The Jackets start their toughest road trip of the season tonight: The California road trip.  It might be sunshine and warm weather outside, but inside the chilled arenas await three of the toughest teams in NHL.  Tonight's game is at San Jose, followed by a Friday game at Anaheim and then a Sunday game at the defending Stanley Cup Champion L.A. Kings.

 

The Jackets Cannon has a good look at this 3-game road trip and a rundown of the Jackets 3-2-0 start at http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/20/7013401/taming-the-wild-wild-west

 

It still very early in the 2014-15 season, but all three California teams are off to great starts.  San Jose is 4-2-1, Anaheim is 6-1-0 and L.A. is 4-1-1.  Good enough for the top three spots in the West's Pacific Division.  The Jackets would probably love to get more than 3 of a possible 6 points in this trip - but if they only get 2 or 3 points, that wouldn't be a bad result either.

I mentioned that these California road trips are usually the most difficult road games for the Jackets.  They're also the most difficult games for Jacket fans to watch back in Ohio.  And the San Jose games are the worst because their games start at 10:30PM and finish sometime after 1:00AM Ohio time.  But those Jacket fans hardy enough to stay up until then were rewarded with a remarkable CBJ victory.

 

However, you might forgive Jacket fans who turned off the set and turned in for the night after the first period.  The Jackets got blown out of the arena in the game's first 20 minutes - down 2-0 on the scoreboard and behind 16-5 in shots-on-goal.  But after that the Jackets turned it around.

 

The Jackets came close to going down 3 on a couple of San Jose power plays late in the first and early in the second.  But after successfully killing them off, Johansen started the CBJ scoring with a sneaky wrister that beat Niemi.  Then Letestu scored a skillful shortie goal on a nice set up from Anisimov that Letestu deked left and then skated right around Niemi.  Then Johansen gets his second goal of the night a little over a minute later - and the Jackets leave the second period leading 3-2.

 

But then the Sharks struck back in the third.  Tying at two minutes in, then taking a 4-3 lead eight minutes in on a bad giveaway by d-man Goloubef, who was getting his first start of the season.  But the CBJ weren't done.  Three minutes later the Jackets scored on a power play.  In a scrum in front of the net, Hartnell kicked a pass over to Foligno to retie it 4-4. -- Then it looked like Johansen had his third goal of the night with 1:20 remaining.  But that goal was disallowed on a goalie interference call. -- However, the Jackets kept pressing, and it was Letestu who got the game-winner with only 20.7 seconds remaining!  He nicely deflected an outside shot from Savard to win the game 5-4!!

 

Kudos to Johansen and Letestu for their 2-goal performances.  And kudos to Hartnell for an amazing 4-assist night.  What a way to start the California trip!!!

 

Recap: http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/24/7056079/game-6-recap-striking-gold-in-silicon-valley

 

Box Score: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400564572

It was a good thing the Jackets got that win at San Jose to start the California road trip.  Because it was the only points they would get for the rest of the trip.  A 4-1 loss at Anaheim and a 5-2 loss at LA meant no joy against two of the very best teams in the NHL.  To add injury to insult, two players suffered two of the scariest freak injuries you'll ever see in the NHL.

 

- In the third period of the Anaheim game on Friday, Cam Atkinson suffered a cut on his cheek near his right eye.  A Ducks player flipped forward while Cam was following.  The Ducks player's leg flew up into the air and his skate blade made contact with Cam's face - cutting into his cheek below the right eye and barely gazing his right eyelid!!!  Fortunately, no damage to Cam's eye.  The injury occurred even though Cam wears an eye shield.  The other player's skate came from below and got underneath the protective shield.  Could have been much much worse!

