Blue Jackets Vow to Push Forward This Season

The Columbus Blue Jackets are spending the week before the start of Training Camp in Buffalo at the Prospects Challenge.

Although the final score of 3-1 Sabres didnt go their way in Game 1, one important thing was able to go their way.

The Blue Jackets are playing hockey again.

Thats about the best thing that could be happening to them right now.

After spending the last couple of weeks trying to process everything that happened, the Blue Jackets are able to find a little normalcy while trying to prepare for the 2024-25 season.

Pushing Forward Together We could talk about the game itself that saw Sabres star prospect Jiri Kulich factor into all three goals his team scored.

We could discuss Nolan Lalonde turning in an outstanding performance to keep his Blue Jackets in the game as long as possible.

The story of the night was what the Blue Jackets vowed theyre going to do this season.

Cleveland Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber is running the bench for the Prospects Challenge.

He spoke postgame about the approach the team must take.

Thinking of hockey the last few weeks seems like the last thing on your mind, right? But the reality is theyre not pushing the start date back for us, Vogelhuber said.

And these guys still have to be ready to go.

And us as a staff and as an organization still have to be ready to move forward and push forward.

So again, as difficult of a two-week span as I think an organization can have, but a little bit of comfort and some normalcy of being in a group and these guys being together and being able to play hockey.

Youre not forgetting (Johnny Gaudreau.) Youre moving past it, but were moving with it together.

Thats all we can do.

The Blue Jackets are prioritizing team and doing everything they can together to get through this incredibly difficult situation.

Gavin Brindley believes this approach will help everyone.

I think it just pulls everyone in the hockey world closer together and especially the guys in Columbus, Brindley said.

Ive been there for a little bit now and just seeing all the guys and the interactions and it is just good to see everyone and have everyones company and be around the locker room.

Obviously, its been tough but I think its hopefully forming the guys together.

This is how you push forward.

Building Deeper Relationships Teammates who share the same locker room already have a special bond.

That bond only gets magnified in this situation for the Blue Jackets.

The coaching staff as a whole, both the Blue Jackets and Monsters, will work to foster an environment where they continue to build those relationships.

To Vogelhuber, this brings unity.

You get through things like that together.

And thats something were talking about with our group, Vogelhuber said.

Its a five-day, three-game tournament but some of these guys youre going to be playing with for a long time and hopefully in Columbus.

And so you start coming together and building those relationships.

Thats how you get through tough things is leaning on each other.

Thats what were trying to accomplish here this week.

You Might Also Like The Blue Jackets play two more games in Buffalo before heading home to start Training Camp.

By being in Buffalo and performing, the team has started the process of building those deeper relationships with each other.

Friday night started with a moment of silence for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau.

But as soon as the anthems were sung, it was game time.

For at least two hours, the Blue Jackets were back together doing what was normal to them.

They were playing hockey together.

Dont underestimate just how important this step was on their path to pushing forward this season.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission..

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