Blue Jackets’ Texier Standing Out Despite Scoring Slump

The return of Alexandre Texier was going to potentially shake up the forward group. If he came into training camp and made an impression, then someone else would be left out.

As it turned out, Texier had a great training camp. Voronkov started the season in Cleveland when many thought he’d start in the NHL right away. Not only did Texier make the team, he earned a spot in the top-six.

During Saturday night’s game against the New York Islanders, Texier played on the left wing along with Adam Fantilli and Emil Bemstrom. There’s a reason he’s been given this opportunity. He worked for it.

Tex Feeling Good

Texier came in after a hard summer of work to position himself to make an impact. How does he feel at this point in the season with some games under his belt?

“I feel pretty good. (There’s) been some good hockey as a team too,” Texier said. We started building something here. It’s not gonna be perfect but we’re gonna find a way. But I think it’s, we got everything in the room, so we put it together like we did in those seven games.”

Texier spoke on Saturday morning prior to the Islanders game. Interestingly enough, he entered that game with a line of 0-0-0 in those seven games. Yet the talk around him has been all positive. He might not have been on the scoresheet as of yet. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t impacting the game.

“You know, (I’m) not thinking about it. It’s gonna come at some point. I think if you play the right way, my goal is just to be in the lineup and play those big minutes and then the rest will follow as a line. But I think we are doing some good stuff, small details of the game defensively. It’s not (always) gonna be on the score sheet, but it’s big for the team.”

Fantilli/Texier Push Each Other

Texier and Fantilli have shown some chemistry of late when playing together. Their line on Thursday night in Montreal was by far the Blue Jackets’ best line from a production and possession standpoint.

According to Nat Stat Trick, all members of that line held a CF% of 64.7%. This supported the eye test. They held the puck a lot and had time in the offensive zone. While the points weren’t there in abundance, they were creating chances.

Texier says that he and Fantilli push each other while playing on a line.

“Oh, it’s been good,” Texier said about playing with Fantilli. “He’s young. (He has) a lot of skating. (We) put some work in during the game and we push each other. I have so much stuff to learn too. And it’s the same for him. So (we’re) just learning together. So we’ve been playing some pretty good games together.”

Vincent Getting Most Out of Texier

One of the big wildcards coming into the new season was how the players would react to new coach Pascal Vincent. Although he’s had vast experience at many different levels of hockey for a long time, this was his first time being an NHL head coach.

Texier is impressed with the small details that Vincent seems to provide. Let him explain a small but potentially key thing Vincent does.

“He’s close to the players. (He) likes to explain and likes to talk. It’s the same language for me too, so, you can develop some stuff too in your language. It’s a little bit different. But he likes to talk and I like to talk too. The small detail of the game (with Vincent) is really, really strong. When we talk about it, it’s simple. We got to work. And I think that’s from the day when he was (hired) here. So yeah, it’s been good.”

Vincent recognizes the impact Texier has made so far despite the lack of scoring. It’s not about individual points at this stage. It’s about the process and if that part is right. The rest will come.

But Vincent does acknowledge Texier could be facing a battle with the lack of scoring.

“Real good training camp. His speed is, you can tell every game he’s creating turnovers,” Vincent said of Texier. “He’s creating chances. If he didn’t have any scoring chances, I’d be worried. But I’m not because he’s having chances. It’s just a matter of that puck crossing the red line and getting into the net. So he’s doing a lot of good things.”

“So for him, it’s a battle right now, right? He’s an offensive kind of guy. He plays well defensive defensively, 200-foot kind of player, but he’s not producing right now. So that’s gonna test him a little bit as far as staying confident. But we speak to him daily and the process is right. So once that’s right, good things will come.”

“But he showed up at camp in real good shape. He’s been really good during training camp. He’s still very good for us. It’s just unfortunate that he hasn’t produced yet, but the chances are there and he’s doing a lot of good things and he’s also part of our penalty kill and he’s doing a great job there.”

Staying With the Process

The key thing for Texier is to stay consistent with the process. According to Vincent, the process is correct. The rest will eventually work itself out.

Texier’s line is getting plenty of chances to score while making a positive impact on puck possession. The Blue Jackets are still off to a good start overall given their expectations despite his lack of production.

But once that starts to catch up with what’s expected, that bodes well for both Texier and the Blue Jackets. He knew he had a big summer of work to get ready for the season. He put in the work necessary. His season is off to a great start even with low production.

Don’t expect that level of scoring production to last. It feels like just a matter of time before Texier finds the back of the net at a more consistent pace. The other things he’s doing to impact the game suggest that’s coming soon.