Blue Jackets Sunday Gathering: Surgery forces Mathieu Olivier to turn down Team USA invite

New York Times

04-05-2025

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Columbus Blue Jackets:
Blue Jackets winger Mathieu Olivier had surgery Tuesday to repair a stretched tendon above a knuckle on his oft-used right hand, a procedure that will prevent him from taking part in some offseason workouts for up to two months but will allow him to be healed for training camp in the fall.
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That alone is significant news, as Olivier became an important part of the Blue Jackets lineup in 2024-25. But there are two other morsels — fallout from the surgery, you might say — that land somewhere between inspirational and incredible.
Olivier was saddened when he learned last month he needed to have surgery, because just days earlier he'd been invited by Team USA to play in the IIHF World Championship beginning later this week in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark.
Of all the compliments paid this season to Olivier, who scored a career-high 18 goals and was second in the NHL with 139 penalty minutes, there's nothing quite like an invitation to an international tournament by one of the world's leading hockey countries to confirm his status as an all-around player, not just a fighter.
It was inspiring for Olivier, who doesn't want to be marginalized as a fighter. Fighting is exceedingly rare in IIHF events, meaning Olivier was wanted for what he could offer as a hockey player. It mirrors what the Blue Jackets learned this season, when coach Dean Evason played him as high as the second line.
'I wasn't going to drop the mitts if I'm going to Europe with Team USA,' Olivier told The Athletic. 'To get recognized for a good year is huge, because it means they like what you're doing on the ice.
'I've talked to you a lot about constantly getting better and evolving and adding to my game, and (the invite) is a nice little tidbit for me to be able to prove that at 28 years old, I'm still getting better.'
Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell, an advisor to Team USA, said Olivier had accepted the offer and was excited to fly out with Team USA this past week. But he wanted to make sure his injured right hand was checked before departing.
It wasn't an issue of being able to play through the hand injury, he said. He wanted to know if a procedure would be required at some point this summer, and if delaying it by playing in the Worlds would affect his preparedness for the start of next season.
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If he'd waited until after the Worlds — the tournament ends May 25 — it would have cost him a month of training.
Olivier, who was born in Mississippi while his father, Simon, played in the ECHL, has dual citizenship with Canada and the United States, so he'd be eligible to play for both. But he never even considered picking a side, he said, because being asked to play internationally wasn't ever a consideration.
'For him to think he was never going to be invited by one of the national teams … that's really something,' Waddell said. 'And he deserved it. He was so looking forward to it. But then the scan came back.'
Which brings us to the incredible part of this story.
Olivier said he suffered the hand injury on Feb. 4 when one of his punches on Buffalo Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert caught a piece of Gilbert's helmet instead of his head.
That means Olivier, who led the NHL with 15 fighting majors, had four fights with an injured right hand, including a spirited duel with Florida Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich on March 6. (Try not to wince every time his right hand hits Gadjovich's helmet.)
'We didn't think it was that bad, honestly, and then we got some testing done and it was clear we needed to get some things fixed in there,' Olivier said. 'You hit a little bit of helmet and, weirdly enough, that's worse than going through a person.
'Me being me, and being a hockey player, I just kept doing what I was doing. I played with it and fought with it, and it kinda made it worse. I thought it was something I could play through, and the medical staff all felt the same. But we wanted to take a look at it (after the season), and it's a good thing we did.'
Olivier said he sees a silver lining.
On Sunday, Olivier, his wife and two kids were set to make the 12 1/2 hour drive from Columbus to Quebec City. He'll be back in the gym later this week, he said, rekindling an offseason ritual with fellow NHLers Yanni Gourde (Tampa Bay), Jonathan Marchessault (Nashville), Zachary Bolduc (St. Louis) and Jakob Pelletier (Philadelphia), among others.
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'The (surgically repaired) hand is not going to be a big issue,' Olivier said. 'We have a plan in place. I'll be able to get a full summer of workouts, and it's not a bad thing to focus on my legs, my core and my cardio. I'll give my upper body a break after a long and grinding season. I'm seeing the positive in it.'
