Rick Nash responds to not being traded by yesterday's deadline and to GM Scott Howson revealing that Nash asked for a trade from the team in January:

 

Blue Jackets: Transcript of Rick Nash's press conference today

^Well isn't that a swift kick in the nuts.

 

I appreciate his candor, but Rick Nash made me a Blue Jackets fan.  It would be tough to see him leave.

After the trade deadline, there are probably only two big questions left for the Blue Jackets.  How will the team play out the season?  And how will Rick Nash play out the season?

 

The week started with an unsurprising loss against the Red Wings but ended with two surprising road wins.  The first was a 2-0 win at Colorado - a team fighting for a playoff berth.  With Mason getting a shutout in the net.  The second was a 5-2 win at Phoenix - a team leading their division.  With Mason in the net again.

 

As for Nash, he's gotten 3 goals and 1 assist in the three games since the trade deadline.  He was particularly strong against Phoenix with two goals and dazzling third period assist to preserve a Jackets win.

 

There is one final goal for this year's team.  They are currently 20-38-7 with 47 points.  If they can earn 11 points in their last 17 games, they will better their previous worst season in 2001–02 (their second year as a franchise when they went 22-47-8-5 for 57 points).

Not that it means much at the tail end of this season, but the Blue Jackets beat Phoenix on Tuesday to win three-in-a-row.  So yea!

 

Tonight, Jeff Carter and his new team, the L.A. Kings, are coming to town.  How can the Blue Jackets celebrate Mr. Carter's return.  How about this way?

 

Columbus will transform Jeff Carter jerseys into Jack Johnson ones for free

Not that it means much at the tail end of this season, but the Blue Jackets beat Phoenix on Tuesday to win three-in-a-row.  So yea!

 

Tonight, Jeff Carter and his new team, the L.A. Kings, are coming to town.  How can the Blue Jackets celebrate Mr. Carter's return.  How about this way?

 

Columbus will transform Jeff Carter jerseys into Jack Johnson ones for free

The games don't mean much for the team in the standings, but it was still great to see the Jackets put a 3-1 whoopin on the L.A. Kings.  Carter got shut out.  Former King Jack Johnson got the game-winning goal for the Jackets.  Four wins in the row for the newly mighty Jackets!

The Blue Jackets four game winning streak came to a crashing end with back-to-back weekend losses against the best-in-the-west St. Louis Blues.  The weekend losses also did one more thing to the team.  They were officially eliminated the Jackets from the playoffs.  This is certainly shocking news - because I'm sure everyone assumed they were eliminated from the playoff race long ago.  But the team made it to 13 games left in the season.  So yea?

 

The Jackets will vacate Columbus for the entire week so Nationwide Arena can host the NCAA tournament.  Instead, the team gets to tour the western Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.

 

Under the category of "If you can't win, at least make the losing count", the Blue Jackets clinched 30th and last place in the NHL with a loss to 29th place Edmonton last night.  Columbus will now have the best chance at the first draft pick. 

 

UPDATE: From the Dispatch article "Top overall pick not a given", here are the odds of Columbus getting the first pick in the NHL draft lottery to be held on April 10. 

According to the system used by the NHL, the Blue Jackets will be guaranteed to pick first or second.  The Blue Jackets have a league-best 25 percent chance of winning the lottery; if they don’t, they have a 48.2 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick.

 

Unlike the NBA lottery, the winner of the NHL lottery does not necessarily determine who wins the first pick.  Only the bottom five teams in the standings are eligible to pick first, although the 14 teams that miss the playoffs are eligible to win the lottery.

 

The lottery winner can improve its draft position by a maximum of four spots.  The Blue Jackets would get the top pick if they win the lottery or if the winner is not one of the bottom five teams.  Teams can drop only one spot in the draft order, so the Blue Jackets will pick no lower than second.

 

The teams that finish the season in positions 26 through 29 have a combined 51.8 percent chance of winning the lottery and will be awarded the first pick if one of them wins.

 

The Blue Jackets season has long been over in terms of relevancy.  But it was good to see the Jackets not embarrass themselves on national TV tonight against the Red Wings.  Instead, the Jackets won 4-2.  And the win also guarantees that this will not be worst ever season point-wise for the franchise.  So yea!

Well, the Blue Jackets 2011-12 season is finally over.  But the bust of a season produced a couple of bangs before it ended.  The final two games were a 5-2 win at Colorado (which eliminated the Avs from the playoffs) and a 7-3 win in the home finale against the Islanders.  Rookie Cam Atkinson got five goals in the final two games - a hat trick in Denver and two more in Nationwide.  Rick Nash (in what might have been his last games with the Jackets) got two goals in Denver and one more at home to finish with 30 goals for the season.

 

The Jackets may have wished the season to keep going with the way they've been playing lately.  The Jackets won five of the last six games to finish out 2011-12.  But a good finish didn't erase the very bad start and their poor record in the season's first half.  Columbus finished 29-46-7 for 65 points.  30th place (which is dead last in the NHL) and 9 points behind 29th place Edmonton.  Here how the 2011-12 season broke down:

 

11-25-5 (27 points) in the first 41 games under former Coach Scott Arniel

18-21-2 (38 points) in the last 41 games under current interim Coach Todd Richards

16-14-1 in the past 31 games

11-9-0 since the 2/28/12 trade deadline

11-8-0 since March 1st

 

Coach Richards is still the interim head coach pending management decision over the off-season.  For my 2 cents, I think Richards should remain head coach.  The team has shown improvement and played better under Richards.  With some key players (Brassard especially) looking much better after Arniel was let go.  Since he's coached the Jackets for a full half-season, Richards should know the team's strengths and weaknesses better any new coach that might be added.  And Richards has previous head coaching experience as well.  So unless there's a Stanley Cup winning coach that really wants to coach the Jackets next year, I'd say Richards is a solid choice.