 

- In the third period of the next game at L.A. came the next injury.  Nick Foligno was skating along the side wall with Jeff Carter and was trying to track down the puck that was just ahead of the two.  While Foligno's head was down, he skated into the side ref who was sitting on the halfwall to avoid the oncoming players.  Foligno's head struck the right hip of the ref.  The impact knocked Foligno out and he fell - face first - onto the ice.  After medical personnel attended to him for many minutes, he was placed into a stretcher and taken off the ice. --- Much like Cam's injury, this could have been much worse.  Foligno suffered no structural damage to his neck and he's recovering well.  According to reports, Nick would like to be cleared for this Tuesday's game!  Not likely, but its still great news.

 

As Portzline just said on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Aportzline - "We can all use a little perspective sometimes: Yes, #CBJ got smoked by #Ducks and #LAKings, but they came oh-so-close to two awful injuries." and "One millimeter deeper and Cam Atkinson's life/career is forever changed. A little different angle and who knows what happens to Foligno's?"

TeamStream just flashed that Bobrovsky is now expected to miss 1-2 weeks due to a finger fracture in practice.

 

I'm wondering the same thing with respect to the CBJ that I was wondering over on the Browns thread about Mack: Are Ohio teams just uniquely cursed in this regard, or is everyone else suffering players dropping like flies, too, just because of the nature of the sport?  Is there some where we can compare just who's fared the worst on the injury front?  This is getting really ugly and is almost certainly costing us wins, not to mention that there's a real human side to all this (it's easy to feel less than sympathetic for people making millions in their mid-20s, particularly when it's just a broken finger that will heal comparatively quickly, but that's not so true when it comes to Horton).  This season, we seem to be right up there just shy of scaling-ladder-assault-team-leaders in terms of safety.

TeamStream just flashed that Bobrovsky is now expected to miss 1-2 weeks due to a finger fracture in practice.

 

Yep: http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/28/7083255/bobrovsky-out-1-2-weeks-with-broken-finger

 

Check out the NSFW gifs in the Jackets Cannon comment section!  Can't post them here, so go there for the official Jackets fan reaction to this news.

 

I hear what you're saying Gramarye.  But I'm not quite ready to throw the CBJ into the "Ohio pro sports are cursed" bucket yet.  Maybe in 30 years!!!

I drafted the text of this injury/recovery post last night for posting today.  That was before the Bob injury news - so I updated it to include that:

 

- On the recovery side of the injury front, Ryan Murray played his first game of the season on Sunday and backup goalie McElhinney has rejoined the team.  Both Jenner and Dubinsky are beginning limited practices after their surgeries, but are still both about one month away from playing.

 

- And on the injury side of the injury front, Matt Calvert was held out of Sunday's game and placed on the IR for an upper-body injury.  And of course (as noted above) BOB!!!!

 

More about this at http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/27/7078899/optional-skate-updates-calvert-to-ir-foligno-update-boone-skates and http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/28/7083255/bobrovsky-out-1-2-weeks-with-broken-finger

 

For the next five weeks, the CBJ schedule will be following an identical pattern:  Games on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday each week. --- Starts on Tuesday when Ottawa arrives at NWA.  Continuing on Friday when Toronto comes to NWA for a Halloween night match.  Then the Jackets travel to New Jersey for a Saturday night match.

Well, it wouldn't be a Blue Jackets update without something injury related, would it?  The CBJ threw out a patchwork lineup against Ottawa.  And it got patchier as the game wore on.

 

Patchwork as it was, the Jackets held together for two periods - entering the third tied 2-2.  Then it unraveled with Ottawa scoring three times for a 5-2 win. --- In the second period, Anisimov got shouldered/elbowed in the head and left with a concussion.  In the third period, Wisniewski got a broken finger and will be out 1-2 weeks.