Olivier will have plenty of wind at his back this offseason. He's coming off the best season of his career. He plays on a Blue Jackets team that delivered above expectations this season and appears to have a bright future. And, while an invite to the Worlds isn't exactly an Olympic invite, it's still a massive compliment.
'I didn't think it was something that was possible for me,' Olivier said. 'I was really upset when we found out I couldn't go. It was the right decision for me and the Blue Jackets and my career, and those things are No. 1. But it would have been nice to go and represent the U.S. there.'
Would he like the opportunity in the future? Well, yes and no.
'Hopefully we'll be worrying about the playoffs (in Columbus) and not the Worlds,' Olivier said. 'But if it comes to the Worlds, it's nice to know you get a shot.'
Waddell spent part of last week in Texas, scouting the IIHF World Under-18 Championship, where several of this year's top draft choices were on display. The Blue Jackets will hold scouting meetings later in May, just over a month before the draft.
Otherwise, a big part of Waddell's attention in the short term will be interviewing and hiring new support staff members after he let four longtime employees go a couple of days after the season.
Equipment manager Jamie Healy, video coach Dan Singleton, strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins and assistant trainer Naoto 'Nates' Goto were all in the final years of their contract. Healy and Singleton were original employees when Columbus joined the NHL as an expansion franchise.
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'We felt we wanted to go in a different direction,' Waddell told The Athletic. 'They're all good people, but we felt it was time for a change.'
Waddell said he didn't anticipate any further changes with support staff, but he noted that other staffers with expiring contracts will need to sign new deals. With Collins no longer overseeing players' fitness routines, assistant strength and conditioning coach Ryan Gadbois is filling in for the interim.
Asked if the Blue Jackets would fill the support staff openings from within, Waddell said: 'I'm going to talk to people, but my thinking is probably not. I think everybody's in a good spot right now.
'Never say never, because never doesn't end. I'll keep an open mind about it, but that's what I'm thinking as of now.'
Many wondered if there would be changes to the Blue Jackets coaching staff, with assistants Jared Boll and Steve McCarthy and goaltending coach Niklas Backstrom in the final years of their deals. Waddell signed all three to extensions after watching them work together this season.
'I'm down there every day and I like the way they work,' Waddell said. 'They all have responsibilities, and they all share in responsibilities. The one thing Dean does is really give his assistants a lot of power, even between periods and after games.'
As predicted in this space last week, two Blue Jackets players were announced this week as finalists for NHL awards: Zach Werenski for the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman, and Sean Monahan for the Masterton Trophy, which honors perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
Werenski, who set multiple career and franchise records and finished second among NHL defensemen in scoring, was named as a finalist, along with Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks.
He's the first Blue Jackets player to be a finalist for the Norris.
Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar and Zach Werenski are the finalists for the Norris Trophy! 🏆 #NHLAwards
The James Norris Memorial Trophy is awarded annually "to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position." pic.twitter.com/GQSaLKugOT
— NHL (@NHL) April 29, 2025
Monahan played above a point-a-game pace and showed incredible poise and grace after the death of his best friend, Johnny Gaudreau, before the season. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury of the Minnesota Wild and Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche are the other finalists.
It's the fourth time a Blue Jackets player has been a finalist for the Masterton.
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Both awards are voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and all voting is completed before the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Waddell doesn't have a ballot for either award — NHL GMs vote on the Vezina Trophy for the league's top goaltender — but said the following of the Blue Jackets' two candidates: On Werenski: 'Particularly the first three months of the season, I don't know where we would have been without him. He was good all year, don't get me wrong, but those first three months, he was exceptional. Right from training camp, you could see, he took this team on his back and he was going to make it happen. The second half, he continued on, maybe not so much point-wise as the first half, but he was certainly one of the big leaders all year, on both ends of the ice.'
On Monahan: 'What a unique situation and a tough situation to come into after going through free agency, picking Columbus and then losing Johnny. How he handled himself … this is an amazing person. Every game he came to play, and every practice he came to practice. He was a true professional, one of our leaders in a difficult time. When he went out (28 games with a wrist injury), we really missed him. I just can't say enough good things about this guy.'