 

The NHL Draft Lottery is 8PM on Tuesday.  Columbus will either get the #1 overall pick or the #2 pick - with a 48.2% chance at the top pick.  The Jackets will also get LA's first round pick (currently #17) if they wish to use it in the 2012 draft.  Otherwise they will get LA's first round pick in the 2013 draft.  They've also got a boatload of 2nd round and 3rd round picks acquired through trades.

 

So there's alot of Blue Jackets news on its way during this off-season.  First the draft lottery.  Then the draft.  And throw into the mix decisions on next year's head coach and if the face-of-the-franchise Rick Nash will be traded.  It's no exaggeration to say that this off-season should be the most momentus off-season in the history of the franchise.

The first off-season domino has fallen.  And it didn't fall the Blue Jackets way.  Edmonton won the NHL Draft Lottery tonight.  Which means the second-to-last Oilers will get the #1 pick and Columbus will get the #2 pick.  So much for "Fail for Nail".

 

So what now?  As the Jackets Cannon wrote in "Oilers Win Draft Lottery, Columbus to Pick Second": "Barring trades, the Jackets will pick second overall.  If they keep the pick, options could be Ryan Murray, Mikhail Grigorenko, Alex Galchenyuk or Filip Forsberg.  They could attempt to move up to first overall in a deal with the Oilers, as they may have more interest in a defenseman than consensus number one Nail Yakupov."

 

Some more Blue Jackets off-season news.  This time revoloving around the 2013 NHL All-Star Game being held at Nationwide Arena.  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Columbus yesterday to unveil the 2013 All-Star Game logo.  Below is the logo that features the State of Ohio flag.  Also below is a link to a slideshow of the ceremony that took place outside the front entrance to Nationwide Arena:

 

 

Business First: Slideshow: Big crowd turns out as Blue Jackets unveil 2013 All-Star Game logo

 

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On the day before the All-Star logo unveiling, the new owners of Nationwide Arena - Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority - announced they would be replacing the original 12-year-old scoreboard in the arena for next season (and the All-Star game).  More about that the Business First article linked below.  The FCCFA denies that the new scoreboard is related to next year's All-Star game.  But the current scoreboard was due for an upgrade.  And the NHL typically kicks in some financial incentives toward any needed facility upgrades for upcoming All-Star games (Ottawa also replaced their scoreboard for this year's All-Star game).

 

Business First: Nationwide Arena getting new scoreboard as part of $5.5M upgrade

One more post about the 2013 NHL All-Star logo unveiling.  The very excellent Blue Jackets blog, The Jackets Cannon, was on hand to record the unveiling ceremony outside Nationwide Arena.  Below is a link to their report and the YouTube video of the event.  (You can skip to the 16 minute mark in the viedo to view the actual logo unveiling.)

 

The Jackets Cannon: VIDEO: 2013 NHL All Star Game Logo Party

 

!

Dispatch: Richards sheds 'interim' label, gets two-year deal to coach Jackets

 

The second off-season domino has fallen.  Personally, I think keeping Todd Richards is a smart choice (for reasons posted previously).  Now the draft and a possible/probable Nash trade are still out there for the Jackets.

Yesterday was the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.  In the morning before the draft began, the Blue Jackets made a trade.  But it wasn't the Rick Nash trade that everyone was expecting.

 

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• Columbus acquired goalie Sergei Bobrovsky from Philadelphia for a 2012 2nd round pick, 2012 4th round pick and a 2013 4th round pick.  The 2nd round pick was the #45 selection acquired from Phoenix in the Vermette trade.  The Jackets retained their #31, 2nd round selection.

 

Sergei Bobrovsky (or "Bob" as Flyers fans called him) is a 23-year-old who was Philadelphia's backup goaltender last season.  Two seasons ago (2010-2011) Bobrovsky had an outstanding rookie year.  He played very well and as a 54-game starter helped the Flyers get into the playoffs.  Then the Flyers acquired a highly paid veteran with nine years remaining on his contract as the team's #1 goalie.  Bobrovsky was less impressive in his sophomore year as a backup.  This meant that Bobrovsky was expendable to the Flyers.

 

Unless the Jackets swing another deal that includes a veteran goaltender, it looks like next season might feature a competition between 23-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky and 24-year-old Steve Mason for the starting goaltender job.  This probably doesn't calm the nerves of Jackets fans.  For although Bobrosky had a fine rookie season and is classified as a "talented goalie with upside" - his resume sounds too much like Mason's.  And we all know how that turned out.  Still, many Flyers fans liked him and were sorry to see him go.  Which is the opposite of how they felt about Jeff Carter being traded away last year.  Let's hope they're right about this one too.

 

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On the Rick Nash trade front, many teams were reportedly making serious bids to Columbus in the week before Friday's draft.  The New York Rangers, Ottawa and San Jose being some of the leading contenders.  Ottawa's reported bid of their #1 forward prospect, 6'-7" backup goalie, 2nd line forward and possibly their first round (#15) draft pick sounded very intriguing.  But according to Jackets GM Scott Howson, "none of the offers met our asking price".

 

So any Rick Nash trade might now have to wait until NHL free agency opens on July 1.  There are a few other high-scoring forwards on the free-agent market.  Any teams that don't sign them might return to the Jackets with a better offer.

 

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So with the Bobrovsky trade and the Nash non-trade out of the way, it's on to the draft!

Going into the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, there was much speculation around who the Edmonton Oilers would select with the #1 pick.  Talented forward Nail Yakupov was the consensus #1 overall prospect.  But the Oilers are stacked on offense since they picked forwards with their #1 pick in the past two drafts.  However, th Oilers are weak on defense - and the #2 overal prospect was defenseman Ryan Murray.  What would they do?

