The Columbus Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Preceded in Ohio's capital by the Columbus Chill of the ECHL and the state of Ohio in general by the Cleveland Barons, the Blue Jackets were founded as an expansion team in 2000. The team qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in 2009.

The Blue Jackets' name and logos were inspired by Ohio's Civil War history. Rick Nash, David Vyborny, Ray Whitney, Chris Clark, Fredrik Modin, Steve Mason, Geoff Sanderson, R. J. Umberger and Sergei Fedorov are some of the more prominent NHL figures to have donned a Columbus jersey. The Blue Jackets play their home games at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus, which opened in 2000. They are affiliated with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL.

After the Cleveland Barons left in 1978, Ohio's hockey fans had to wait 22 years to host another NHL team. Columbus entered an expansion bid in 1997, along with several other cities. The voters of Columbus were considering a referendum to build a publicly financed arena, a major step toward approval of their NHL bid. When League Commissioner Gary Bettman visited Columbus to meet with the community's leaders about the franchise proposal, there was concern that the voters might not pass the needed referendum. The civic leaders told Bettman that they would not be willing to foot the bill for the team if the referendum failed. However, just after the meeting adjourned, John H. McConnell (one of those who entered the bid) privately guaranteed Bettman that an arena would be built, referendum or not.

Rich Peverley (born July 8, 1982) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player currently with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. Peverley spent four years with the St. Lawrence University hockey team, before he turned professional, and played three years for several teams in both the ECHL and American Hockey League (AHL). In 2007 he signed a contract with the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL), playing for the team for parts of three seasons before the Atlanta Thrashers claimed him off waivers in 2009. Peverley first played internationally for Canada at the 2010 World Championships.

Peverley grew up in Guelph, Ontario playing most of his minor hockey for the Guelph Reps (now Jr. Storm) of the OMHA South Central AAA League. In his Midget year, he played one season with the Toronto Young Nats of the MTHL before moving back to his home area to play for the Kitchener Dutchmen Jr.B. club of the OHA Midwestern league.

After his Jr.B. season with the Dutchmen, Peverley was selected by Don Cherry and the Mississauga Ice Dogs in the 6th round (124th overall) of the 1999 OHL Draft. Peverley chose to maintain his NCAA eligibility and signed for the 1999-2000 season with the Milton Merchants of the OHA's Provincial Jr.A. League. He accepted an NCAA scholarship at the end of that season.

Blake Comeau (born February 18, 1986) is a Canadian ice hockey player who currently plays for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League.

Comeau played four seasons for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL in which he recorded increasing point totals in each year. His best year in the WHL was in 2005–06 when he scored 74 points in 60 games.

He was selected to represent Canada at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Vancouver, where he helped lead the Canadian team to the gold medal. He was one of the leading scorers in the tournament with 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in 6 games, and led his team in scoring.

He was drafted by the New York Islanders in the 2nd round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft (47th Overall). He was signed to a three-year contract with the Islanders on March 22, 2006, and joined the Sound Tigers for the 2006 AHL playoffs.

After an impressive NHL training camp, Comeau was assigned to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the start of the AHL season. He was recalled by the Islanders on December 7, 2006, and made his NHL debut that evening. In a separate recall, he scored his first NHL goal and recorded his first assist on December 21 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He would go on to score 8 goals and tally 7 assists in 51 games for the Islanders in the 2007–08 NHL season.

Brandon Dubinsky (born April 29, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Dubinsky began playing youth hockey in Anchorage, and graduated from Service High School in 2004. He played his junior career with Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for four years, and was a two-time Western Conference second team All-Star before being drafted in the second round of the 2004 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers.

Dubinsky played for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) for most of the 2006-2007 season. He first played for the New York Rangers on March 8, 2007, against the New York Islanders.

Dubinsky scored his first NHL goal against Marc-André Fleury on November 8, 2007, in a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dubinsky was the 3rd star of the game. Much of the season was spent centering the Rangers' first forward line with Jaromír Jágr and Sean Avery. He was one of sixteen rookies selected to participate in the 2008 YoungStars competition at the 56th NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta. He scored two goals and one assist and was named YoungStars Most Valuable Player. Dubinsky scored his first career playoff goal in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the New Jersey Devils on April 13, 2008.