Soucy Signed, Severson Out: Columbus Patches What It Can

The Blue Jackets signed defenseman Carson Soucy to a professional tryout contract on Saturday, which tells you most of what you need to know about where things stand on the blue line. Damon Severson, who was day-to-day when camp opened, has since moved to out. That's a significant piece of the back end gone before a game has been played.

Up front, Valeri Nichushkin and Dmitri Voronkov remain day-to-day. Columbus acquired Nichushkin specifically to add the kind of physical, consistent winger the team lacked when the offense cratered last April — 2.1 goals per game over the final 10, two wins total. Voronkov was one of the team's more reliable scorers a season ago. Neither is practicing at full capacity right now.

The Soucy signing is a reasonable response to a bad situation, not a solution to it. He gives the coaching staff a body with NHL experience to work with while Severson is out. What it doesn't do is replace what Severson brings in terms of ice time and offensive contribution from the back end — that's a gap Zach Werenski and Denton Mateychuk will have to absorb until further notice.

Columbus built this offseason around fixing last year's depth problem. Right now the depth problem is the offseason additions themselves.