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets had the opposite problem.  The Jackets are stacked on defense but weak on offense.  They coveted Yakupov but lost the lottery and ended up #2.  What would they do?  Would the Oilers trade down from #1 and pick Murray?  Would the Jackets trade up to #1 and pick Yakupov.  Would the Oilers choose defenseman Murray at #1 - filling a more pressing need for them and allow Yakupov to fall to the Jackets at #2?

 

- After all the speculation and rumors, both Edmonton and Columbus followed classic draft strategy: "Draft the best available player".  Edmonton picked Nail Yakupov at #1 and the Jackets took defenseman Ryan Murray at #2.  Murray will join a well-stocked blue line for the Jackets with a better-then-even chance to play for Columbus next season.

 

Later in the first round, the Jackets declined to use LA's first round pick acquired in the Carter trade in favor of using LA's first round pick next year.  Not a surprise considering that LA won the Stanley Cup - and would thus pick #30 and last in this year's first round. 

 

In later round drafting today, the Jackets made selections to bolster their goaltending corps: 

 

- With the first pick of the second round (#31 overall) the Jackets selected Swedish goaltender Oscar Dansk.  Dansk was the third overall ranked goaltender in the draft.  He was also the third goalie drafted after two were taken late in the first round. 

- With the first pick of the third round (#62 Overall) the Jackets selected Finnish goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.  Korpisalo was ranked third on the European Goaltender scouting list, right behind second round pick Dansk.

NHL free agency opened yesterday and the Jackets made a trade.  Not the Rick Nash trade.  It looks like there's at least a few more days before that gets resolved - depending on how the free agent market plays out.

 

Instead, the Jackets traded defenseman Marc Methot to Ottawa for 24-year-old forward Nick Foligno.  Methot was thought to be a top-four defenseman when the Jackets signed him to an extension a few years ago.  But with the acquistions of Wisziewski, Jack Johnson and the emergence of Nikitin last year, Methot was reduced to third line role before a puck to the face ended his season.  On the other hand, Ottawa was thin at defense and flush with offensive players. (Foligno's name was mentioned in a possible Nash trade with Ottawa last week.)  So the trade seems to help each team.  Foligno had 47 points in 82 games with Ottawa last year in his 4th full NHL season.  He'll certainly help the Jackets offense and should fit in on their second offensive line.

 

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Other moves:

 

• Signed veteran defenseman Adrian Aucoin to a one-year, $2 million deal.  Aucion is a well respected 38-year-old who will take Methot's place on the third d-line.  Aucion will pair with/mentor the two young defensemen expected to be in the lineup - 21-year-old John Moore and 18-year-old draftee Ryan Murray.

 

• Signed restricted free agents Nikita Nikitin and Jared Boll to two-year contracts.  Nikitin was acquired early last season via trade and proved a revelation when paired with follow Russian Tyutin as a top-four defenseman.  He was rewarded with a 2-year, $4.3 million deal.  Jared Boll anchored the fourth offensive line with the ability to hit hard and drop the gloves (and unfortunately not much else).  He was signed to a more budget friendly 2-year, $2.1 million deal.

 

• Restricted free agent Derek Dorsett was signed to a 3-year, $3.9 million deal a few weeks ago.  Prior to this year, Dorsett was like Boll - a fourth line grinder.  But last season Dorsett broke out with a career high 12 goals and anchored the team's penalty kill.  Dorsett's combination of hitting, scoring and the ability to agitate the other team's top line makes him an ideal third-liner.

 

• Signed goaltender Curtis McElhinney to a one-year, two-way contract.  McElhinney was acquired in last season's Vermette trade to Phoenix.  He's a 29-year-old journeyman with some NHL experience who will likely split time in Springfield with Allen York.  Because it's a two-way contract, McElhinney can be recalled to Columbus in the event of injury. 

 

• Signed 21-year-old Jonathan Audy-Marchessault to a three-year, entry level contract.  JAM (as the Jackets fansites are calling him) was an impressive scorer in his AHL debut last year.  He's smaller than the average NHL'er at 5'-9".  But if he can translate his offensive abilities to the NHL level, the Jackets might have another Cam Atkinson in the making.

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So no sweeping changes yet.  But alot of smart smaller moves.  The big shake-up will have to wait for the Nash trade.

Are there any scenarios that keep Nash in Columbus or is his trade a forgone conclusion?

The only scenario that might keep Nash on the Blue Jackets roster is if GM Scott Howson can't get the return he's looking for.  But that would place everyone in an uncomfortably awkward position.  So far it's been a friendly separation - with Nash requesting a trade and the team looking to fulfill his request.  The fans are disappointed but generally understanding.

 

But what if Nash isn't traded?  Would he report to training camp?  If he does, would he still be captain?  If he goes into a scoring slump, would the fans say he's "mailing it in"?  It could get really ugly.  And that's why Nash will likely not be a Blue Jacket next season.

From the Jackets Cannon fansite:

 

Rick Nash Traded to New York Rangers

 

Here are the details of the trade which is being reported by the above Jackets Cannon link and from the New York Rangers fansite - Blueshirt Banter:

 

Blue Jackets get:

LW - Brandon Dubinsky

C - Artem Anisimov

D - Tim Erixon

Rangers 2013 1st round draft pick

 

Rangers get:

LW - Rick Nash

Jackets 2013 3rd-round draft pick

Unnamed Minor League Defenseman (due to Columbus hitting the 50-contract mark)

Wow.  Just do a quick scroll through Twitter and read what Rangers fans are saying.  They know it's a steal.  I saw a guy listing off the top tier propects they DIDNT have to give up for Nash and he couldn't believe it.

 

Gotta see it live...

The Rangers fans should be pleased.  They added the superb offensive talent of Rick Nash without losing most of their youngest and most coveted offensive talent like Kreider and Stepan.  They did lose two starting forwards in Dubinsky and Anisimov from last year's team, but the younger players in the Rangers system can likely replace them with little drop off.  Nash could be that extra piece for the Rangers to get them a Stanley Cup.

