Number: TBD
Date of Birth: Feb. 11, 1997 (age 25)
Birthplace: Biloxi, Miss.
Height, Weight: 6-2, 210
Stats: 10 GP, 0-1-1 (with Nashville)
Contract: Signed through 2022-23 season (One year remaining before RFA status)
The Blue Jackets went into the offseason looking to add a big body or two, a buck-stops-here type of player who could do some policing of the ice in those situations every year when it comes up.
Enter Mathieu Olivier.
Columbus acquired the wing from Nashville just before the NHL draft in exchange for a fourth-round pick, and while general manager Jarmo Kekalainen stopped well short of saying Olivier was to be a designated enforcer for the team, he is happy to add a little toughness. to the equation.
“That’s always a good quality to have,” Kekalainen said. “I’ve said this before, I believe more in team toughness than having one or two tough guys that everybody can hide behind. I believe all 20 guys that dress have to have that competitiveness and battle mentality to push back, whatever you call it. .
“You have guys that have a little extra grit on top of that and that toughness, that’s great. That’s why we added Olivier, but I think you watch the Stanley Cup final this year and there’s a lot of team toughness in those highly skilled teams. where there’s always pushback. There’s that battle mentality in every situation.”
Olivier has played in 48 career NHL games, including 10 a year ago. In all, he has posted three goals, four assists, 88 penalty minutes, 102 hits and six fights to his account.
He also has played in 156 AHL games, posting a 19-23-42 line with 262 penalty minutes, and notched a 59-71-130 line with 390 PIM in 300 career QMJHL games with Moncton, Shawinigan and Sherbrooke.
Top Moment of 2021-22
If we’re being honest, it would be his scrap with Kurtis Gabriel during a March 11 game between Olivier’s Milwaukee Admirals and Gabriel’s Rockford IceHogs at the AHL level. The two heavyweights threw haymaker after haymaker at each other in a 45-second long bout that left Gabriel cut open and bleeding profusely all over his face and jersey. Old time hockey it certainly was, and it’s the kind of toughness the Blue Jackets were looking for when they acquired Olivier.
An Olivier Highlight
Stat to Know
Despite Olivier’s reputation of not being afraid to drop the gloves, he had only six fights a season ago — two in his 10 games with Nashville and four in his 46 games with Milwaukee. Of course, the game has changed, but it just goes to show it’s a different world than when his father, Simon, patrolled the minor leagues. Simon had 43 points and a career-high 302 penalty minutes in 1997-98 with Oklahoma of the CHL, and it’s fair to guess there were more than six fights included in that stat line. A year earlier, Simon had 230 penalty minutes when playing with Mississippi of the ECHL — and Mathieu was born, making him the only NHL player ever born in the Magnolia State.
2022-23 Expectations
No player wants to be known as just a fighter, so Olivier will come to the CBJ camp and try to show that he brings more than just toughness to the table in a bottom-six role. At the same time, though, don’t expect him to shy away from any confrontation. It remains to be seen how many games Olivier will play, especially with the crowded wing depth chart, but it seems clear there are certain matchups in which he’ll be an asset to the Blue Jackets.
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