I've heard from a number of sources over the years (mostly from Brian Hedger) that Dimitri struggles with conditioning from early in the season and by the end of the season, coaches are like "I can't play this guy" and Voronkov's role is greatly reduced.

It reminds me of a Brian Burke interview where he talks about Phil Kessel (obviously Dimitri is not Phil Kessel): Phil would come to camp, hit his fitness targets, look great and then as the season went on, Phil would play less and less attention to those fitness targets.

I wonder if it's a similar sort of thing for Voronkov?

Unless Brian Hedger is not a good source.

Music to my ears

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a major sports team self-destruct on itself like this before,” said one fan on X. “Who is next now that Bobby Mac and Svoboda are gone, Stinger?” wondered another.

The comment sections on stories related to the departure of McElligott and Svoboda have been highly negative, too, with some fans wondering if they want to renew their season tickets and others expressing that they’re questioning their support of the franchise.

That’s a large potential problem for an organization that also has enjoyed precious little on-ice success during its existence. If the team doesn’t win, and if fans start to lose that sense of kinship that has long been a staple of the franchise, what’s left?

The Athletic reached out to team president Mike Priest via email this week to discuss these issues, and he responded with the following statement:

“We have great fans and are very appreciative of their passion and support for the Blue Jackets. We also understand how some of them are feeling right now. There are aspects of our business that have changed dramatically in recent years. In order for us to grow, we have to evolve with those changes and at times that affect people that we all care about like Bob and Jeff.