 

But I don't think the Jackets got robbed.  As much as it hurts to lose Nash, that situation needed to get resolved.  And acquiring two top-6 level forwards with NHL experience helps address one of the Jackets weaknesses - offensive depth.  Adding Dubinsky and Anisimov into the top two lines pushes other players down into the 3rd and 4th lines where they are better suited.

 

Moving Nash also helps clear the way for a new and more vocal style of leadership from Johnson, Wisniewski and Dorsett.  Along with the new faces on defense, the new forwards remake the Jackets into a more balanced defensive oriented team.  If they can combine this with better goaltending from Bobrovsky, the Jackets will be a better team.

 

The only part of the trade that didn’t make sense was acquiring defensive prospect Tim Erixon.  Erixon is highly touted and maybe even NHL ready.  But the Jackets already have 7 NHL level defenseman.  Eight if you include this year’s first round pick, Ryan Murray.  So it might have been better if the Jackets had gotten an offensive prospect instead.

^Doesn't the addition of the defensive prospect to the pretty solid defensemen already on the squad signal to you that the Jackets will try to trade a defenseman or two and maybe a prospect for another top-6 forward?  My gut tells me they're still in the market for another forward.

^Possibly.  They might also try to trade for another goaltender.  The Jackets have been rumored to be looking at LA's backup goalie Jonathan Bernier.

Can anyone from Columbus explain just why the Jackets traded Rick Nash. Was his contract coming up and he was not planning on staying in columbus or was he making too much money or just why? I don't get it.

^ The quick answer is that Rick Nash asked to be traded.

 

The longer answer requires some context.  After the Jackets made the 2008-09 playoffs, Nash's original contract with the team was one year from expiring.  At that time, the Jackets looked like a team on the rise.  So Nash signed an eight-year, $62.4 million contract extension in 2009 that kept him under contract until the 2017-18 with an annual cap hit of $7.8 million.  The contract also included a no-trade clause.

 

Unfortunately, instead of the Jackets building on the success of the 2008-09 playoff team, the Jackets got worse each year before bottoming out in last year's 2011-12 season.  Mostly this had to do with young goaltender Steve Mason, who was brilliant in the 2008-09 playoff year - but turned out to be a flash in the pan.  But a secondary reason was the strategy of building the team around Nash. 

 

Nash is a great offensive talent, but he needs talented players around him to feed him the puck and to keep the defense off him.  The Jackets never could surround Nash with players of equal talent to assist him.  In part because Nash's own salary limited acquiring other high-priced talent.  The NHL is a hard salary cap league with team caps of $56 million, $60 million and $64 million in the three years since Nash signed his contract extension.  Nash's $7.8 million cap hit meant that the Jackets needed to develop young offensive players and try to find some affordable free-agents.  Unfortunately, the young offensive talent didn't progress well enough and the affordable free-agents weren't good enough.  Nash's goal scoring stalled out - along with the team's offense.

 

So after last year's horrendous first half start, it became clear the Jackets would be need to start over and were going to be big sellers at the trade deadline.  Nash and his agent informed the Jackets that he would be willing to be traded as part of the team's rebuilding strategy.  Although this might seem generous, it's also understandable from Nash's standpoint.  Nash is 28.  If a Jackets rebuilding strategy would take two or three years, Nash would be near the end of his prime years.  He wanted to join a team with better Stanley Cup prospects.

 

Because Nash had a no-trade clause, he had veto power over any trade.  According to media reports, he submitted a list of six teams he would accept a trade to.  The teams were rumored to be the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins.  All of those teams are playoff teams with talented offensive players to assist Nash.  Since the teams the Jackets could trade with was limited, this meant the Jackets leverage for what they could get in return was also limited.  So the trading of Nash dragged out from February until this month when the Jackets finalized his trade to the New York Rangers.

I'm not a Blue Jackets fan, but I can imagine it sucks the Blue Jackets had to trade Rick Nash to the Rangers (dislike them very much, but for obvious reasons), but it was clear he needed to move on and things were unfortunately not working out in Columbus for the former London Knight. I just hope for your guys' sake it doesn't hurt the franchise, because when the Atlanta Thrashers dealt their star player, Ilya Kovalchuk to the Devils the next season turned out to be the final one for the team in Atlanta before moving to Winnipeg, but on the other hand, the owners of the team at the time simply couldn't find a local buyer and couldn't keep the team there and relocation was the only option. I guess it was for the better for the Blue Jackets and Nash. I just hope the fans have patience.

 

Plus, the threat of a looming lockout of the players, which commissioner Bettman stated will happen if a new CBA isn't reached by September 15, could put the Columbus All-Star Game and the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Michigan potentially in jeopardy. But I think both the owners and players don't want another lockout to happen, and eventually there will be a season, but probably won't start until around December.

^To answer Jaybird's question.  I am a Blue Jackets fan - and I was looking forward to the new season (2012-2013).  No really!  I was.  I wanted to see how the Jackets moved on after the Rick Nash trade.  I wanted to see how the new NYR players did in Columbus.  I wanted to see how the newly acquired players from the off-season and players acquired during last year would mesh as a team.  I wasn't necessarily wanting to see how new goalie Bobrovsky and particularly holdover Steve Mason would do, but I was curious.  I really was looking forward to a sort-of "fresh start" with this new "team first" concept.

 

I say "was" - because it looks like the new season will be on hold until . . . ?  Tomorrow is the deadline for the current CBA.  And it looks like a foregone conclusion that the owners will lockout the players.  I won't say much more because (1) its unpleasant to talk about and (2) others cover it much better than I can (see the below link to my goto source for NHL/Jackets info - the Jackets Cannon website).  If we're lucky, this lockout will mirror the recent NBA lockout and we'll have a shortened season.  Hopefully with an All-Star Game - because, you know, it's in Columbus this season!