 

The CBJ injuries have gotten so pervasive that even the Dispatch cartoonist decided to join in this morning:

 

Lots more about all the CBJ injuries at http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/28/7086841/game-recap-senators-5-blue-jackets-2-lights-out and at http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/blogs/puck-rakers/2014/10/wisniewski-anisimov-join-injured-list.html

 

At the Jackets Cannon, a commentor noted that this was the CBJ top 9 forward lineup going into this season.  And that, as of this date, 6 of the 9 are unable to play - (not to mention Bob and Wiz being out for the next 1-2 weeks):

Jenner Johanson Horton

Hartnell Dubinsky Atkinson

Foligno Anisimov Calvert

 

Now with the exception of Horton, the team will get these players back in the lineup over the next month.  The question is, how do the Jackets tread water until then?  Look for Jarmo and JD to make some short-term moves this week to shore up the lineup.

Well, it wouldn't be a Blue Jackets update without something injury related, would it?  Here's the latest one:  http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/29/come-on-again-jackets-lose-letestu-groin-for-2-4-weeks/

 

The CBJ entered last Tuesday's game with a bunch of injuries - and then they left the game with three more!!!  Anisimov (concussion), Wisniewski (broken finger - out 1-2 weeks) and now Letestu (pulled groin - out 2-4 weeks).

 

So the Jackets reached down into the Springfield Falcons roster for some reinforcements.  NHL veteran forwards Sean Collins and Brian Gibbons were recalled from Springfield for this weekend's games with Toronto and New Jersey.

The injury riddled Jackets had two games over the past weekend.  The first was a 4-1 home loss to Toronto.  The second was a 3-2 road loss at New Jersey.  The home loss was a poor effort all-around for the CBJ.  The road loss was a much better effort, but still not enough to prevent the Jackets fifth straight loss.  The only bright spots of this past weekend was the overall effort at New Jersey, and the play of some individual players:

 

- The top player of the weekend was Nick Foligno, who deserves praise for even playing at all after that scary head/neck injury at LA only one week ago.  Foligno missed the Tuesday game and then logged heavy minutes in the Friday and Saturday games.  Foligno even moved to center the second line against NJ and got 1 goal and 1 assist in the 3-2 loss.

- Brian Gibbons made his CBJ debut on Saturday against NJ and assisted on both of the CBJ goals.

- Anton Forsberg made his NHL debut goaltending on Saturday and looked good.  Which was a welcome change from McElhinney's poor net play on Tuesday and Friday.

 

And it wouldn't be a Blue Jackets update without something injury related, would it?  D-man Goloubef left the Saturday game after a collision in the third period.  He needed to be helped off the ice because he could put no weight on his right leg.  So now the Jackets are down to only 6 healthy d-men.

 

Still, as bad as the five-game losing streak and all the injuries have been, the CBJ have a chance to right the ship this week.  The first two games on this week's Tuesday-Friday-Saturday schedule are against Carolina.  Carolina is a team with a worse record than the Jackets and almost as many injuries.  The Jackets will host Carolina on Tuesday and play at Carolina on Friday.  Then the CBJ return home on Saturday to face the high-scoring TB Lightning.

Well, it wouldn't be a Jackets update without some injury news.  Cody Goloubef will be out 6 weeks after having knee surgery.  So the team recalled defenseman Frederic St. Denis from Springfield as a 7th d-man.

 

But the CBJ are getting some injured players back.  Boone Jenner and Matt Calvert are returning to the roster for tonight's game.  It will be Boone's season debut after breaking his hand during the final week of pre-season.  Calvert missed four games after getting injured 11 days ago.

A couple of nice analysis articles over at the Jackets Cannon.  The theme of both is . . . injuries:

 

http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/11/3/7149879/month-in-review-bruised

 

http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/10/31/7135495/trade-rumors-how-will-the-jackets-replace-nathan-horton

The Jackets promising 4-2-0 start has devolved into a 2nd-worst-in-the-East 4-8-0 record after their sixth straight loss.  Last night's 4-2 loss to Carolina was called a "half-effort" by the head coach.

 

And since it wouldn't be a Jackets update without some injury news, talented young d-man Ryan Murray was held out of Tuesday's game because of (in the team's words) "a setback" with his rehabbing knee.  He's listed as day-to-day.

