Columbus Blue Jackets Week 19 Power Rankings: The Slide Continues

TSN.ca—Stay put at 18

The return of Pascal Leclaire from yet another short-term injury is most needed for a Blue Jackets team that has dropped six of seven and is in danger of turning into sellers if they aren't successful on a five-game road trip that starts later this week.

CBC.ca—Stay put at 20

Loss to Kings could be a playoff killer.

CBSSports.com—Down 1 to 22

Outside Rick Nash and Nik Zherdev, there's still no offense, but the Jackets are on the bubble because of their defense. They ranked 26th last season and are seventh now.

Yahoo.com—Up 2 to 21

Rick Nash-Manny Malhotra-Joakim Lindstrom or Jason Chimera-Michael Peca-Nikolai Zherdev: Coach Ken Hitchcock has his offense spread over two lines. He could throw Zherdev with Nash, but the team currently lacks a high-profile No. 1 center, which is true for a lot of teams, really.

The hope is for Gilbert Brule to be that player eventually, but the Jackets are getting by with a commitment to defense-first play and taking everything Nash can produce in the meantime.

ESPN.com—Down 1 to 21

With just one win in their past eight games, the Blue Jackets' playoff hopes seem distant once again.

CNNSI.com—Down 2 to 27

With Jason Chimera's goal Thursday night against Phoenix, the Jackets became the last team to have three players reach double figures in goals. Nikolai Zherdev and Rick Nash have combined for 51 of 139. Needless to say, secondary scoring has been a concern all season.

FoxSports.com—Up 1 to 19

(.526) While the Blue Jackets only won one game in Week 19, the team still managed to climb one place in the rankings by picking up five of a possible eight points in four games. In addition to its win over Phoenix, Columbus picked up points by losing two games in overtime and one in a shootout.

THN.com—Down 1 to 20

It is looking more and more like the Blue Jackets simply don’t have enough scoring punch to make a serious bid for the playoffs. Beyond Rick Nash (29 goals) and Nikolai Zherdev (22), Columbus’s next highest goal-scorer is Jason Chimera with 11.

Average Score: 21 (last week 17.36)

Once again TSN has us the highest at 21 while CNNSI has us way down at 27. A quick look at CNNSI's rankings and, even though at the time of ranking the Jackets were three games above .500, they have six teams ahead of them with a .500 record or lower. Just a tad biased there I think.

Anyhow, most have us in that 20 to 21 slot which seems about right. Most also comment on how it's the lack of scoring that is dragging this team out of the playoff picture.

-LTL