 

JACKETS CANNON: Shrapnel - Lockout Edition

Still no break from the NHL lockout.  So far only the preseason has been officially cancelled.  I won't dwell too much into the details but the rest of the season doesn't look too promising for three main reasons:

 

1) The team owners look like they want to take another big bite out of the players union.  The last time they felt this way was in 2004, when they wanted to get a full salary cap.  The players resisted - the 2004-2005 was lost - and a full salary cap began the next season.  Now the owners are looking to lower the players share of team revenue from 57% to something lower, probably under 50%.

 

2) The two men leading the negotiations have a history of blowing up seasons.  Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner, lost part of the 1994-1995 season and the entire 2004-2005 season.  Donald Fehr is leading the NHL Players Association.  He formerly led the MLB Players Association during a strike that cancelled the 1994 MLB Playoffs and World Series.

 

3) The NHL players have some short-term playing options available to them that other North American league, like the NBA or NFL, don't have.  There are a number of professional hockey leagues in Europe - particularly the KHL in Russia - that can hire NHL players.  This lessens the financial bite of the lockout, at least in the short-term.

 

So, we'll see what happens.  But right now, the prospects for an NBA-style shortened 2012-2013 season doesn't look good.

One more word about NHL'ers playing though the current lockout in European leagues - Blue Jackets edition. 

 

From the Dispatch's Puck-Rakers Blog 'CBJ Lockout Locator'. These are the Columbus roster players who are eligible to play overseas:  Artem Anisimov, Adrian Aucoin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Jared Boll, Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno, Colton Gillies, Jack Johnson, Mark Letestu, Derek MacKenzie, Steve Mason, Nikita Nikitin, Vinny Prospal, Fedor Tyutin, R.J. Umberger, James Wisniewski.

 

There are a number of other players who are not eligible to play overseas due to minor-league or rookie contracts - but can play in the Canadian Junior League, minor-league American Hockey Leagues or for U.S. Colleges.  The most prominent Columbus roster players who fall into this catergory are: Cam Atkinson, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Cody Bass, Matt Calvert, Michael Chaput, Tim Erixon, Boone Jenner, Ryan Johansen, Tomas Kubalik, Curtis McElhinney, John Moore, Ryan Murray, Ryan Russell, David Savard, Allen York. 

 

According to the Jackets Cannon post 'Flickering Hopes', Artem Anisimov and Sergei Bobrovsky have confirmed they will be playing in the Russian KHL.  Vinny Prospal and Fedor Tyutin are on the fence to stay or go.  And Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski, R.J. Umberger, Steve Mason, Brandon Dubinsky and Derick Brassard have all announced they will not be going to Europe.

 

And in one final player of note: Former Blue Jacket / current Ranger Rick Nash is playing in Davos, Switzerland.  Nash had to leave a game with an apparent shoulder injury after getting slammed into the glass.  Which is the downside to playing overseas for both the player and the NHL team, which is this case in the NY Rangers!

The NHL lockout continues.  And we now have an NHL thread for general lockout news.  So I thought I would post the only news the Blue Jackets could make outside of the lockout.  A front office hiring.  But it's a big front office hiring.  After months of speculation, the Blue Jackets hired former St. Louis Blues' president John Davidson to be their president of hockey operations. 

 

Davidson has held that position in St. Louis since 2006.  In their previous 2005-06 season, St. Louis finished dead last in the NHL with only 57 points.  (Even worse than the Jackets last place 65 point season last year)  Since bottoming out in 2005-06, St. Louis has seen steady improvement under Davidson's leadership.  Last year, St. Louis finished 1st in the West's Central Division (which includes Columbus), 2nd in the entire Western Conference and tied for 2nd with the NY Rangers in total points (109) in the entire NHL.  St. Louis won their first playoff round and lost their second playoff round to the eventual Stanley Cup champion LA Kings.

 

New ownership took over in St. Louis and was looking to trim some of their management payroll.  So, over the summer, Davidson negotiated a payout release from his contract and interviewed with a number of NHL teams - Columbus being one of them.  He was said to be very interested in rebuilding Columbus like he did with St. Louis.  But nothing was confirmed until this week.

 

Davidson will be President of Hockey Operations, which basically the on-ice part of the organization.  Current team president Mike Priest will stay and focus on the business side of the franchise.  General Manager Scott Howson and Senior Advisor Craig Patrick will both stay and report to Davidson.

 

Davidson's hire adds credibility, experience and media savvy to the Jackets front office.  Something that has been lacking from the beginning of the franchise.  Priest was brought in by team founder John H. McConnell from his Worthington Steel operation.  He has gotten high marks on running the business side of the franchise - particularly in negotiating last year's arena deal with the city and county - but he has zero hockey experience.  Howson is regarded as a potentially good young GM.  He has orchestrated some good individual trades, but has lacked the overarching vision to craft a strong team.  The addition of Craig Patrick as Senior Advisor last year was the beginning of trying to create a vision for building a team.  Davidson's hire is a bigger step in that direction.

 

More about the Davidson hire from NBC Sports and the Jackets Cannon fansite:

 

NBC Sports: Blue Jackets hire ex-Blues exec to run hockey side

 

Jackets Cannon: John Davidson Hired by the Jackets

 

Jackets Cannon: With Davidson a Blue Jacket, What's Next?

As the NHL lockout grinds on and the 2012-2013 season looks less and less likely, more Blue Jackets are going overseas.  Fedor Tyutin and Nikita Nikitin joined fellow Russians Artem Anisimov and Sergei Bobrovsky in the Russian KHL.  Vinny Prospal is playing for his hometown team in the Czech Republic.  Jared Boll signed with a team in Finland.  And it was announced this week that Derek Dorsett and Derick Brassard will be playing on the same team in the Austrian league.

