COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s still two months until the Columbus Blue Jackets open training camp, and GM Don Waddell remains willing (hoping?) to make moves that will push his young roster forward after a pleasantly surprising finish last season.

But with each passing day, it’s less likely that any such move would be substantial enough to shake up the foundation of the roster, so what you see — after an offseason of only moderate upgrades — may well be what you get when the puck drops on the season opener on Oct. 9 in Nashville.

Let’s pass the day with a time-tested offseason exercise: bold, moderately informed speculation.

As Blue Jackets fans know all too well, forward lines and defensive pairs are moving targets, but it was clear under first-year Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason last season that if something works, he’s not going to mess with it. That has given us insights into where these players will slot going forward, so there shouldn’t be quite as much guesswork.

Here goes:

F1Dmitri Voronkov — Sean Monahan — Kirill Marchenko

In his first three NHL seasons, Marchenko has scored 21, 23 and 31 goals, a mark last season that tied him with Adam Fantilli for the Blue Jackets’ lead. He benefited from Monahan’s presence at center, but Marchenko took steps to improve his own game, too, most notably his increased drive in battling for pucks. It’s not a stretch to think he could be a 40-goal scorer soon.

Monahan is a “lift all boats” player who turned in the second point-per-game season of his career, but his 1.055 points per game (19 goals, 38 assists and 57 points in 54 games) was a career high. The Blue Jackets were a different club with him in the lineup.

Monahan and Marchenko had instant chemistry last season, and Evason rarely tinkered with that combo. It was on the left side of the line where it took a while to settle on Voronkov, but it quickly became one of the best lines in the NHL.

We can say with certainty that Voronkov’s spot on that line is not guaranteed. When he signed a two-year extension this summer, it was made clear by Waddell that Voronkov has been challenged to show up in September in the best shape of his career.

It’s not a good sign when two different coaches in two years — first Pascal Vincent, then Evason — say that Voronkov “ran out of gas” in the final months of the season, and the numbers have proved it.

If Voronkov’s not ready at the start of camp or the start of the season, look for Yegor Chinakhov (despite his trade request) and Kent Johnson getting a shot in that spot.

F2Boone Jenner — Adam Fantilli — Kent Johnson

Yes, Jenner is on the left side here, for multiple reasons. For me, putting Chinakhov in that spot makes the second line way too inexperienced and not stiff enough on the wings to play defensively. I’m not saying I wouldn’t try it, but it looks risky as a mix of players.

The other issue is faceoffs. As you’d expect with a young player, Fantilli has struggled early in his career (41.9 percent). He still needs to take them to get better, of course, but having Jenner on his line will allow a much more aggressive approach.

This needs to be a puck possession line, with Jenner’s sturdiness along the wall, Fantilli’s strength down low and Johnson’s ability to dangle and elude.

You could see the light flicker on early last season for Fantilli, who had three goals in his first 21 games and 28 in his final 61.

If Fantilli continues to rise — he’s so driven, that’s not much of a question — it won’t be long before he starts to draw as much or more ice time than Monahan. For now, he gives the Blue Jackets the best 1-2 punch they’ve ever had at center ice, and potentially a top-10 combo in the league.

It started to come together for Johnson last season, with career highs in goals (24), assists (33), points (57) and, finally, ice time (17:18). He is a sublime playmaker, and he started to make adjustments last season when it was clear opponents were starting to take a more physical tack with him. That’s a good sign.

F3Yegor Chinakhov — Charlie Coyle — Cole Sillinger

A new-look line, with offseason acquisition Coyle in the middle. After years of waiting on prospects or trying to shape wingers into centers, the Blue Jackets have center depth that is the envy of most teams in the NHL. Coyle may not have the jump of his youth, but he’s a steady, competitive third-line center.

We can assume that Chinakhov, given his trade request, would not be pleased with this assignment. But if he’s healthy and full of a good attitude, as his agent has insisted, he could easily supplant Voronkov or Jenner on the lines above him. If this is the season he realizes his potential, he could rearrange those top two lines. Yes, he’s that talented.

Expect to see Coyle take a ton of situational faceoffs on the right side of the ice, meaning he could step off this line for spot-shifts with others. The Jackets targeted him because they needed a right shot down the middle.

Sillinger has been a jack-of-all-trades for the Blue Jackets so far in his career, and that may be the plan in 2025-26 as well. This represents a move from center to the wing, which is not ideal for him, but he won’t complain. He’s been a double-digit goal scorer in three of his first four seasons, and at 22 years old, he’s nearing 300 games (286) already in his career.

F4Miles Wood — Isac Lundestrom — Mathieu Olivier

Another new-look line. Wood came over (with Coyle) in a trade with Colorado, while Lundestrom was signed as a free agent after Justin Danforth signed with Buffalo.

Lundestrom had better be ready for some smoke. If this line plays as expected, with Wood rattling bones on the forecheck and Olivier lording over the league as the top heavyweight, there could be plenty of combative shifts.

Wood needs a rebound year in the worst way. He missed two months with a back injury and played only 37 games, scoring a career-low four goals. The Blue Jackets aren’t expecting him to score double-digit goals, though. They want him to drive the forecheck to a physical level it hasn’t been in years.

Olivier was highly regarded as a fighter already, but took his game to new heights with 18 goals, 32 points and 139 penalty minutes, all career highs. It will be hard to replicate the offensive production in this spot, but don’t rule out him playing higher in the lineup.

Lundestrom has played under the radar in Anaheim the last five seasons, but he’s a positionally sound center who offers more consistency than flash. He scored 16 goals in his first full NHL season (2021-22), but has scored 13 goals in 186 games (over three seasons) since.

