Yesterday, Pale Dragon kicked off our 2021 Columbus Blue Jackets season review by outlining the candidates for team MVP. Now we get to the not-so-fun part - taking a look at our least valuable player candidates. There was no shortage of underperforming players for the Jackets this season, so narrowing down the list was difficult. However, one question stood out: which lineup regulars would have benefitted the team the most by being replaced with their league average equivalent? That narrowed the list significantly. Plus, we get one bonus at the end.
Patrik Laine
There are two main reasons that Laine is on this list: 1) because of his 5v5 production and, 2) the number of bad things that happened while he was on the ice.