2001–02 Columbus Blue Jackets season

Regular season

Columbus would get off to a poor start, winning only one out of 13 games to open the season and falling to last place in the Western Conference. While the Blue Jackets would play better as the season progressed, they were far off from playoff qualification and would eventually trade team captain Lyle Odelein to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for defenseman Jaroslav Spacek at the trade deadline. Columbus would finish the season with a 22–47–8–5 record, earning 57 points, which was 14 fewer points than in their previous season, and 37 points behind the Vancouver Canucks for the eighth final playoff spot in the West. Columbus would score an NHL-low 164 goals, and their 255 goals against was the highest total in the Western Conference, third-highest in the NHL. The 57 points the Jackets earned was the second fewest in the League, only ahead of the Atlanta Thrashers, who finished with 54.

Ray Whitney would lead Columbus offensively, scoring a team-high 21 goals and 40 assists for 61 points, which broke the team record for points in a season. Mike Sillinger would be the only other Blue Jacket to score 20 goals, scoring 20 and adding 23 assists for 43 points. Deron Quint led the Jackets defense, earning 25 points, while Rostislav Klesla scored eight goals and earned 16 points in his first full season in the League. Jody Shelley had a team-high and club-record 206 penalty minutes in only 52 games.

In goal, Ron Tugnutt and Marc Denis would split time, with Tugnutt winning a team-high 12 games and posting a team-best 2.85 goals against average (GAA).

Tragedy struck at Nationwide Arena during a game on March 16, 2002, against the Calgary Flames, when a shot by Jackets forward Espen Knutsen was deflected off the stick of Flames defenceman Derek Morris and sailed into the stands, hitting 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil in the head. Cecil would pass away on March 18 due to the injury.

The Blue Jackets would finish the season 30th in the League in scoring, with 164 goals for, and would be shut out an NHL-high 11 times.

Season standings

Schedule and results

|- | 1 || October 4 || St. Louis Blues || 3–3 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 0–0–1–0 || 1 || |- | 2 || October 6 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–3 || Philadelphia Flyers || 0–0–2–0 || 2 || |- | 3 || October 8 || Philadelphia Flyers || 2–2 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 0–0–3–0 || 3 || |- | 4 || October 12 || Montreal Canadiens || 3–1 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 0–1–3–0 || 3 || |- | 5 || October 14 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 2–2 || Chicago Blackhawks || 0–1–4–0 || 4 || |- | 6 || October 16 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–4 || Detroit Red Wings || 0–2–4–0 || 4 || |- | 7 || October 19 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–1 || Buffalo Sabres || 1–2–4–0 || 6 || |- | 8 || October 20 || Colorado Avalanche || 5–0 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–3–4–0 || 6 || |- | 9 || October 23 || Los Angeles Kings || 7–1 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–4–4–0 || 6 || |- |10 || October 25 || Edmonton Oilers || 5–2 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–5–4–0 || 6 || |- |11 || October 27 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 0–2 || San Jose Sharks || 1–6–4–0 || 6 || |- |12 || October 30 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–3 || Vancouver Canucks || 1–7–4–0 || 6 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only.*

Goaltending

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Blue Jackets were involved in the following transactions from June 10, 2001, the day after the deciding game of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 13, 2002, the day of the deciding game of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

Columubus' draft picks at the 2001 NHL entry draft.

Notes

References

References

1. "2001-02 NHL Summary".
2. "2001-02 NHL Schedule and Results".
3. "2001-02 Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule".
4. "Postseason All-Star Teams".
5. (February 1, 2002). "NHL All-Star Game set for Saturday - UPI Archives".
6. "2002 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
7. (January 30, 2002). "NHL - 2002 YoungStars rosters".
8. Columbus Blue Jackets 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.301
9. "2001-02 NHL Debuts".
10. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
11. (June 24, 2001). "BLUE JACKETS CLOSE 2001 ENTRY DRAFT WITH SIX MORE PICKS".
12. (August 29, 2001). "BLUE JACKETS ACQUIRE GRANT MARSHALL FROM DALLAS STARS".
13. (September 28, 2001). "BLUE JACKETS CLAIM KIRK MULLER IN NHL WAIVER DRAFT".
14. (March 15, 2002). "BLUE JACKETS TRADE D JAMIE PUSHOR TO PITTSBURGH PENGUINS FOR FOURTH ROUND DRAFT PICK IN 2003".
15. (March 19, 2002). "BLUE JACKETS TRADE CAPTAIN LYLE ODELEIN TO CHICAGO FOR D JAROSLAV SPACEK AND A SECOND ROUND PICK IN 2003 NHL ENTRY DRAFT".
16. (July 5, 2001). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN FREE AGENT CENTER MIKE SILLINGER".
17. (July 10, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS SIGN DAVID LING, DARREL SCOVILLE".
18. (September 17, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS SIGN DEFENSEMAN DERRICK WALSER".
19. (July 12, 2001). "2001 NHL free agent list".
20. {{eliteprospects. 28881. Mike Gaul, retrieved March 13, 2023
21. {{hockey-reference. s/savagre01. Reggie Savage, retrieved March 13, 2023
22. (December 2, 2002). "Thrashers Acquire Chris Nielsen and Petteri Nummelin from Columbus in Exchange for Tomi Kallio and Pauli Levokari".
23. "PETTERI NUMMELIN".
24. {{hockey-reference. m/manelmi01. Mike Maneluk, retrieved March 13, 2023
25. "Hamilton Bulldogs Media Release".
26. {{hockey-reference. s/selival01. Alex Selivanov, retrieved March 13, 2023
27. (September 26, 2001). "GENERALS SIGN IHL EXPERIENCE".
28. (October 8, 2001). "Hur är läget: Jeff Williams".
29. (October 22, 2001). "TRANSACTIONS".
30. (February 1, 2002). "Jeff Ware Announces Retirement".
31. "JAMIE HEWARD".
32. (June 20, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS SIGN PAIR OF 2000 DRAFT PICKS".
33. (July 9, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN RIGHT WING BLAKE SLOAN".
34. (July 12, 2001). "Free Agent Signings". The Times-Transcript.
35. (July 13, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN CENTER TYLER WRIGHT".
36. (July 31, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN FOUR PLAYERS".
37. (August 3, 2001). "BLUE JACKETS, PUSHOR AGREE ON ONE-YEAR CONTRACT".
38. (August 23, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN LEFT WING GEOFF SANDERSON".
39. (September 24, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN DEFENSEMAN DERON QUINT".
40. (October 17, 2001). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS SIGN GOALTENDER SHANE BENDERA".
41. (April 22, 2002). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN LW JODY SHELLEY TO MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT".
42. (April 23, 2002). "BLUE JACKETS INK G PASCAL LECLAIRE TO MULTI-YEAR DEAL".
43. (May 28, 2002). "BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN DAVID VYBORNY, SEAN PRONGER AND INK 2000 DRAFT PICK SCOTT HEFFERNAN".
44. (June 6, 2002). "BLUE JACKETS INK 2000 DRAFT PICK BEN KNOPP".
45. "2001 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".