Columbus Blue Jackets Tickets

The Blue Jackets joined the NHL in the 2000 expansion, which increased the number of teams from 28 to 30. The team’s name comes from Ohio’s significant contributions as a member of the Union during the Civil War. The Blue Jackets were not able to build a competitive team through the expansion draft, and they struggled in their first few seasons as a result.

Before the 2002 draft, the Blue Jackets made a trade involving their own draft pick (third overall) and obtained the first overall pick, which they used to draft Rick Nash. Nash was a high-scoring winger, and he immediately became Columbus’ star player. After many difficult seasons, Nash and the Blue Jackets finally made the playoffs for the first time in 2009. Unfortunately, the Blue Jackets didn’t last long in the postseason: the Detroit Red Wings defeated them in just four games.

The Blue Jackets made a couple of franchise-altering moves before the 2013 season. First, they traded Rick Nash to the New York Rangers. They also acquired goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky from the Philadelphia Flyers. Though he was not as successful in Philadelphia, “Bob” became a star in Columbus. As the Blue Jackets’ starting goalie, Bobrovsky has won the Vezina Trophy, given to the NHL’s best goalie at the end of the season, multiple times.

After the team failed to live up to expectations at the beginning of the 2015-16 season, the Blue Jackets hired John Tortorella as their head coach. Tortorella, who won a Stanley Cup coaching Tampa Bay in 2004, is known for his fiery personality. Over the next few seasons, Tortorella would become the first coach to take the Blue Jackets to the playoffs in consecutive years.