2003–04 Columbus Blue Jackets season

Off-season

Columbus would undergo some changes during the off-season, as leading scorer and team captain Ray Whitney would leave to sign with the Detroit Red Wings. The Blue Jackets named veteran defenseman Luke Richardson the third captain in franchise history.

Regular season

The Blue Jackets would get off to a solid start in 2003–04, winning three of their first four games, though the club would eventually go on a seven-game losing streak to quickly fall out of playoff contention. Columbus would continue to struggle, and General Manager and Head Coach Doug MacLean announced on January 1, 2004, that he would step down from head coaching duties, naming Blue Jackets assistant coach and former NHL player Gerard Gallant as his replacement. Columbus posted a 9–21–4–3 record under MacLean. While the Blue Jackets would play better hockey with Gallant behind the bench, the team would fail once again to earn a playoff spot, as they finished the season with a 25–45–8–4 record for 62 points—seven fewer than the previous season—and finish 29 points the Nashville Predators for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Columbus, however, climbed out of the basement in the Central Division for the first time in franchise history after finishing ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Rick Nash had a memorable season, finishing in a three-way tie with Ilya Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Thrashers and Jarome Iginla from the Calgary Flames to win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the League's highest goal-scorer; he scored a club-record 41 goals and finished with a team-best 57 points. David Vyborny led the Blue Jackets with 31 assists and finished second to Nash with 53 points. Rookie Nikolai Zherdev also contributed a solid 34 points in 57 games. On defense, Anders Eriksson led the Jackets with 27 points, while Jaroslav Spacek contributed with 22 points in just 58 games. Jody Shelley provided the team toughness, earning a team-high 228 penalty minutes.

In goal, Marc Denis was the team's number one, playing a team-high 66 games, winning 21 of them, posting a team best 2.56 goals against average (GAA) and earning five shutouts.

The Blue Jackets would finish the season having tied the Dallas Stars for most times shut-out, with 11.

Season standings

Schedule and results

|- | 1 || October 9 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–2 || Atlanta Thrashers || 0–1–0–0 || 0 || |- | 2 || October 11 || New York Rangers || 0–5 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–1–0–0 || 2 || |- | 3 || October 13 || Vancouver Canucks || 2–3 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 2–1–0–0 || 4 || |- | 4 || October 16 || Chicago Blackhawks || 1–2 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–1–0–0 || 6 || |- | 5 || October 18 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 2–3 || Nashville Predators || 3–2–0–0 || 6 || |- | 6 || October 22 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 1–4 || Detroit Red Wings || 3–3–0–0 || 6 || |- | 7 || October 23 || Tampa Bay Lightning || 1–0 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–4–0–0 || 6 || |- | 8 || October 25 || Dallas Stars || 3–2 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–5–0–0 || 6 || |- | 9 || October 28 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–6 || Vancouver Canucks || 3–6–0–0 || 6 || |- |10 || October 30 || Columbus Blue Jackets || 3–4 || Edmonton Oilers || 3–6–0–1 || 7 ||

| 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, 2003, the day after the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 7, 2004, the day of the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

Columbus' draft picks at the 2003 NHL entry draft held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Notes