Meanwhile, many of the younger Jackets are playing in US minor leagues like the AHL or OHL, or playing in the Canadian Junior League.  And from the "why can't the Jackets catch a break" department, one of those young Jackets suffered a severe injury playing in the Junior League.  Unfortunately for the Jackets, that player was Ryan Murray - the first round, second overall pick from last year's draft.  More about this below:

 

NHL: Jackets' prospect Murray will miss rest of season

 

The Cannon: Murray to Undergo Season Ending Surgery

Really appreciate the updates!  Too bad for Murray.

It may be a shortened season, but it's better than nothing.  The puck drops tonight for the Blue Jackets and rest of the NHL.  Instead of an 82-game marathon, the 2012/2013 season will be a 48-game sprint.  Almost identical to what the NBA did last year. 

 

After the owners and players ratified the new CBA, teams got a week-long training camp.  To accommodate the compacted schedule, teams will only play teams within their own conference (East vs. East - West vs. West).  Kind of a bummer that the Jackets won't get to host any of the eastern glamour teams like NYR, PIT, PHI, BOS, TOR, MTL or WAS - and still have a bunch of far west road trips. 

 

But not as bad as poor Winnipeg.  Winnipeg is still in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference due to their relocation from Atlanta two years ago.  A league realignment was going to move them into the Western Conference - but then the lockout happened and pushed that off until next season.  There was some discussion that Columbus and Winnipeg might temporarily swap conferences for this abbreviated 48-game season.  But it ultimately didn't happen.

 

So, for 2013, the theme for the Blue Jackets is new:

 

- New Players: FW's Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov acquired via the Nash trade plus young defenseman Tim Erixon who has had a stellar minor-league season so far and was a final cut from making the opening game roster.  FW Nick Foligno via the Methot trade to Ottawa.  Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky acquired from Philadelphia for draft picks.

 

- New Coach: Technically Todd Richards isn't really "new".  He was the interim head coach for the last 41 games of last season after Arniel's firing.  But the interim label has been lifted and Richards got a 2-year deal.

 

- New Front Office: Big addition to the front office with John Davidson named as President of Hockey Operations to oversee GM Scott Howson.  Davidson brings a resume of NHL experience that includes the 2006 to 2012 turnaround of the St. Louis Blues.

 

- New Team Captain: The trade of Rick Nash left the team without an on-ice captain.  So far, a new captain has not been named.  But the three alternate captains going into the opening game are Umberger, Johnson and Dorsett.  With the exception that one of the three will be the new captain.

 

- New Scoreboard: In preparation for this season's All-Star Game, Nationwide Arena got a general upgrade with new glass, dasher boards, LED boards and a brand new center scoreboard.  The lockout killed the All-Star Game.  But the improvements remain.  More about it here.

 

For some more in-depth info about the 2013 Blue Jackets, here are two links from the very fine fansite - Jackets Cannon:

 

2013 Columbus Blue Jackets Season Preview

 

2013 Blue Jackets Training Camp: First Cuts, Final Roster

 

The Jackets drop the puck on their abbreviated 48-game season tonight in Nashville.  Followed by their home opener on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings.  After that there is a mini-western trip to Phoenix on Wednesday and Colorado on Thursday.  The Jackets finish their first week at home hosting the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday the 26th.

 

Five games in eight days.  Nothing like jumping into the deep end of the pool to start the season, eh?  Below is the full 2013 schedule from the CBJ website:

 

2013 Blue Jackets Schedule

I'll be there on the 26th!  Can't wait to see what this young team's got.

It's only one game into the 2013 season and already the Jackets have surpassed their point total from 2011-12 after eight games with a 3-2 shootout win at Nashville last night.  An encouraging sign (and reminder of how badly last season started).  Just as encouraging was the way the team played.

 

It started badly with the Preds scoring 39 seconds into the first period.  Previous teams might have said "here we go again" and folded.  But this team and Bobrovsky only let in one more goal in the remaining 59:21 minutes of regulation + 5 minutes of overtime.  The new players made an impact: Foligno got a 1-1 tying goal in the first, Anisimov got a 2-2 tying goal in the second (on beauty of a play) and Bobrovsky had 32 saves.

 

But what really impressed was the blue-collar, defensively-responsible, hard-hitting approach that seemed to be displayed up and down the lineup.  This was shown in the turning point of the game midway in the second period.  Boll leveled a Nashville player on hard-but-clean check at mid-ice.  High-priced defenseman Shea Weber rushed and punched Boll and then Boll & Weber engaged in a brief boxing match.  Five for fighting for Boll & Weber with an extra 2 minutes to Weber for roughing.  Anisimov's goal came 3 minutes later while Weber was sitting out the fighting major.  That a fourth-line grinder could get under the skin of the Preds best defender is a good sign for the way this CBJ team wants to play.

 

Again, it's only one game - but it's an encouraging sign.  Monday's game hosting Detroit should be interesting.  How will the Red Wings react after getting blasted 6-0 in St. Louis last night?

Game two of the compacted season was last night against Detroit at a sold-out Nationwide Arena.  Lots of similarities to game one: Same regulation tie, same scoreless overtime, same shootout.  Only this time it was a shootout loss instead of a shootout win.

 

Still, the new-look Jackets showed the same grit as in the previous game.  The Wings went up 2-0 in the second period.  Then the Jackets reeled off the next three goals to lead 3-2, before Detroit tied it 3-3 to send it into overtime and then the shootout.  Bobrovsky was again solid in the net with 39 saves.  Amazing how much better the Jackets look with decent goaltending!

 

The Jackets have a western mini-trip at Phoenix on Wednesday and Colorado on Thursday.  Look for Steve Mason to get one of those back-to-back starts.  So we'll get to see how much "improvement" Mase has made over the break.

