When Joonas Korpisalo steps on the ice for the Blue Jackets for the first time this season, he'll make history for the franchise.
No goaltender has ever skated in eight different seasons for the Jackets, with Korpisalo and Sergei Bobrovsky tied atop the list at seven years apiece.
In other words, Korpisalo's first game will make him the most tenured goalie, longevity wise, in team history.
"I didn't know that," Korpisalo said. "I was just thinking, it's probably just me and Boone (that have been here the longest). Boone has been here way longer than me, but other than that, there's not too many of us who have been here that long. That's kind of weird.
"I've enjoyed every minute of it here. I doesn't feel like it's going to be my eighth season. I feel like time has been flying through the years. I'm just happy to be here."
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It's very clear that last sentence is the case for Korpisalo, who faced a fair share of uncertainty throughout the entirety of last season. He entered 2021-22 in the last year of his contract, and with Elvis Merzlikins inking a long-term extension before the season, there was rampant speculation Korpisalo could be traded at some point before the deadline.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, it was a bit of a season from hell for the Finnish goalie, who posted career-worst stats (4.15 GAA, .877 save percentage) while dealing with a trio of "i" words -- ineffectiveness, injury and illness. He wasn't traded at the deadline but made just one start after it before undergoing surgery to repair a hip injury that had been bothering him throughout the campaign.
"Horrible season," is how he summed it up. "I guess that happens. It shouldn't happen, but it happened. All you can do is just learn from it and forget it completely and start again and just put your head down and work your (butt) off and be myself."
The good news for Korpisalo is that he looks to be in a good place. One of the most well-liked players in the locker room, Korpisalo has a smile on his face, is working with in his comfort zone with Merzlikins and longtime goalie coach Manny Legace, and feels great other than the hip.
The bad news is the hip, which is not quite ready for prime time. Korpisalo has been getting work in during practices but is yet to see action in a scrimmage or a game as the Blue Jackets are being cautious with the goalie's workload.
"I would like to (get him in a preseason game)," head coach Brad Larsen said. "I think he would like to. But I'm going to listen to the trainers, the doctors. The last thing we want to do is set anybody back at this point after we go through a surgery like that. He's progressing. He's doing well."
Korpisalo said there's no timetable for him to feel 100 percent, but also said he's in a good place with the hip after a summer of rehab. Even practice action offers new experiences compared to drills with Legace, and Korpisalo said he feels he's doing more and more every day.
"You can't get frustrated," he said. "That's the last thing you want to do. Obviously, as much as I want to play and go out there and do stuff, you have to listen to your body and work within those limits."
If you asked around, picking the player who entered OhioHealth Training Camp with the most NHL goals on his resume would probably be tough for a lot of Blue Jackets fans.
It's not superstar sniper Patrik Laine or big-ticket free agent acquisition Johnny Gaudreau , nor is it veterans Jake Voracek and Gus Nyquist.
The answer is James Neal, as "The Real Deal" took a tryout agreement to come to camp and try to push his 14-year NHL career into a 15th season. The oldest player in camp at 35 years old, Neal also leads the way among the 62 skaters in Columbus with 296 career NHL goals.
Could he get to 300 with the Blue Jackets, a team he was long a thorn in the side of (12-11-23 in 24 games)? After a goal in his first exhibition game at Pittsburgh on Sunday as well as some tallies in intrasquad scrimmages, he hopes so.
"You just want a chance," he said. "I'm going to go out there and do my thing. I feel really good. I had a good year last year. It was challenging. I took a lot of out of it and regrouped, and I feel like I could still play and wanted to. I'm excited for the opportunity here."
Neal went a similar route last year, signing a tryout agreement with the Blues and making the squad. He was a bottom-six player but a consistent part of the lineup through the first month and a half, then suffered an injury and ended up largely playing with the team's AHL squad in Springfield once healthy. In all, he had a 2-2-4 line in 19 games with the Blues as well as 14 goals and 26 points in 28 games in the AHL.
On a CBJ team with just three players born in the 1980s -- Neal (1987) as well as Voracek and Nyquist (1989) -- he feels he can add a veteran's perspective while still contributing to the cause on the ice. Having spent time with seven organizations in his career, he's played with some of the best in the game, including Gaudreau for a season in Calgary.
"I've been lucky enough to play with some of the best in the world from (Mike) Modano, (Brad) Richards (in Dallas) to playing with (Evgeni) Malkin, (Sidney) Crosby (in Pittsburgh), into Edmonton playing with (Leon) Draisaitl and (Connor) McDavid," he said. "I've been on a lot of winning teams. I want to bring what I've learned here and instill that into the younger guys, and hopefully I can help them learn like the older guys did for me."
After playing for the Jackets in Pittsburgh, he's on the roster for tonight's game against another former team, the Blues.
Andrew Peeke had a breakout season a year ago, and the Blue Jackets didn't waste much time rewarding him.
Peeke signed a three-year contract extension Wednesday that will start next season and keep him with the Blue Jackets through 2025-26.
"It came into place; my agent did a really good job," he said. "Obviously this is exciting for me and my family. I love it here in Columbus. I love the guys, what we're building toward here. Just a super exciting day for me. I'm really proud."
A second-round pick of the team in 2016, Peeke went through two up-and-down campaigns with the team in 2020 and '21 before becoming one of just two players to skate in every game a season ago. The Notre Dame product evolved into a shot-blocking, crease-patrolling, physical defenseman last year, allowing him to become the defenseman who played the most with Zach Werenski on the top pair a season ago.
When asked about the extension, Larsen said Peeke "earned it" but noted he still must continue to add to his game. Peeke agrees.
"I'm definitely excited to keep growing," he said. "I've put in a really good summer worth of work, and getting through training camp trying to show what I am building on in my game and keep improving my tools. That's the exciting part for me, being able to do what I did last year and gain my confidence and being able to draw on it from there."
He is one of four CBJ defensemen to be signed for at least the next three seasons, joining Werenski, Adam Boqvist and Erik Gudbranson.
At the moment, it's hard to see the team's top two picks in this summer's draft, defensemen David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk , making the squad out of camp.
Both are clearly talented but learning on the job, as one would expect out of any 18-year-old blueliner, and the Blue Jackets aren't exactly short for options on the blue line. But Larsen has liked what he's seen out of the two, pairing them together in both Sunday's exhibition game at Pittsburgh and last night against the Sabres.
"Two young guys that have really high ceilings," Larsen said. "They're not always going to be together, but I think the game in Pittsburgh, you saw them and you were talking to them, they were both a little nervous, especially Mateychuk. But it's the first time you put the jersey on in an NHL rink. There's nerves. It's OK. He's 18 years old.
"But I have seen it in Traverse City and early in camp, his poise. He's an assertive player. Jiricek, it's the same thing. I believe he trusts his skill set. He's long, he's rangy, he's able to close, take away time and space. I think as you see the games go along, they'll settle in. What better way than to do it together."
For his part, Jiricek said things have been a "great experience" so far in his first NHL camp, but he knows the hard work is just beginning.
"It's a game that is faster," he said after playing in Pittsburgh. "It was a little faster because everyone was playing for a place in the locker room. That's a small rink. I said that a lot of times, this is a smaller rink so you have to make plays quicker with the puck and have smart thinking, smarter decisions. I made a few mistakes. I just need to adapt."
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