 

 

The Good News:  The Jackets didn't lose any more players due to injury after Tuesday's game against Carolina.

 

The Bad News:  Instead, they lost d-man Jack Johnson for the next three games on a suspension for an illegal hit in the Carolina game - http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/11/5/7164341/jack-johnson-suspended-3-games-by-nhl

Via Dispatch sports reporter Shawn Mitchell's twitter feed:

 

Shawn Mitchell@smitchcd - 2 hours ago - #CBJ activate D James Wisniewski (broken finger) from injured reserve, place D Ryan Murray (knee) on injured reserve

The CBJ stopped their pointless streak at Carolina on Friday - but not their winless streak as they lost late in OT 3-2.  Despite the OT loss it was an encouraging effort by the injury-depleated Jackets.  However, they followed it up with a horrific first period against TB at NWA to go down 4 goals en route to a 7-4 loss.

 

Eight - in - a - row.  0-7-1 for only 1 point in the last 8 games.  They need their injured starters ASAP.  It looks like Bobrovsky is getting close to returning.  But not until this weekend games, at the earliest, and possibly not until next week.  Everyone else is either at least 2 weeks away (Dubinsky, Letestu), day-to-day (Calvert) or out with no timetable for returning (Horton, Murray, Anisimov).

 

So its one more week with the eight-consecutive-losses bunch on the Tuesday-Friday-Saturday treadmill.  Tonight is a Veterans Day special against the Caps at our nation's capital.  Friday at Philadelphia.  Saturday back in Columbus against San Jose.

Nine - in - a - row:

 

http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/11/11/7200605/game-15-recap-historically-bad

Miserable.  What a streak of bad luck this team has had.  Very disappointing for such a promising young team to essentially waste this season.  So early in the season too.

The losing streak is over!!!  Good gritty win for the Jackets at Philly.  Bob was removed from the IR and was C-Mac's backup last night.  He might get the start in goal tonight.

 

http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/11/14/7223913/game-16-recap-victory-at-last

Two in a row!!!  Hey, you gotta start somewhere.  Actually, it was a very nice home win on a back-to-back night.  Bob was back in goal and stopped 36 of 37 shots.  Anisimov also returned to the lineup after missing 7 games:  http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/11/15/7227669/game-17-recap-calm-blue-jackets-edge-sharks-2-1

 

But since it wouldn't be a Jackets update without some injury news:  Veteran defenseman Fedor Tyutin suffered a knee-to-knee collision late in Friday's game and will be out for 4-6 weeks; while talented young d-man Ryan Murray's "setback" with his rehabbing knee got him downgraded to week-to-week. --- The Jackets began this season with 8 NHL-level d-men on the roster.  With these injuries, only 5 NHL-level d-men were available to fill the 6 d-spots on the roster.  So the Jackets acquired 34-year-old veteran d-man Jordan Leopold from STL, in exchange for a 2016 5th-round draft pick.  Leopold filled in quite nicely in the Saturday win.

http://nesn.com/2014/11/report-blue-jackets-jack-johnson-bankrupt-after-parents-borrow-15m/

 

If you are an rich athlete never let your parents manage your money.

^ Just read about this on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch: http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2014/11/20/blind-sided.html

 

A well-done article by their Jackets reporter.  This apparently started back in L.A.  Johnson fired his agent and signed over management of his finances to his parents.  In 2011, when Johnson got a 7-year, $30.5 million deal from L.A., Johnson's parents started taking out high-interest loans against the future earnings of this contract - a process called monetizing.  Eventually those loans went into default with Johnson on the hook for repayment.

 

Now he has cut ties with his parents and has his own financial advisors and attorneys.  Part of getting out from his parent's bad decisions is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Sad situation all around.  Jackets fans had noted that his play this season seemed "distracted".  Now we know why!

