Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski doesn’t care what Bill Simmons thinks about Columbus

Zach Werenski had better things to worry about Thursday morning in Toronto than Bill Simmons’ opinions.

Asked about the Ringer founder’s declaration that the Blue Jackets are “the most irrelevant franchise in professional sports,” Columbus’s top defenseman shrugged it off.

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter. It is what it is, I guess, right?” Werenski told reporters  “I’m not going to lose sleep over it. I like Columbus, I like playing there, and I don’t care what Bill Simmons has to say.”

The whole controversy — if you even want to call it that — started when a Blue Jackets fan asked Simmons to name the most irrelevant franchise in professional sports. Simmons agreed with the listener’s self-assessment, running through Columbus’s modest playoff history, an unimpressive list of captains, and one-sided rivalry with Pittsburgh that the Penguins don’t acknowledge.

The critique was mostly fair. Simmons needlessly brought up the deaths of Johnny Gaudreau and Matiss Kivlenieks, which felt gratuitous. But the broader point about Columbus being an afterthought in the NHL is hard to argue against, given that the franchise has made the postseason six times in a quarter-century.

The Blue Jackets’ social media team decided to fire back anyway. The official account posted “tried to go to grantland to read the full article but got a 404 🤔” — referencing Simmons’ old ESPN website that shut down in 2015.

Pointing out that Grantland doesn’t exist anymore while Simmons runs The Ringer, hosts one of the biggest sports podcasts in the world, and has built a media empire isn’t exactly the devastating comeback the Blue Jackets thought it was.

If anything, it proved Simmons’ point about the franchise.

And it proves that Werenski’s approach is probably the way to go in this scenario.