Blue Jackets trying to establish an identity that goes beyond orthopedic surgery | Arace

Tuesday night, the Blue Jackets formally honored Johnny Gaudreau and raised his No. 13 to the rafters. The players will continue to memorialize Gaudreau for the rest of the season and beyond.

Thursday night, the Buffalo Sabres were in town. The Jackets treated the game as their home opener, with all the accouterments – blue carpet, laser show, hype video and so forth. There were moments during the player introductions when the camera had to swing to the bench, where the scratches and injured players were stacked. Among them were captain Boone Jenner, his left arm in a sling, and veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson, his right arm in a sling, and you had to think: “Are they taking the Civil War theme a little too far?”

(The veteran who was honored before the anthem was World War II veteran Walter Stitt Jr., 100, as in years old, and he looks like he’s never, ever seen an orthopedic surgeon in his century on Earth.)

Over the previous two seasons, the Jackets have had more than their fair share of injuries. But they had a bigger problem. We’ve heard the “culture” word thrown around a lot, and dismissed, especially after Gaudreau’s death, when it was clear that a tightly knit locker room had drawn even closer.

“I’m pleased about when you walk into that locker room and you see the guys on a daily basis how close they are, how supportive they are of each other,” coach Dean Evason said. “I’m not just talking about Johnny’s situation, like what happened. I’m talking about everything – supporting each other in all aspects. That’s the exciting part for us is that the group is really tight, and that will help us going forward.”

There’s a clip that gets some filler play on SiriusXM radio’s NHL Network, of Rick Nash, who was recently promoted to director of Jackets hockey operations, talking about how when he was with the Rangers, they had to brace themselves when the Jackets came to town. Opponents knew they’d have a battle on their hands. Nash said the Jackets were trying to get back to that identity.

Nash was off on a scouting trip Thursday night, so we asked his old teammate, Jody Shelley, who is building himself quite a career as a television analyst , about this notion of “identity.”

“There were years there when every team that came in here got a bite taken out of them,” Shelley said. “It goes back. This is Columbus. We’re Columbus. It was more so when Torts ( John Tortorella ) was here. There was a push for everybody to give more than you thought you might have.”

The hype video featured Evason, 60, who was a hard-nosed (1,002 PIMs) third-line center during his playing days in the 1980s and ‘90s. The video begins with Evason sitting down in a chair in the middle of the Blue Jackets locker room, glancing down at the seat and saying, “I’ve been in hotter.”

Then it cuts to his first press conference in Columbus. Somebody asks, “What kind of coach are you?” To which Evason gives a one-word answer:

“Aggressive.”

If you’ve watched the Jackets (2-2-0) this season you’ve likely noted their relentlessness with and without the puck. Aggressive. And so they were Thursday night when they fought from the opening faceoff and posted a 6-4 victory over the Sabres (1-4-1). Through four games, they’ve scored 17 goals and allowed 15. Evason is happy about the goals, and is burning to adjust the goals against.

“We can’t give up what we gave up in the second period anymore,” Evason said.

Shelley said, “It starts with the attitude and the structure that the coach puts in: 'These are the non-negotiables. You’re going to make mistakes but the mistakes are going to be made through effort . No tentativeness and hoping. Take a chance through effort, and we can live with it.' ”

Shelley was speaking prior to the game. He went on to say that right wing Kent Johnson is something of a poster boy for the way Evason is changing the team’s identity.

“(Johnson) had a lot of stutter and back-and-forth in his game,” Shelley said. “He got sent to the minors to get stronger. I think he took that personally. The guys that know him, the guys that play with him, marvel at his skill, the way he sees the ice, his creativity. It’s all great, but you’re not going to take that far unless you get the inside ice, get the puck back, hold onto pucks, you know what I mean? And I think he’s taken that step. I think it’s a reflection of what the coach has asked of his players, but also the step he has taken himself.”

Johnson picked up an assist on the Jackets’ first goal of the first period against Buffalo. It was his third assist and fifth point through four games. On the first shift of the second period, Johnson had a mid-ice collision with teammate James van Riemsdyk – the latter was tripped and, as he sprawled to the ice, the former could not avoid contact and was upended. Johnson came away holding his left hand. He headed straight down the tunnel to the locker room.

A familiar-sounding refrain rang through the press box: “(Insert name here, in this case, Kent Johnson) has an upper-body injury and will not return to tonight’s game.”

For the second game in a row, two Jackets collided, and one headed straight for the tunnel. It was Gudbranson Tuesday night. Johnson Thursday. Jenner was lost near the end of training camp when he lost an edge and careened into the boards. Those aren't the only major injuries, but ...

Enough already.

marace@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets trying to establish an identity that goes beyond orthopedic surgery | Arace