 

PHT also had some more about this at http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/20/jack-johnson-filed-for-bankruptcy-parents-allegedly-took-advantage-of-him/

Hard sometimes to remember that these kids are still very young adults in most cases.

 

But as someone with no experience as a sports agent of any kind, just as a guy who manages his own money, this quote from an unnamed NHL agent in the Dispatch story sounds just about right:

 

"One prominent NHL agent, asked whether he would ever advise his clients to monetize a contract, responded: 'Never, never, never.'"

 

$30.5 million is definitely a heck of a lot of money for one person, but the nature of any pro sport is you really have no idea whether that will be the last money you ever make.  You have no idea what will happen to your body over the course of however many years that contract lasts--see, e.g., Nathan Horton, for the most extreme and unfortunate example that Johnson could ask for.  If anything, rather than borrowing against future earnings (monetizing the contract, which means frontloading earnings that are already frontloaded over the scale of a person's life), a pro athlete would probably be better advised to look for ways to annuitize the contract, i.e., lower payouts over a longer period.

Nathan Horton spoke publicly to a Dispatch reporter for the first time since his degenerative back condition was announced this season.  And unfortunately, the prognosis looks as career-ending as was earlier reported.  In his interview with Dispatch at http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2014/11/13/1113-blue-jackets-horton.html he talks in heartbreaking detail about he can't even function as a normal person, let alone as a professional hockey player.

 

The article also reports that Horton's back was starting to go bad as early as last season.  Horton said he felt some back discomfort while rehabbing from his 2013 off-season shoulder surgery.  He kept rehabbing and playing though it during the 2013-14 season.  But by the end of his 2014 season he couldn't even bend over enough to tie his own skates.  And the season-ending groin pull last year was a result of Horton altering his skating stride to compensate for the back pain.

 

Fortunately, there is a solution to Horton’s back problems: spinal fusion surgery with a metal rod.  The downside is that it would end his hockey career.  It looks almost certain that is going to happen.  But right now, it's a decision that 29-year-old Horton doesn't want to make.  If you can't get access to the full Dispatch article, some of the Horton quotes are also available at http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/12/career-ending-surgery-possible-for-jackets-horton/

I wish I had some good CBJ news to report after the depressing Jack Johnson and Nathan Horton stories.  But last week saw the Jackets get only 1 point in 3 games (a SO loss to Boston).  So this will have to suffice for the highlight of last week.

 

At the end of the OT period against Boston, CBJ defender Dalton Prout and Boston "tough guy" Milan Lucic mixed it up.  Lucic advanced on Prout and Prout decked him with one punch!

 

Though no fault of his own, the Horton deal makes Nick Swisher seem like a good pickup in comparison.

Though no fault of his own, the Horton deal makes Nick Swisher seem like a good pickup in comparison.

 

The only "good thing" from this career-ending injury situation is that insurance will pay the remainder of Horton's $37 million contract.  And putting Horton on LTIR will remove his salary from the team's salary cap.  So the Jackets will get a "reset" out of this.

 

But the team really thought they had their "perfect fit" free-agent with Horton -- Stanley Cup winner, good scorer, great locker room guy, tough rugged veteran winger to complement the team's youth.  The Jackets will get most of their money back, but they'll have a difficult time matching Horton's qualities.

The injury news just keeps on coming.  Just when center Brandon Dubinsky is almost ready to return, center Artem Anisimov is expected to miss 2-3 months with torn triceps muscle: http://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=741752

 

Meanwhile, the CBJ season keeps going south.  They dropped all three games last week.  They're now 2-13-2 since starting 4-2-0.

I didn't even know about the insurance; that's at least good to hear.  But I agree about the fact that we'd much rather have a healthy veteran player than have our money back.

 

ETA: Months?!  Dang, this season is going to be one to file and forget.

Dang, this season is going to be one to file and forget.