ExtrasZach Aston-Reese, Mykael Pyyhtiä

How smart does Aston-Reese look now? After playing with Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Toronto and Detroit, and spending much of the 2023-24 season in the AHL, Aston-Reese recognized the situation in Columbus and pushed to sign an extension early last season. He and Wood will likely go toe-to-toe for that fourth-line spot. …

Pyyhtiä remains a restricted free agent. He might be looking for a one-way deal, while the club would prefer flexibility.

D1Zach Werenski — Dante Fabbro

Blue Jackets fans have seen Werenski’s high level of play for several seasons, but he went next-level last season and was finally recognized on a national scene. Werenski finished second in Norris Trophy voting as the league’s best defenseman. He had his first point-a-game season (23 goals, 59 assists and 82 points in 81 games) and became the first blueliner to lead the Blue Jackets in scoring.

What could he possibly do as an encore? Last season, Werenski was motivated to represent Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off. This season, he’s expected to represent the red, white and blue at the Olympics, so there’s another carrot before him.

The spot to the right of Werenski was a revolving door ever since Seth Jones was traded after the 2020-21 season. That changed in early November when Fabbro was claimed off waivers from Nashville. They played together from Fabbro’s first game and seemed to have immediate chemistry.

What was Nashville thinking? Fabbro set career highs in goals (nine), points (26) and plus-minus (+23).

It may seem like playing next to Werenski would be easy, but it’s not for everybody. Fabbro reads the play quickly enough to keep up with Werenski, and he’s an excellent passer out of the defensive zone. The key to their success — being able to play heavy minutes, producing, possessing — is that they don’t spend much time defending.

D2Denton Mateychuk — Ivan Provorov

When the Blue Jackets swung and missed on finding a top-four, right-side defenseman via trade or free agency, they circled back and re-signed Provorov, a lefty who is comfortable on the right side, to a seven-year, $59.5 million contract.

With Provorov’s durability and the NHL’s soaring salary cap, it’s a deal that could look entirely appropriate in a couple of seasons. But there was clearly a cost (term, dollars) to the Blue Jackets for shopping around.

This doesn’t always happen, but Mateychuk was exactly as expected when he hit the NHL: quick, decisive, smart and responsible. It was clear in training camp that Mateychuk was among their best six defensemen, but he didn’t arrive until late December. The Blue Jackets were a better team with him in the lineup.

It will be interesting to see what Mateychuk looks like in his Year 2. He may never be considered a purely offensive defenseman, but most expect he’ll start showing more aggressive creativity with the puck.

Dug this up earlier this summer: the Blue Jackets, when Werenski-Fabbro, Mateychuk-Provorov were in the lineup, went 26-13-2 and allowed 2.95 goals-against. When they weren’t, the Jackets were 14-20-7 and allowed 3.56 per game. This is not the substandard top four many would have you believe.

D3Damon Severson — Erik Gudbranson

The prevailing opinion was that Severson would be much more comfortable in his second season in Columbus, that the pressure to live up to his big-ticket contract would have faded. But he was no better — maybe worse — than in his first season.

This is a situation that has to be fixed. With six (!) years remaining on his contract, at $6.25 million per season, Severson is virtually untradeable and buyout-proof for at least two or three more years. There’s a good player in there, and he’s shown it in Columbus. Just not consistently enough.

We’re guessing nobody was more relieved by Provorov’s big contract than Severson, who is now the third-highest-paid defenseman on the club. Now, if he can play the left side (he’s a right shot) and find comfort in lower minutes and expectations, maybe he can get his confidence back.

Gudbranson gives the Blue Jackets some snarl along the blue line and at net front, and he’s an excellent penalty killer. This is not a physical group of defensemen, so Gudbranson’s presence is key. Olivier handles most of the fisticuffs, but Gudbranson is one heck of a second option.

Don’t expect Gudbranson to skate with the puck much, and he’ll try to get it off his stick as quickly as possible. That’s going to put pressure on Severson to be the mobile skater who can help get them out of trouble.

ExtraJake Christiansen

Not many would be surprised if Christiansen played his way into a regular role, just as he did last season. He’s a do-no-harm defender who gained Evason’s trust during training camp last season and spent a lot of time (68 games) on the left side of the third pair. Severson’s contract may give him first dibs on that spot, but it’s very much up for grabs.

G1Jet Greaves

Obviously, this is a speculation. But it says here that if Greaves has a solid training camp and preseason — nothing more than he’s done before, by the way — we’ll predict that he’ll get every chance to be the Blue Jackets starting goaltender in his first NHL season. The safest bet, probably, is that it’ll be a 50/50 split, but we’ll see.

It remains a mystery why the Blue Jackets waited so long to recall Greaves from AHL Cleveland, but he stated his case in the final weeks of the season. Greaves would have been part of the organization’s lore had they made the playoffs. He won his final five starts, allowing only four goals total, as the Blue Jackets fell just two points short of a top-eight finish.

It is clear from his teammates’ words how much they enjoy playing with Greaves in net.

Elvis Merzlikins

It’s in there. If you’ve watched Merzlikins through the years, you know there’s an athletic, quick-twitch goaltender inside the 31-year-old Latvian. And there were times last season, including the Stadium Series outdoor game, where he was excellent. But whenever you think Merzlikins is about to launch, there’s a backslide.

So it was last season, when he continued to have his unfortunate on-ice eruptions, shattering sticks, berating teammates, taunting opponents, etc. Greaves outplayed him, but he took his job for many reasons late last season.

Evason has been very supportive of Merzlikins, often referring to him as one of the club’s leaders.

Good question: how would Merzlikins handle it if he’s not the starter?

(Top photo of  Elvis Merzlikins and Dante Fabbro: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)