I'll be there on the 26th!  Can't wait to see what this young team's got.

If you're looking for a hotel, I just came across that Experience Columbus is offering discount deals for five hotels near Nationwide Arena on the nights of Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26 - LINK HERE.  In any event, have a good trip and let us know how it goes.  GO JACKETS!

I'll be there on the 26th!  Can't wait to see what this young team's got.

If you're looking for a hotel, I just came across that Experience Columbus is offering discount deals for five hotels near Nationwide Arena on the nights of Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26 - LINK HERE.  In any event, have a good trip and let us know how it goes.  GO JACKETS!

 

Thanks for the heads up! 

The Jackets have a western mini-trip at Phoenix on Wednesday and Colorado on Thursday.  Look for Steve Mason to get one of those back-to-back starts.  So we'll get to see how much "improvement" Mase has made over the break.

We have an answer to how much "improvement" Mason has made.  Unfortunately, the answer is "not much".  Mase looked as shaky as ever in Wednesday's 5-1 loss at Phoenix.  Bobrovsky was in goal for Thursday's 4-0 loss at Colorado.  "The Bob" looked okay - the rest of the team didn't.  So it looks like the good feelings from the first two games just got cancelled out by these two ugly games.  Now the Jackets need to bounce back for Saturday's game against Chicago at Nationwide.

^Jackets looked fatigued and slow last night.  Really disappointing.

 

It was fun to watch some of the former Lake Erie Monsters playing for Colorado though.  Olver and Bordeleau were fun players to watch in Cleveland and they both looked pretty solid last night.

After two straight weak performances on the road, the Jackets faced the red-hot undefeated Blackhawks at Nationwide on Saturday night.  They would need some improved play to hang with the Hawks.  And they got it.

 

Mason started at goalie and rebounded from his poor road preformance with a good effort.  The Jackets scored the game's opening goal in the first period.  Followed by a Chicago tying goal late in the first and go-ahead goal midway thru the second period.  Later in the second, it looked like the Jackets had tied it back up on a power-play goal.  But the goal was disallowed on a goal interference call.  A questionable and IMO bad call.  And I'm not the only one thinks so - see the YouTube video below.

 

 

Chicago maintained their 2-1 lead until scoring a third goal six minutes into the third period.  At this point the game had a "here we go again" feeling - and it looked like the Jackets might get blown out of their own arena.  Much to the delight of the Blackhawk fans in attendance.  But the Jackets fought back to net their second goal with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.  After that the Jackets pulled the goalie to try and get a tying goal.  They made the final minute pretty dicey for Chicago, but the Blackhawks held on for the 3-2 win.  With that and the disallowed goal, the Jackets got a moral victory, but the Blackhawks got the actual one.

 

No time for the Jackets to dwell on it though.  They host Dallas on Monday, travel to Minnesota on Tuesday, and return to Nationwide for a Thursday game against St. Louis and a Saturday game against Detroit.  Those last two home games are the start of six consecutive home games for the Jackets.  Followed by six consecutive road games for the Jackets.  The salvaged but compressed schedule is pretty weird.

I had a great time at the game and I think everyone can agree that the "goalie interference" was a botched call.  Hopefully they continue to compete like they did Saturday (except win).  Also, the arena was sold out and had to have been about 40% Blackhawk fans but winning will reduce that %.

The Jackets just finished a pair of tough back-to-back games that featured some gutty performances from the team.  It got them a one-goal home victory and a one-goal road loss.

 

The 2-1 win came Monday at home against Dallas.  Bob was in goal and played outstanding.  The Dallas goalie also played outstanding, including a "save-of-the-year" (see the video below) that robbed the Jackets of a goal.  But the team stuck with it and managed two goals, which was enough this night.

 

 

The 3-2 loss came Tuesday at Minnesota.  Mason was in goal for this game and played well.  But a listless first period put the Jackets down 2-0.  The team started to get their legs in the second period and got their first goal with 5 minutes left in the period.  The Jackets tied it on a power-play goal 7 minutes into the third period.  But a defensive miscue with 5 minutes left allowed a Minnesota player to take the puck unguarded onto Mason's doorstep and get the game-winning goal.

 

Back-to-back games are always difficult.  Especially when the second game is on the road.  Plus fog caused the team to fly to Minnesota on Tuesday instead of Monday night.  So the loss at Minnesota was a moral victory of sorts.  Despite this, head coach Todd Richards was openly critical of the team in next day's paper.  Saying that the team gave a "half game effort".  Which, despite the gutty effort, is true.  The Jackets spent the first thirty minutes digging a hole that required a thirty minute comeback.  But I'm encouraged when Richards prods the team to improve, despite the good effort.  It shows that the actual victories are the goal, not just moral ones.

 

The Jackets return to Nationwide for a Thursday game against St. Louis and a Saturday game against Detroit.  Those two home games are the beginning of six consecutive home games for the Jackets.  So a continuation of the last two game's effort might start to pay dividends in this extended homestand.

Injuries are always a concern during a NHL season.  But in a compressed season with very little training camp and few off days, injuries are likely to be more common.  And the injury bug is starting to bite the Jackets.

 

Cam Atkinson was put on the IR last week with a groin pull.  Today it was reported that he also has a high-ankle sprain that may cause him to miss another 2 or 3 weeks.  Another speedy winger, Matt Calvert, was also put on the IR for an upper-body injury after Monday's game.  Defensemen Nikita Nikitin and Adrian Aucoin were injured during Tuesday’s game, both missing most of the third period.

