will cost money to retain. Both have significant market value from other teams. The fiscal reality of retaining three important unrestricted free agents while also extending Fantilli (who will command 8 to 10 million AAV on a long-term deal based on his development trajectory) and Greaves (who will command 3 to 5 million) is the cap arithmetic that determines which version of 2026-27 Waddell can construct.
The rebuild's most honest question is this: is the current roster - with Fantilli, Marchenko, Werenski, and a healthy Jenner/Coyle depth - close enough to the playoff line that one targeted external addition pushes them over it? Or is the 2025-26 result evidence that the roster needs a more fundamental upgrade at the top before a playoff appearance is realistic? The answer to that question determines whether the summer is about retention and one addition, or about a more significant reshaping.
2025-26 Individual Season Grades
67 pts · 2nd consecutive 60+ season · joins Nash, Gaudreau, Panarin in franchise history
The franchise's most consistent individual performer and its most productive winger since Johnny Gaudreau. His second consecutive 60-plus-point season places him in franchise company that only four players in Columbus history have occupied. He is 25, signed, and the player that every opposing team must plan for when building a defensive structure against Columbus. He does not have the name recognition outside Ohio that his production warrants. Inside Ohio, the appreciation is total and correct.
59 pts · career high for 2nd consecutive year · 49.8% faceoffs (career best, +6% improvement)
The most important developmental story in the Blue Jackets organisation. Career high in back-to-back seasons, faceoff percentage improving by more than six points, establishing himself as a genuine two-way centre rather than a pure goal scorer. At 21, on an RFA deal, with the franchise's entire competitive timeline built around his development into a first-line centre - his 2025-26 season is exactly what was needed. The extension conversation this summer is the franchise's most important single transaction since the Don Waddell hire.
58 pts · just missed his career high of 60 · 50.7% faceoffs · veteran leadership
The veteran acquisition who provided exactly the professional depth the team needed - consistent offensive contribution, strong faceoff work, and the experience to make the younger players around him better. His 58 points nearly matched his career high. His 50.7% faceoff success rate was the fourth-highest of his career. He is a UFA and will have suitors. Retaining him at a reasonable number maintains the team's depth scoring foundation. Losing him without a comparable replacement is the depth scoring problem that has plagued every recent Columbus rebuild cycle.
60+ pts (2nd consecutive season) · franchise record for multi-assist games · PP quarterback
Werenski's second consecutive 60-plus-point season from the blue line is the product of a defenceman who has found his best professional form and is delivering it consistently. He and Marchenko join a very short franchise list of players with back-to-back 60-plus seasons. His power-play work from the left point is the engine of Columbus's man-advantage unit. He is third all-time in franchise points history. He does not get enough national attention for what he produces in a market that does not generate it easily.
~30+ GP · 2.71 GAA · .908 SV% · outperformed Merzlikins · undisputed #1 by mid-season
The transition from "promising backup with the best team GAA" to "clear starter who has decisively won the job" happened in 2025-26. His numbers are not elite - 2.71 GAA and .908 are solid, not spectacular - but the context is a team that was second-to-last in the Eastern Conference in goal differential for a stretch of the season, and within that context his individual performance was the team's best goaltending since the early Merzlikins years. He is 24, an RFA, and the franchise's future in goal. Locking him up is priority one behind Fantilli.
UFA · veteran leader · one goal from 200 in franchise history · fitness and availability questions
Jenner's leadership value to this franchise during the Gaudreau tragedy years and the subsequent rebuild is not a statistic. He has been the stable, professional centre of a roster that has gone through extraordinary circumstances, and he has handled it with exactly the character the organisation needed. His on-ice production in 2025-26 was more limited than his best years. His age (32) and UFA status mean the franchise must evaluate honestly whether re-signing him serves the team's 2026-27 ceiling or compresses it. The emotional argument is for retention. The competitive argument requires Waddell to assess it honestly.
6-7-1 record · 4.03 GAA · .877 SV% in 15 games · effectively benched by Greaves
The transition from starter to backup happened mid-season in the most definitive possible terms: Merzlikins was left off the roster for significant stretches. His 4.03 GAA and .877 save percentage in 15 appearances are the numbers of a goaltender who is no longer performing at an NHL starting level. He is approaching Sergei Bobrovsky's franchise record for games played. His contract situation and his relationship with the organisation make the offseason conversation around his role the most uncomfortable individual personnel decision Waddell faces. Greaves won the job. That is what the numbers say.
2025-26 Columbus Blue Jackets - Key Statistical Leaders
| Player | POS | GP | G | A | PTS | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirill Marchenko | RW | ~80 | ~30 | ~37 | 67 | 2nd straight 60+ season · franchise history company |
| Adam Fantilli | C | ~78 | ~25 | ~34 | 59 | Career high again · 49.8% faceoffs (career best) · RFA |
| Charlie Coyle | C | ~80 | ~22 | ~36 | 58 | Just missed career high (60) · 50.7% faceoffs · UFA |
| Zach Werenski | D | ~78 | ~12 | ~50 | 62+ | 2nd straight 60+ season from D · franchise pts top-3 |
| Sean Monahan | C | ~75 | , | , | ~45 | 52.3% faceoffs (7th best career) · steady contributor |
| Mason Marchment | LW | ~55 (CBJ) | 15 | 17 | 32 | 45 pts total (incl. Seattle) · acquired Dec 22 · UFA |
| Jet Greaves | G | 31+ | , | , | ~18W | 2.71 GAA · .908 SV% · undisputed #1 · RFA |
| Elvis Merzlikins | G | 15 | , | , | 6W | 4.03 GAA · .877 SV% · benched by mid-season |
The Summer Agenda
Sign Fantilli - Non-Negotiable
Career high in back-to-back years. Faceoff percentage improving dramatically. At 21, on the verge of his prime. The extension negotiation is the most important single transaction in the franchise since the Gaudreau signing. Getting it done before arbitration, at a number that reflects his trajectory without overpaying for a ceiling he has not yet reached, is item one on Waddell's list. No other decision matters more.
