Columbus Blue Jackets make difficult choice cutting Carson Meyer: 'It's a tough business'
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Brad Larsen sounded like he was talking about a player who had claimed a coveted final roster spot.
The Blue Jackets coach noted that forward Carson Meyer had arrived for training camp in great shape, posted “off the charts” testing numbers and played with more confidence after making his NHL debut last season. Meyer also turned heads in the preseason by hounding pucks and scoring goals against the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals.
Meyer, who is from Powell and has played most of his career in Ohio, appeared to be pushing for a roster spot. Instead, the Ohio State alum who started his collegiate career at Miami University and came up through the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets program, was assigned to the Cleveland Monsters on Wednesday.
“I told him, ‘Two years ago, I didn’t really know who you were,’ and that’s just honest,” Larsen said of Meyer, who was assigned to Cleveland with forward Kirill Marchenko and defenseman Jake Christiansen. “This guy’s done nothing but do exactly what you want a pro to do … and the difference I see in him, last year to this year, is that last year I don’t know if he believed in himself. I think he was working hard and he was in the NHL. This year, I think he’s starting to understand, ‘I belong here. I can do this now.’ ”
Meyer’s no longer in Columbus, though. He’s preparing for the start of his third season in the American Hockey League with the Monsters, awaiting his next NHL opportunity.
“It’s a tough business,” Larsen said. “He’s teetering. He’s right on the cusp. So, (he) can’t take a breath now. He’s got to go back down, he’s got to attack the game, but he’s got to keep his foundation. I think he’s found an identity for himself that is going to be able to plug him in, because I do think he has a skill set.”
Meyer caught the business end of a camp crowded with forwards vying for few openings, but hockey’s business side is also his lone consolation. Meyer, Marchenko and Christiansen are exempt from the NHL’s waivers process, which means the Blue Jackets assigned the trio to the AHL free of risk that another team might poach one of them with a claim.
In that sense only, it was an easier decision than exposing players who could be snapped up by another team through a claim.
“My whole message to them was, ‘Make my decision hard,’ ” Larsen said. “Some of them are easy, or ‘easier,’ I should say, but those two guys (Meyer and Marchenko), I definitely put them in the category of much harder.”
Blue Jackets feel AHL will help Kirill Marchenko adjust to NHL pace
Marchenko’s AHL assignment wasn’t as surprising as Meyer’s, but it raised some eyebrows.
The 22-year old forward has an NHL frame at 6 feet 3, 187 pounds and excelled during stints the past three years in Russia for SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. Marchenko also turned down a three-year contract extension with his KHL team to chase his NHL dream in Columbus and his ice time was slashed as a result.
He didn’t go through a season of turmoil to play at the AHL level, but that’s where Marchenko is slated to begin his first season in North America.
“I think he’s got to figure out the smaller-ice game (here) a little bit and he knows it,” Larsen said. “He’s got to get up to pace a little bit quicker, faster, because he’s got the body to protect pucks, he’s got the shot, the release, all that. He’s just going to have to figure out, ‘OK, I’ve got to get up to speed first, then I can slow it down.' ”
Kent Johnson, another Blue Jackets rookie forward, went through a similar process while making his NHL debut last season. Johnson, the fifth overall pick in 2021, is playing at a higher pace in camp. Marchenko needs to make the same transition with the Monsters.
“How long it takes, I don’t know,” Larsen said, “but he’s got to go there and do it.”
Blue Jackets one-timers
Captain Boone Jenner, who missed the final 23 games last season with a back injury, was scheduled to make his preseason debut Thursday against the St. Louis Blues. Jenner is expected to start the season as the Jackets’ top center, skating with stars Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine. … Forward Victor Rask, 29, was released from his professional tryout offer Wednesday. ... Larsen hasn’t settled on defensive pairings, but Zach Werenski has worked most with Adam Boqvist. Vladislav Gavrikov and Andrew Peeke are paired up and Jake Bean skates most with Erik Gudbranson. That makes rookies Nick Blankenburg and David Jiricek the seventh and eighth defensemen. … Ben Harpur, a veteran defenseman injured in a fight during the Jackets’ first preseason game, practiced Wednesday for the first time since the injury. He remained in camp with a professional tryout offer.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets make tough call cutting Carson Meyer