 

Because of this, the team called up defenseman Tim Erixon and winger Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from the minors.  Erixon and JAM have been tearing up the minors - both were named to the AHL All-Star Game - but this is earlier than the Jackets had hoped to see them in Columbus.  More about this from ProHockeyTalk below:

 

ProHockeyTalk: Banged-up Blue Jackets: Atkinson to miss 2-3 more weeks

The Blue Jackets played a pair of home games to finish out the week, first Thursday against St. Louis then Saturday against Detroit.  The Thursday game saw the return of the old-look Jackets from last year.  With Bobrovsky in goal, the Jackets gave up 3 goals in the first 13 minutes.  Bob got replaced by Mason and Mase actually did a stellar job of keeping the Jackets in the game by not letting in any additional goals for the remainder of the game.  But the Jackets offense could only manage one goal on a second period power play and St. Louis got an empty-netter for a 4-1 final score.

 

St. Louis then went to Detroit on Friday and got beat by the Jacket's next opponent.  So by transitive property this means that Detriot should pummel the Jackets on Saturday right?  It looked like it 8 minutes into the first period.  Mason was in goal and blocked an outside shot - only to have an unchecked Johan Franzen (aka "The Mule") gather the rebound for an easy goal.  But then Mason was a stone wall after that.

 

Wisniewski tied it 1-1 near the end of the first on a power-play goal.  Anisimov got two goals in the second period and Letestu chipped in a shorthanded goal in the third to give the Jackets a 4-1 lead.  Detroit managed one more goal with 27 seconds remaining to end Saturday's game with a 4-2 Columbus victory.

 

Really great comeback from Thursday's poor performance.  Anisimov looked like a skillful scorer.  The power-play got another goal.  Letestu continues to surprise with his goal scoring.  And Steve Mason had strong back-to-back games in the net.  He played so well, his teammates got him a WWE Championship Belt that he sported during his post-game interview.

 

 

The only downside to Saturday's game was a scary incident that occured early in the second period.  Wisniewski took a nasty fall into the end-board during a race to retrieve a puck.  Wiz's skates got tangled with another teammates skates and he fell hard, back-and-shoulder first, into the board.  He fortunate to not land head-first or it could have been even worse.  As it was, he laid motionless on the ice for at least two minutes before he was helped to his feet and skated to the locker room under his own power, but with assistance.  Below is a link to a video report of the injury:

 

Video: James Wisniewski suffers concussion after nasty fall

 

Wiz's injury meant a futher depletion of an already injury-thinned defense corps.  Luckily, the team still had Jack Johnson.  Johnson logged just one second shy of 35 minutes of ice time in Saturday's game.  Those who know hockey know that 35 minutes is an amazing amount of ice time for a 60 minute regulation game.  This is why some fans are starting to call him JMFJ!  Hopefully some of the Jackets injuries in defense can heal up.  The team gets two whole days off before their next game on Tuesday.  In this year's compressed schedule, that's a long break.

The Blue Jackets begin the last four games of their six-game home stand tonight against the LA Kings.  The defending Stanley Cup Champions are playing like very "un-Stanley" at the moment.  The Kings are one point behind the Jackets in the Western Confernece going into this game. 

 

But the Jackets defense won't look much like defense that started the season.  Nikita Nikitin and Adrian Aucoin have been out for the past two games.  James Wisniewski got a concussion on that nasty fall in last Saturday's game.  And this morning the Dispatch reports that John Moore suffered a lower-body injury in yesterday's practice and will likely be unavailable for tonight's game.  That's 4 of the original 6 defensemen that started on opening night!

 

So for tonight, it looks like it's Fedor Tyutin and Jack Johnson as the only top-notch defensemen with NHL-level experience available tonight.  David Savard and Tim Erixon are good young defenseman but without much NHL-level experience.  Nick Holden and Cody Goloubef have been recalled from Springfield as emergency replacements to fill out the line-up.  Holden and Goloubef are basically career AHL-er's with very little NHL experience.  Holden played five games for the Jackets in 2010 and Goloubef played one game for the Jackets last season.  Maybe Jack Johnson will break his on-ice-time record of 34 minutes 59 seconds tonight?

 

In other injury news, Matt Calvert is getting close to returning.  He skated in yesterday's practice but is not likely to play in tonight's game against LA.  The CBJ will finish out this extended home stand with a Thursday game against Calgary and then back-to-back games Sunday against Edmonton and Monday against San Jose.

The levee in front of the Blue Jackets scoring broke open last night.  Columbus got six goals from six different players against San Jose in last night's 6-2 win at Nationwide.  This game closes out the six-game home stand with a 2-3-1 record.  Not great, but last night's win was the team's second "60 minute" performance on back-to-back nights.  Sunday night, the Jackets dominated Edmonton in all parts of the game - except the scoreboard.  The Jackets outshot the Oilers 40-14 but lost 3-1.  Very disappointing but sometimes a hot goalie can steal a game.

 

The 2-3-1 home stand featured two very good performances (4-2 win over Detroit; 6-2 win over San Jose), two good performances with bad results (3-1 loss to Edmonton; 4-3 OT loss to Calgary) and two bad performances (4-1 loss to St. Louis; 4-2 loss to L.A.).  Which kind of sums up where the Blue Jackets are in their rebuilding process.  Not as bad last year, but not close to the playoff level yet.  Signs of encouragement are the team's compete level and the goaltending.  Signs of discouragement are the team's offensive skill level.

 

Now the Jackets begin a six-game road swing starting with back-to-back games on Friday at L.A. and Saturday at Phoenix.

The Blue Jackets' new president of hockey operations, John Davidson, was hired back in October. (More at this post)  Now, Davidson has made his first move.

 

GM Scott Howson was let go yesterday and Davidson named a new GM today.  The new GM is Jarmo Kekalainen, currently a GM in Finland.  The announcement not only puts Davidson's stamp on the organization but breaks new ground in the NHL.  Kekalainen becomes the first European GM in NHL history.  More from the Dispatch at the link below:

 

Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets hire Kekalainen as GM