Columbus Blue Jackets fans, no doubt sick of the injury woes and seemingly continuous stream of bad news coming out of their hockey team this season, might finally have something to smile about - or at least grimace at in a slightly bitter, smile-like manner.
Yes, the constant injuries, capped off by the recent triceps tear suffered by the ultra-talented Artem Anisimov, have been nearly unending (seriously, Jared Clinton of The Hockey News wrote out the list of players the Blue Jackets have on injured reserve and those that have missed varying amounts of time already this season due to injury - it's kind of insane) and have probably already crippled whatever small hopes the team had of making a playoff run.
But while finding themselves in the NHL basement - literally last in the league with 14 points in 23 games - might be hard to swallow in the here and now, there is a pretty serious silver lining waiting just around the corner should the remainder of the season hold true to form.
That silver lining? Next year's NHL Entry Draft and a small handful of prospects named Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin.
If the draft were held today, the Blue Jackets would receive a very high percentage chance at having the pick of the litter. But of course, being only a quarter of the way into the season, there is much hockey left to be played and the standings are more likely than not going to be very different by the end of the year.
But for a team like Columbus, that, when healthy, is much better than their current standing would indicate, the addition of a potentially generational talent like McDavid, Eichel or Hanifin could serve to make the Blue Jackets serious Cup contenders for the next decade or more.
