Blue Jackets see Methot’s potential

The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

At first, Blue Jackets defenseman Marc Methot was put on the club’s top defensive pair out of necessity. Eight games later, he’s lining up next to Jan Hejda because it’s interim coach Claude Noel’s preference.

“[Methot] is going to be a really good player for us,” Noel said. “He’s a smart player, really strong. And he’s just touching the tip of the iceberg right now, just barely.”

When the Blue Jackets’ list of top young talent is rattled off, it starts with goaltender Steve Mason, follows with center Derick Brassard and right winger Jake Voracek, and rarely, if ever, makes its way to Methot.

But the 24-year-old is getting a chance to play his way into the conversation. He’s 6-foot-3, 233 pounds and arguably the second-best skater on the blue line, next to Kris Russell.

“We had a ton of action on him at the trade deadline,” said Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson. “That says something about how he’s viewed around the league, too.”

Methot, who has played only 141 NHL games, is a curious case. Typically it takes defensemen longer to develop into NHL regulars than it does forwards, but Methot has struggled to gain a foothold at every level.

He struggled early in junior hockey, but by the end of his time with London of the Ontario Hockey League he was going toe-to-toe with Sidney Crosby and the Rimouski Oceanic in the 2005 Memorial Cup, the championship of junior hockey. London earned a four-game sweep over Rimouski.

Methot’s early days with the Blue Jackets’ top minor-league affiliate in Syracuse (2005-06) were similarly pockmarked. He was unsure of himself, with the puck and without, and his play was wildly inconsistent.

But fast forward to 2007-08, and Methot was a hip-checking monster, sure of himself and his game.

It follows that the learning curve would be the same in the NHL, except that Methot was very good last season as a rookie, spending lots of time in the top four.

“Coming into your second season, everybody has higher expectations, and it’s hard to fulfill those sometimes,” Methot said. “I’m still kind of figuring out what my role is now, how I have to play at the NHL level.”