Few would argue that Zach Werenski is among the best defensemen in the NHL right now.
The Blue Jackets alternate captain has been a dynamo all season long, placing among the top blueliners in the NHL in multiple categories, posting a CBJ defenseman record eight-game point streak and making the Team USA roster for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off.
At age 27 and in his ninth NHL season, Werenski is at the peak of his powers. And he would argue there’s a reason it’s taken him this long to get to that point.
When you factor in everything that happens in the defensive zone, the effort it takes to play the position and the talent of those on the other side, the defenseman position is one of the hardest to master in sports.
“A lot goes into it that I’m sure a lot of people don’t understand,” Werenski said. “It’s complicated. You’re the last two guys on defense besides the goalie, so you have to make smart reads. And if you don’t make smart reads, usually it ends up in a scoring chance the other way. It’s being dialed in all over the ice, especially defensively, and understanding the whole flow of the game. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
As Werenski said, one mistake in a read, one misplay of the puck or one stride the wrong direction can be the difference between a perfect, routine clear that happens multiple times each game and a goal light going off behind a goalie.
Add in the speed of the game that's faster than ever, and it’s no wonder it takes most defensemen years at the NHL level to truly master their craft, as CBJ assistant coach Steve McCarthy says.
The Blue Jackets have an interesting mix on the back end, led by Werenski, the alternate captain and two-time All-Star playing at the highest level in his career to this point. There are veteran pros like Damon Severson, Jack Johnson and Ivan Provorov; young players trying to fully establish themselves like Jake Christiansen and Jordan Harris; and an interesting new acquisition in Dante Fabbro, who has gone from a healthy scratch in Nashville to a top-pair player with Columbus.
And even with a recent trade of first-round pick David Jiricek, the Blue Jackets have such young blueliners developing in the American Hockey League as Denton Mateychuk, Stanislav Svozil, newly acquired Daemon Hunt and more, plus a pipeline of highly touted players coming.
It’s a critical time for defensemen in the organization, so at times throughout the season, we’ll be checking in with CBJ blueliners and the coaching staff to talk about what it takes to play the position at the highest level.
“When you’re playing in the best league in the world, your mistakes are not forgiving,” McCarthy said. “The speed of the game, it just takes longer (to master). You’re playing against the best forwards in the world – the guys that handle the puck the best, the guys that have the best hockey minds, their speed. It really does take a long time to develop and get comfortable.”
Always Something to Learn
Think about the speed of Connor McDavid, who is capable of creating elite plays on the ice while traveling more than 20 miles per hour. Think about the shot of Auston Matthews, who scored 69 goals in 81 games last year. Think about the creativity of Jack Hughes, who seems to be able to dictate the entire game with the puck on his stick.
And then think about the fact we didn’t even mention Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, Cale Makar or any of the other prodigiously talented players defensemen go up against every night in the National Hockey League.
When a young blueliner comes into the league, there’s nowhere to hide. If you’re on the ice, at some point, you’re probably going to have to match up against one of the best players in the world.
“It’s a big shock for sure,” said Severson, who is now in his 11th NHL season. “Well, not a shock – you expect it, but when you actually have to do it when you first come into the league as a defenseman, the people you have to defend and the players you have to defend are just that much more elite than what you just came from. You’re at the highest level, so you have to raise your level.
“It’s constantly learning every game, every day, every year. It’s always going to be something different, so defending, it’s definitely a skill. It’s something you have to learn over the years. It takes time, but I guess I’ve been around a little while. I’m definitely still learning, but every day is a new challenge.”
Severson noted there are specific things you learn about playing against the top players in the game, but it can also be difficult to spend too much time scouting the opposition in an 82-game season. Just this week, for example, the Blue Jackets will have to face the one-two punch of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl tonight in Edmonton, then head to Vancouver tomorrow to face the creativity of Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
There are things you know you'll see from the best on a regular basis – Severson pointed to the speed of McDavid on the rush, or the “chop tip” that Crosby has used with regularity to beat goaltenders from nearly impossible angles – but it’s certainly no easy task to defend.
“It’s a very unforgiving league,” McCarthy said. “It’s hard on older players, but young players, if you haven’t mastered your craft, if you’re struggling or there’s a confidence issue or you’re not sure, it’s a real tough league to get your footing.”
McCarthy pointed out that the toughest thing for defensemen as they come into the league isn’t necessarily having the skill to play at the highest level, it’s finding consistency. The speed of the game ramps up as the season goes on, and the grind of having to be at your best on a nightly basis – or, for example, when you play four road games in six days, as the Blue Jackets are right now – starts to take a toll.
"What we find in the NHL, the league just seems to get faster and faster every month, so a lot of time with young players, just the details of being a pro, sometimes it’s hard to sustain,” McCarthy said. “Most of the time, it takes time, and a lot of the things that we deal with as a coaching staff is the frustration, especially from a young player that thinks he can play in the league, which he can. It’s just rounding out your craft.”
It’s a lesson players have to learn as their NHL careers start to blossom. Fabbro came into the league with Nashville as a highly touted player who was a star at Boston University, but then he went through the same ups and downs most blueliners do when they enter the league.
Now 26 years old, he’s found there’s no substitute for experience, and he comes to work every day trying to improve on what didn’t go well the previous game.