References

• National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007

References

1. (September 11, 2003). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS NAME DEFENSEMAN LUKE RICHARDSON TEAM CAPTAIN".
2. (January 1, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS' DOUG MACLEAN RELINQUISHES COACHING DUTIES, NAMES ASSISTANT COACH GERARD GALLANT INTERIM HEAD COACH".
3. "2003-04 NHL Schedule and Results {{!}} Hockey-Reference.com".
4. "2003-04 Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule and Results".
5. "Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy".
6. "2004 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
7. (March 1, 2004). "DAVID VYBORNY NAMED NHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK".
8. (January 24, 2004). "2004 YoungStars Game rosters".
9. Columbus Blue Jackets 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.301
10. "2003-04 NHL Debuts".
11. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
12. (June 22, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SELECT SEVEN MORE PLAYERS ON FINAL DAY OF 2003 NHL ENTRY DRAFT AT NASHVILLE'S GAYLORD ENTERTAINMENT CENTER".
13. (July 22, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS ACQUIRE TWO-TIME ALL-STAR DEFENSEMAN DARRYL SYDOR FROM DALLAS".
14. (October 3, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS ACQUIRE SIXTH ROUND PICK FROM BOSTON BRUINS".
15. (October 30, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN ACQUIRE PROSPECT ZENITH KOMARNISKI FROM VANCOUVER IN EXCHANGE FOR SEAN PRONGER".
16. (December 31, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS TRADE RW/D JEAN-LUC GRAND-PIERRE TO ATLANTA THRASHERS IN EXCHANGE FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS".
17. (January 23, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS TRADE DEFENSEMAN JAMIE PUSHOR".
18. (January 27, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS ACQUIRE ALEXANDER SVITOV, '04 3RD ROUND PICK FROM TAMPA BAY IN EXCHANGE FOR DARRYL SYDOR AND '04 4TH ROUND PICK".
19. (February 10, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS ACQUIRE DEFENSEMAN BRENDAN BUCKLEY FROM PITTSBURGH IN EXCHANGE FOR PAULI LEVOKARI".
20. (March 9, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS ACQUIRE CENTER BRIAN HOLZINGER FROM PITTSBURGH PENGUINS IN EXCHANGE FOR CENTER LASSE PIRJETA".
21. (March 9, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS TRADE LEFT WING GEOFF SANDERSON TO VANCOUVER FOR A THIRD ROUND PICK IN THE 2004 ENTRY DRAFT".
22. (July 3, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN FREE AGENTS TODD MARCHANT & TREVOR LETOWSKI".
23. (July 15, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN CENTER MARK HARTIGAN, DEFENSEMAN ALEXANDER GUSJKOV".
24. (September 5, 2003). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS SIGN DEFENSEMAN TODD ROHLOFF".
25. (October 10, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN DEFENSEMAN ANDERS ERIKSSON".
26. (November 21, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS CLAIM CENTER MANNY MALHOTRA OFF WAIVERS FROM DALLAS STARS".
27. (December 10, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN DEFENSEMAN JAMIE PUSHOR".
28. (April 12, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN UNIVERSITY OF MAINE ALL-AMERICA DEFENSEMAN PRESTIN RYAN".
29. (April 19, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN FORWARDS GREG MAULDIN AND BRANDON SUGDEN".
30. (July 1, 2003). "2003 NHL free agent list".
31. {{eliteprospects. 23859. Radim Bicanek, retrieved May 16, 2022
32. {{hockey-reference. l/labbeje01. Jean-Francois Labbe, retrieved May 16, 2022
33. {{eliteprospects. 203787. Jonathan Schill, retrieved May 16, 2022
34. {{hockey-reference. v/vanimda01. Darren Van Impe, retrieved May 16, 2022
35. (July 15, 2003). "Flames re-sign Yelle, add Davidson".
36. (July 29, 2003). "Red Wings sign Ray Whitney".
37. (July 1, 2007). "NHL Releases Free Agent List". Colorado Avalanche.
38. {{hockey-reference. m/mannipa01. Paul Manning, retrieved May 16, 2022
39. "Predators Transactions".
40. (October 9, 2003). "Thomas Assigned to P-Bruins, Wilde Signed".
41. {{hockey-reference. b/bellebl01. Blake Bellefeuille, retrieved May 16, 2022
42. {{hockey-reference. k/knutses01. Espen Knutsen, retrieved May 16, 2022
43. (December 16, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS RECALL JEAN-LUC GRAND-PIERRE; REACH BUY-OUT AGREEMENT WITH ESPEN KNUTSEN".
44. (January 9, 2004). "DEFENSEMAN TODD ROHLOFF CLAIMED OFF WAIVERS BY WASHINGTON CAPITALS".
45. (July 30, 2005). "‘CANES WRAP UP ACTIVE DAY AT NHL ENTRY DRAFT".
46. (May 12, 2004). "EHC verpflichtet Derrick Walser".
47. (June 12, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN PAIR OF PLAYERS".
48. (July 1, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN CENTER ANDREW CASSELS".
49. (July 18, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN PAIR OF DEFENSEMEN".
50. (July 24, 2003). "LING AND MORAN RE-SIGN WITH BLUE JACKETS".
51. (August 13, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN RIGHT WING KENT McDONELL AND LEFT WING JEREMY REICH".
52. (August 15, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN 2003 FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICK NIKOLAI ZHERDEV TO MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT".
53. (August 26, 2003). "COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN GOALTENDER KARL GOEHRING".
54. (October 6, 2003). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN 2003 DRAFT PICK DAN FRITSCHE TO MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT".
55. (March 19, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN 2002 DRAFT PICK STEVEN GOERTZEN".
56. (May 26, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS RE-SIGN LEFT WING JODY SHELLEY TO MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT".
57. (June 1, 2004). "BLUE JACKETS SIGN 2002 ENTRY DRAFT PICKS TIM KONSORADA AND OLE-KRISTIAN TOLLEFSEN".
58. "2003 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".