This is part four of the Columbus Blue Jackets Season Grades series. Previously, Johnny Gaudreau, Zach Werenski, and Kirill Marchenko were graded. This time it’s Captain Boone Jenner‘s turn. In the Johnny Gaudreau article, I detailed all of the criteria for the grades, but here’s a refresher:
- Points rank for the team
- Points rank for the NHL
- Points-per-game average
- Games played
- Blocked shots
- Number of hits
- Shot Attempts
- Shooting percentage
- How they compare to last season
To address a question from the last article, yes there will be lower grades in the later parts of this series. The series is in descending order from the player with the most points on the Blue Jackets to the least so the best grades are in the first few articles. Also, While the team did not have a good season, I am mostly grading on individual effort, performance, and how they compare to the rest of the team.
Boone Jenner
Dropping only one spot from 2022-23, Jenner finished fourth on the team in points this season with 22 goals (second most on the team) and 13 assists for a total of 35 points. He achieved that while only playing 58 games giving him a .60 point-per-game average (the third-best on the team). He is in a ten-way tie for 226th place for points out of the entire NHL. Out of his 155 shots on goal, he made 14.2%. Jenner is tied for third on the team in hits with 119 and is sixth in blocks with 74.
This isn’t part of the criteria but I wanted to mention that he won 604 of his face-offs and had a 54.3% win percentage. That puts him first in both of those categories.
Last season Jenner had 45 points in 68 games giving him a points-per-game average of 0.66. He had 26 goals and 19 assists, made 12.1% of 214 shots, blocked 70, and made 129 hits.
Grade: A-
Put simply Boone Jenner could have gotten a higher grade if he played more games. This would have given him more opportunities to score more points. Though his absence wasn’t his fault, he missed 24 games this season. Also, while they have been included in the total, any games missed due to non-injury-related reasons have not affected his grade. In the 2022-23 season, he missed 14 games, and in 2021-22 he missed 23. His aggressive style may lead to a few more injuries but his point production, play-making abilities, blocks, and hits keep his grade well above passing.
To improve for next year Jenner needs to continue doing what he has already been doing but stay healthier. The caveat is if he plays it safer and less aggressively his point production could be negatively affected. If he can find a happy medium it could be his golden ticket to an A+.
Other players improving could help as well. If a new top-line center emerges for the Jackets, Boone could take a few more breaks on the ice which could help avoid more injuries. His average time spent on the ice is 20:06. That’s the most by any forward on the team and fourth most out of all skaters. The next closest forward is Johnny Gaudreau with 18:49. Gaudreau also plays a less aggressive style getting 23 blocks and 2 hits this past season. Some top-rated centers are coming up through the system and could help lower Jenner’s time on the ice. Besides current players like Cole Sillinger and Adam Fantilli the Blue Jackets have young players like Gavin Brindley and Luca Del Bel Belluz still developing. Other players getting better could also help create more scoring chances and assist opportunities.
Boone Jenner has been pretty consistent in the last few years. If he plays close to how he has been playing and avoids injury, he will have no problem achieving top marks in next year’s grades.