“I think it goes to show if you take days off and you don’t take things as seriously, that’s when you start to see your game fall of a little bit,” Fabbro said. “My approach has always been coming into the rink every day and putting my best foot forward and working on things I didn’t really like the previous game.
“I think that’s just a way for myself to stay in it and stay mentally sharp. I enjoy that. I like coming to the rink early and putting in some of the work just to get myself feeling good and feeling ready for the next game.”
The Veteran Star
A first-round draft pick, Werenski came into the league at age 19 in 2016 and immediately showed he could be an elite player, tallying the sixth-most points (47) by a teenage defenseman in his rookie season in NHL history.
Now 27, he’s one of the best defensemen in the league, and Werenski said he’s heard that’s often when a player’s peak at the position starts in the NHL. That’s just how long it takes to master everything and to gain the experience needed to be a true dominant player, and he’s certainly had ups and downs along the way.
He’s a two-time All-Star, but he’s also had to miss extensive time with injuries. He went from a dazzling youngster known for his skill to someone who had to be counted on to play No. 1 minutes on a nightly basis.
For Werenski, that required a change in mind-set from his younger days when he judged his game largely on offensive production.
“I think when you’re touted as an offensive guy, it’s so hard to focus on the defensive side of the game,” Werenski said. “For me as a young defenseman, even my first three, four years in the league, all I thought was, ‘I need to get points. That’s what they want me to do. If I do that, the defensive stuff won’t matter.’
“Then you start to become a No. 1 in a sense with (Seth Jones) leaving and all that, and you realize you have to be good all 200 feet. It was a process for me. It took a while. I think that’s the hardest part was to round out that 200-foot game, and I take a lot of pride in it. It hasn’t been perfect, but I think this year I’m definitely seeing that be a lot better.”
Along the way, he’s learned all that it takes to be a standout at his position. There are the little things in the defensive zone, like making proper reads, learning positioning, boxing out players, winning corner battles and everything else you have to do to keep goals off the board.
Then, being a player with offensive gifts, there’s learning when to go and join the attack and when you have to be smart and not expose your team to an odd-man rush the other way. Oh, and you also have to be in tremendous shape to be all over the ice and play upwards of 25 minutes per game on a nightly basis.
“In terms of creating offense, being good defensively, being a full 200-foot defenseman, I think it has to be one of the hardest things to do,” he said. “There’s just so much in terms of breaking pucks out, stopping rushes, 2-on-1s, 1-on-1s, 3-on-2s, closing players down in the corner, boxing out at the net.
“There’s a lot that goes into it, so I definitely think it takes some time. That’s why they usually say defensmen peak when they’re 27 to 30, somewhere in there. It takes a number of years to figure all that out.”
McCarthy has been there for most of Werenski’s journey, first playing on the same defensive corps when Werenski started his pro career in Cleveland back in 2016, then serving as his coach for the past four seasons.
“He’s just the ultimate pro,” McCarthy said. “He’s been through a lot here. He’s played some good hockey, he’s had some tough stretches, he’s had some long-term injuries that he’s had to deal with. So I’m really happy for him, and happy as a team when he’s playing like that. You get to see the things that he does, what he puts in in the summer, what he puts into the game, it’s really nice to see him get rewarded.”
Harris Growing on the Job
When the Blue Jackets acquired Harris from Montreal this summer, he had 131 NHL games under his belt over the past three seasons with the Canadiens.
At age 24, he’s at the spot in his career where he’s trying to cement himself as an everyday NHL player, skating in 15 of the Jackets’ first 24 games this season. But Harris has been in the lineup for five straight games, and he said he’s able to take something out of each and every one of them.
“There are so many great players in the league and teams, and the way that teams are constantly trying to find an edge, whether its faceoff plays, whether it’s set breakouts, there’s always something new and changing and evolving,” Harris said .”I think as a player, you always have to go into season and games with that same sort of mind-set. I think if you’re aware of what’s going on and want to work on yourself, you can always learn little things. I think every game, there’s a couple things you can take out.”
That’s the way the Haverhill, Mass., native and third-round draft pick has tried to approach his entire career, whether it be when he was a standout skater at Northeastern University, in his first couple seasons with the Habs or now in Columbus.
“I’m fortunate because that’s how I was brought up by my dad was to pay attention to those little things,” he said. “You always want to score goals and make plays, but the little stuff adds up, and that creates good habits and that leads to scoring goals and all that stuff.”
Harris has a different pedigree from someone like Werenski, whose offensive genius was well established and made him a top-10 pick in the draft. Harris is a do-it-all blueliner who can add to the offense, but it’s never been his top priority, topping out with six goals in a season at Northeastern and four in a campaign with Montreal.
So far this season, he’s yet to get on the score sheet with Columbus, but he has the attitude that will come if he keeps doing the right things.
“I think as a defenseman, and especially the role that I’ve played since I’ve gotten to the league, I think points and goals have been a bonus on top of playing well in my zone and the little things,” he said. “It’s always nice to score goals and contribute offensively, but I think if you’re doing the right things, I think they’ll come.
“That’s how I’ve felt lately. I feel as though my game has gotten better each game, and I’m doing a lot of good things. The points and stuff just falls in line.”
