The Blue Jackets 1st Quarter Report Card

Entering this regular season, the anxiety among the Blue Jackets fan base was so thick, it was chewable. After the calamitous start that doomed Todd Richards last season, the predictions of doom were many. John Tortorella would be the first coach fired. The brutal first eight games on the schedule would put the club irrevocably behind the eight ball. The absence of big moves by the front office would simply perpetuate the downward spiral. And so on, and so on . . . When Columbus dropped the first two games of the season to Boston and San Jose, the pressure ratcheted up geometrically.

Since that time, the Blue Jackets have gone 11 - 3 - 4, and hold the first wild card slot in the East with 26…