ST. LOUIS -- The Blue Jackets finally made the climb from NHL expansion franchise to Stanley Cup playoff qualifier on Wednesday.

It was an eight-year journey full of highs and lows, hirings and firings, tragedies and triumphs. It was a trek that took way too long, yet was completed just in time.

The Blue Jackets, on many levels, couldn't have waited any longer for a season like this.

"Was doomsday going to occur if we did not get in?" Blue Jackets president Mike Priest said. "No. It wouldn't have.

"But let me put it this way: From the top to the bottom of the organization, there's not one bad aspect about making the playoffs. It's a huge bonus."

After five seasons of declining attendance, fans started coming back to Nationwide Arena in droves during the second half of this season.

After years of bouncing between anonymity and infamy -- "the only NHL club that's never made the playoffs" -- the Blue Jackets now have taken a large step toward respectability outside central Ohio.

And when Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson begins talking about a contract extension with captain Rick Nash this summer, it'll be helpful to show Nash that the Blue Jackets no longer are stuck in neutral or reverse.

"We've reached a point now," Howson said, "where people can look at this team, see what we've come from and what our future looks like, and they can see that it's worth having an attachment to.

"That's the credibility we needed to restore."

Fans in limbo

The Blue Jackets sold out every game during their second season, 2001-02. But after that, attendance headed south, dipping to an average of 14,459 last season, ranking Columbus among the bottom three teams in the 30-team NHL.

It's no stretch to say that a fan base hung in the balance.

With the economy taking a tumble, the casual fans needed a bigger push than ever to go to the Arena District. The patience of hardcore fans, even season-ticket holders, seemed to be wearing thin.

"Talk can only go so long," said Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock. "We had to earn our way into the landscape again. It was really important for us to earn the trust back of the people who come to our games."

Hitchcock and Howson didn't create the oil spill; previous president and general manager Doug MacLean was fired two summers ago. But it was their mess to clean up.

A 4-6-0 start to this season made for some stress-filled nights in Nationwide.

"I felt like the leash was maybe … one month," Hitchcock said. "I really felt, when we started 4-6-0, that we had no rope left with our fans.

"I heard disgust in the voices of our fans, and disgust usually turns over to apathy if it's not turned around pretty quickly."

The Blue Jackets are 25-13-3 in Nationwide Arena this season, one of the best home records in the NHL. Five of six sold-out games have occurred since Feb. 6

"When it started to turn around, you could see and feel it growing every day," Hitchcock said. "The folks here appreciate a team that gives good effort, that works hard.

"They like what they see. They like that we're a club opponents had better get up for, or we'll kick your ass."

The Blue Jackets have beaten San Jose, Boston, Detroit and Washington -- the top four clubs in the NHL -- in Nationwide Arena this season. Finally, it seems, the team has built a reservoir of faith with its fans.

"Making the playoffs is just one step for us," Priest said. "But people needed to see the progress, and we've shown them that. And, clearly, it was very important during these economic times."

Captain's deal

On July 1, the Blue Jackets can begin talking with Nash's agent, Joe Resnick, about a contract extension. His current contract expires after the 2009-10 season.

If the Blue Jackets had a poor season -- like, say, their first six seasons, or even last season -- it's possible that Nash might have refused to even talk about another long-term deal. Why spend the prime of his career with a club that keeps spinning its wheels?

There are whispers out of Toronto that the Blue Jackets might face a messy contract situation with Nash, but those whispers would have become bullhorn blares had the Jackets missed the playoffs again.

Nash doesn't want to talk about his contract now, not with his first trip to the playoffs just around the corner.

But he's said all along that he likes Columbus, admires the work of Hitchcock and Howson to improve the club and that he wants to stay here if the deal is right.

"Rick's focus right now is on making the playoffs," Resnick said last week. "We don't want to comment about the contract."

Howson knows it won't be an easy deal to make -- the rest of the NHL will be watching for a contract template. But Nash won't have to be sold on the Blue Jackets, just the money and terms.

"I think Rick can see the improvement of the team," Howson said. "It's his team. He's the captain and the best player. It's certainly important that we've shown we're good enough to make the playoffs, and I think he understands -- like a lot of people -- that our club is only going to get better.

"You become a destination city when you have a really good organization that's won for many years, and a city that's seen as a really good place to live. This is only the first step in the process, but it's a big first step for us to make."

aportzline@dispatch.com

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