Presenting the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy finalists. 📣 #NHLAwards
The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is presented annually to the "player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey." pic.twitter.com/zfnKyPiChn
— NHL (@NHL) May 2, 2025
The Blue Jackets had hoped Evason, who guided the Blue Jackets within one win of their first playoff berth in five seasons, might be a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy, as voted on by the NHL Broadcasters' Association.
But Scott Arniel of the Winnipeg Jets, Spencer Carbery of the Washington Capitals and Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens were the top three vote-getters. Arniel was the Blue Jackets head coach in 2010-11 and 2011-12, while St. Louis was a team consultant under coach John Tortorella in 2018-19.
• Evason, who is currently in Europe with Team Canada ahead of the Worlds, was asked by The Athletic before he left Columbus why it took so long for the Blue Jackets to give goaltender Jet Greaves the starting job as the club stumbled through most of the stretch drive. Greaves was in net for the five straight wins at the end of the season, stopping 156 of 160 shots (a .975 save percentage).
• Here's Evason: 'Obviously, hindsight is awesome. Did we know (Greaves would play like that)? Obviously, if we did, he would have been with us sooner. Did we talk about it? Yes, of course. Did we evaluate what was best for the organization and best for Jet? Yeah. Don't forget, Elvis (Merlikins) played extremely well, and I know, probably, the numbers are going to come back (not so great), but he held us in games. He won games for us. It's easy now to look back and say maybe he should have been here earlier, but there were a lot of factors and circumstances that played into it. Was it great to see Jet play like that at the end? Do we believe he can continue to do that? The answer to both is yes. Yes, we do.'
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• AHL Cleveland has dug itself quite a hole in its second-round series vs. Laval. The Monsters trail the best-of-five series 2-0 after losing the first two games last week in Cleveland: 3-2 on Wednesday and 4-0 on Friday. Today's 3 p.m. puck drop is an elimination game. Laval, under previous Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent, was the AHL's best regular-season team, earning a first-round bye and an 11-day break before the second round.
• It's possible, maybe even likely, that Cleveland's final game, whenever that occurs, could be Trey Fix-Wolansky's final game with the Columbus organization, too. Fix-Wolansky, a seventh-round pick (No. 204) in 2018, has played only 26 NHL games (none this season) in six pro seasons, which is why he's an unrestricted free agent this summer instead of a restricted free agent. While he's had only cups of coffee in Columbus, he's a Cleveland hockey legend, owning the franchise records for goals (112), assists (147) and points (259) and ranking third in games played (289) and ninth in penalty minutes (254).
• Blue Jackets defensive prospect Luca Marrelli, the club's third-round pick (No. 86) last June, has had an incredible Ontario Hockey League playoffs for the Oshawa Generals. Marrelli, with 6-25-31 in only 16 playoff games, is nearing a 32-year-old OHL record held by Hall of Famer Chris Pronger. In 1993, Pronger had 40 points (15-25-40) for the Peterborough Petes. Marrelli's run includes 2-9-11 (plus-7) in his last three games, helping Oshawa reach the OHL finals. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Marrelli plays on the right side (right shot), which could make him a very important player for the Blue Jackets in the next few seasons. The 19-year-old defenseman is eligible to join the Cleveland Monsters for the playoffs, if they're still alive. Next up for Oshawa is an OHL final rematch with the London Knights, who pounded Oshawa in a finals sweep last season and have yet to lose a game (three series sweeps) so far in these playoffs. Game 1 is Thursday in London.
• Defenseman Sascha Boumedienne, who played for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets from 2021-2023, is expected to be a first-round draft pick in this summer's draft. His play as a freshman at Boston University this season and, most recently, at the World U18s, will only help his draft status. Boumedienne, 6-foot-2, 185 pounds, set a tournament record for points by a defenseman with 1-13-14 in seven games for Sweden, which took silver. Boumedienne lived in Columbus while his father, Josef, worked for the Blue Jackets as a scout, an executive and an assistant coach. The Blue Jackets hold the No. 13 and 20 picks in this year's draft. Wouldn't that be something?
(Photo of Mathieu Olivier: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)