from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

As Davidson put it, after mentioning bricks: “There’s good things that are happening. We’ve talked from day 1 about the foundation. I think the foundation is stronger. We still have a ways to go, but we’re in a decent place.”

Coach John Tortorella’s debriefing, held two days earlier, had a different tone. His message: The Blue Jackets haven’t done anything yet; the next step is to become a winning playoff team (“Good is the enemy of great”). Tortorella did everything but pound his fist as he described the organization’s new standard.

JDJK struck a happier tone. They are entitled. The Blue Jackets went from the fourth-worst record to the fourth-best record in the league during the regular season. They won 50 games, racked up 108 points. Then, they were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Penguins, and it took only five games....

“We may not have a Malkin or Crosby, but we have a lot of good depth and balance on our forwards side, and we have some good young players coming,” Kekalainen said. “We also have a back end we can compare to any in the National Hockey League, and a (Vezina-caliber) goaltender. (Bobrovsky) will be better. I’m convinced of it. ... I’m 100 percent confident he’ll get over that hump.”

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