If the Columbus Blue Jackets hope to make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025-26, everyone on the team will have to make important contributions. So far since Rick Bowness took over behind the bench, the team has gotten several key contributions.
But there is one player in particular that hasn’t found a rhythm yet under Bowness. Not only do his numbers show that, his ice time is noticeably down from when Dean Evason was the head coach.
This player has found himself in different spots in the 12 games Bowness has coached. Of late, he’s played in the top-six. Given everything that this player can bring to the table, his impact can swing games in the Blue Jackets’ favor if he plays at his best.
When Dmitri Voronkov is at his best, the Blue Jackets are a much more dangerous team to contend with. It will be up to them to help the big man find his game consistently.
That should be one of the Blue Jackets’ top priorities for the rest of this season.
Bowness Still Learning Voronkov
As mentioned above, Voronkov’s numbers under Bowness have noticeably dipped. He has just one goal and two assists in his last 12 games. He spent some time on the fourth line. He also found himself on the bench when the Blue Jackets went to three lines later in games.
Voronkov is still just three goals away from 20 and is a menace to deal with especially in front of the net. Many see him as the kind of player that’s built for the playoffs.
The prevailing issue has been a lack of consistency that’s made Voronkov lose some of his effectiveness. Bowness put him on the second line with Sean Monahan and Kent Johnson hoping to spark him.
The team understands and realizes how important Voronkov is to their success. At 6-foot-5 and listed at over 230 pounds, he can do things in the game that are hard to stop. That’s one of the reasons he leads the Blue Jackets in power-play goals this season. His seven man-advantage goals are three more than the next closest player Charlie Coyle.
Bowness knows that he has to try to find a way to get Voronkov going. He recently addressed that situation including some of the lower ice times. Voronkov has seen less than 10 minutes of ice time on five occasions since the coaching change.
Bowness admitted that he has to be careful in the way he communicates to Voronkov.
“The language is still an issue,” Bowness said. “So when I talk to him, I make sure something’s not getting lost in translation. But he’s a big, strong, physical guy. He works very hard and when he’s going to the net and he’s banging bodies on the forecheck, he’s a very effective guy. We just want him to use his size to his advantage. He scores a lot of goals from around the net. We just got to get him there a little bit more. And the puck’s got to get there when he’s there.”
One of the early, expected challenges that Bowness has had to face is getting to know his players. He admitted that one of the factors in Voronkov’s lower ice times was simply not knowing him well enough yet.
“That was me not knowing him very well,” Bowness said. He started on one line. We moved him up. He had a couple of good shifts one game and a couple of good games. We moved him back up with (Monahan) and we’re going to keep him there for a while, see if we can get his minutes up.”
“One of the issues is ice time for (Voronkov) and (Johnson) is that Monahan kills a lot of penalties. Then so you have to give Monahan a rest. If we take too many penalties, they’re losing ice time because of the penalties. We took three penalties in the second period (in the game before the Olympic break) which is upsetting but then that affects the other guys’ ice time. We have to stay out of the box so we can utilize that line a little bit better.”
Linemate’s Perspective
The line of Monahan centering Voronkov and Johnson is intriguing in the sense that each bring something different to the table. While they haven’t found consistent chemistry yet, the potential is there.
Monahan and Johnson each spoke about Voronkov’s game and what they can do to help him unlock his potential.
“He can play a man’s game I think when he’s moving his feet,” Monahan said. “He’s obviously hard to defend and hard to control down low. But I think the biggest thing is when he’s fully engaged, which he normally is, he’s such a smart player. He finds ways to create more room for his linemates. He finds ways to get open, get a stick available. A lot of guys don’t even realize the little things he can do.”
“I think for him, he’s unreal around the net and unreal at winning battles,” Johnson said of Voronkov. “Puck protection. (He’s) really good in the neutral zone finding the guys with speed. For me, it should be a good fit. What he does with Marchenko a lot, finding him in the neutral zone. Hopefully, he’s able to find me like that. Especially that St. Louis game, he’s finding me all the time and helps me.”
“For me, it’s just playing my game and getting pucks near the net and doing my thing skating around and making plays. It can help him and it can help me a lot too. So I think it could be a great fit.”
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Particularly in the 4-2 loss to the Bruins, the Blue Jackets’ top line of Marchenko, Mason Marchment and Adam Fantilli had a great night that accounted for both goals. Assuming the Monahan line stays together Saturday, they need to find a way to impact the game. That means Voronkov is causing havoc on the ice.
The games will get tighter down the stretch. That makes it a perfect opportunity for Voronkov to make his presence known. That may be the difference in a tight playoff race.
The Blue Jackets have to prioritize finding a way to unlock Voronkov’s best starting on Saturday night against the New York Islanders.