Sign Greaves - Item Two
Greaves won the starting job decisively. He is 24, an RFA, and the franchise's future in goal. An extension that pays him at his current production level - not projecting him to a Vezina ceiling he has not demonstrated - gives Columbus a cost-controlled starter for the critical years when Fantilli and Marchenko are entering their own primes. Letting him reach arbitration without a deal is the kind of unnecessary friction that costs franchises momentum.
The Jenner Decision
Jenner's leadership value is real. His on-ice production is declining with age. If Waddell believes Fantilli and Sillinger can absorb the centre load in 2026-27 with Coyle as depth, re-signing Jenner at a reduced role and cap hit is the right call. If he believes the team needs Jenner's faceoff dominance and net-front presence for one more push, a short-term deal at market value is defensible. What is not defensible: letting the decision drift into September without resolution.
Coyle and Marchment - Depth or Departure
Coyle's 58 points and Marchment's 32 in Columbus are meaningful depth contributions. Retaining both costs money that compresses Waddell's ability to make an external upgrade. Retaining neither means replacing 90 points of depth scoring from the UFA market or internal development. The realistic outcome: one returns, one is replaced. Which one is Waddell's call based on price and market alternatives.
The Missing Piece - Top-Six Centre or Winger
Marchenko and Werenski are 60-point players. Fantilli is improving toward that level. The gap between Columbus and a playoff team is not a depth scoring problem - it is a top-of-lineup problem. The team needs either a first-line centre to play alongside Marchenko (if Fantilli moves to wing) or a genuine first-line winger to play on Fantilli's line. One elite-tier addition changes the team's competitive profile. Finding it at the right price is the rebuild's most important external transaction.
The Merzlikins Resolution
Merzlikins is approaching the franchise record for games played and is beloved by the Columbus fanbase. He also posted a 4.03 GAA and .877 save percentage in his 2025-26 starts and was benched for the second half of the season. The honest conversation about his role in 2026-27 - whether that is a trade, a buyout, or a reduced backup contract - must happen before training camp. Greaves cannot start a season without clarity about who his backup is and what that means for the depth chart.
“Columbus has not been in the postseason since 2020. They have battled all season for a berth while simultaneously carrying the memory of their teammates. The Blue Jackets have authored some of the most inspiring stories in the NHL in recent years.”
— NHL.com, on a franchise whose recent history has been defined by what happens off the ice as much as on it
The sixth consecutive missed playoff is the hardest sentence to write about a franchise that has been through what this one has been through. Johnny Gaudreau. Matiss Kivlenieks. The emotional seasons of honour and grief and inspired, defiant hockey played in their memory. A 23-point improvement in 2024-25 that came within two points of the playoffs. A roster that now features a 21-year-old on a career-high trajectory, the franchise's best winger since Gaudreau himself, and a goaltender who won the starting job ahead of schedule. The rebuild is working. The playoffs have not arrived. Both things are true simultaneously, and sitting with both is the honest experience of being a Blue Jackets fan in 2026.
The summer must deliver something the prior three summers have not: the addition that converts a competitive team into a playoff team. Fantilli locked into a long-term deal. Greaves extended. A top-of-lineup piece that gives the Marchenko-Fantilli core a genuine first-line complement. The roster infrastructure is the closest it has been since 2017-18 - the last time Columbus was a genuine Eastern Conference contender. The window is open. It is also not going to stay open indefinitely. This is the summer that most clearly defines what this rebuild's ceiling actually is.
2025-26 Season Reviews - Non-Playoff Teams #32 to #17
This concludes the comprehensive review of every non-playoff team in the 2025-26 NHL season, ranked from worst to most competitive. From the Vancouver Canucks at #32 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at #17, sixteen teams reviewed, sixteen different versions of what a missed playoff looks like. Carolina raised the Cup. Everyone else is building, or stalling, or hoping. The 2026-27 season opens in October. The reviews of that one start then. Browse the full set at Season Reviews.
Season Review Verdict
Six straight. A 21-year-old centre setting career highs in consecutive seasons. The franchise's best winger since Gaudreau. A goaltender who won the job ahead of schedule. The rebuild is working. The playoffs have not arrived. The summer decides whether they ever do.
The C reflects an honest accounting of a team that improved dramatically from its floor, produced genuine individual excellence from Marchenko and Fantilli, and still missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive time. Both the progress and the result deserve acknowledgment.
Fantilli's career-high season in consecutive years is not a coincidence - it is a development trajectory that points toward a genuine first-line centre. Marchenko's second consecutive 60-point season is a franchise historical marker. Greaves winning the goaltending job is the structural answer to a question that has been open for three years. These are real things.
The summer writes whether they become the foundation of a playoff team or the ceiling of a permanently competitive also-ran. Fantilli extended. Greaves signed. One elite addition at the top. The roster that is good enough to compete is close to the roster that is good enough to win. How close depends entirely on whether Waddell finds the final piece in the one offseason where finding it matters most.