 

Sure looks like it.  The CBJ won last night - but the news was still negative:  Mark Letestu to miss six weeks after surgery to repair groin and abdominal injuries

 

That's an additional six weeks to the four weeks Letestu has already missed.  In addition to all the injuries to goalie Bob and in the defensive ranks, losing three of the team's four expected starting centers (Dubinsky, Anisimov, Letestu) has just gutted what was going to be the Jackets strength this season.

The Jackets won a game last night they had no business winning.  It was a 4-3 shootout win at Florida (2nd straight win - both against Florida) and it was the kind of win that shows both the hope and the reality of this season for the Jackets.

 

First, the game recap:  CBJ got off to a 3-0 lead with two goals in the first period, then a third goal 0:51 into the second period.  After that it was all FLA.  From that third CBJ goal on, the Jackets got outshot 42 to 8(!) and gave up three Panthers goals in the second period. --- But the Jackets held on to force OT and then a SO that they won.  The final shots-on-goal numbers were 55 to 20 in Florida's favor.  Bobrovsky had a franchise record 52 saves!

 

The Hope:  These last wins improve the CBJ record to 8-15-2 from a 6-15-2 start.  The last two CBJ seasons had similar poor starts (5-12-1 in 2012 & 5-10-0 in 2013-14).  Then the Jackets got hot in both seasons to reach the 2013-14 playoffs and fall a tiebreak short of the 2012 playoffs. ---  They are only 25 games into a 82-game season.  If the Jackets get hot this season, they "could" reach the playoffs again.

 

The Reality:  What makes this season different from the previous two is the huge amount of injuries.  Tyutin, Murray and Goloubef are still missing from the defense.  One of the Jackets three missing centers, Dubinsky, is close to returning.  Both two other centers, Anisimov and Letestu, won't be returning for months.  And, of course, Horton won't be returning at all. --- All that depth is being filled in with waiver wire pickups and minor league callups.  They're trying their best - but its no substitute for the players the Jackets expected to be starting. --- The loss of the three missing centers is key.  The replacement centers are suffering many more faceoff losses.  More faceoff losses means less puck possession.  Less puck possession means less time in the offensive zone.  And that means less scoring chances.

 

What it comes down to is this.  This season's Jackets might make a decent run for the playoffs, but the deck is stacked against them.

What it comes down to is this.  This season's Jackets might make a decent run for the playoffs, but the deck is stacked against them.

 

Don't know if this is the start of this season's "run for the playoffs".  But the Jackets won all three games last week for a season-high winning streak.  After back-to-back squeakers against Florida, the Jackets played probably their most complete game of this injury-plagued season with a 3-1 win at Tampa Bay on Saturday.

 

Things are starting to turn.  It looks like Bobrovsky is finally recovered from his broken finger.  Because last week Bob became BOB!!!  He posted a 3-0-0 record with a 1.62 goals-against average and .956 save percentage to be named an NHL Star of the Week.  Plus, tonight's game at Nationwide marks the return of arguably the team's most important player last season - DUBI!!!  Brandon Dubinsky will make his season-debut tonight after missing the first 26 games due to injury.

 

This week - in addition to hosting the Flyers tonight - the CBJ will travel to Washington DC on Thursday and return to Nationwide to host the Penguins on Saturday.  This may or may not be the beginning of a 2014-15 playoff push.  But it is a sign of better times for a CBJ team that's been hobbled by injuries up to now.

Good to see the win streak at four games now, and I guess it's good (or at least less bad) that we have a few waiver pickups getting decent minutes, if only to keep others in better skating shape and hopefully prevent more injuries (knock on wood).  But even now, unlike last year, I still just can't help feeling like the other shoe is about to drop--like there's nothing saying that this win streak wouldn't be the high point of the season and we could just as easily begin another nine-game losing streak with our next game.  But I'll at least give the coaching staff credit for scraping together ways to win in the past week or two with a bunch of minor-league call-ups and castoffs from other teams (though of course it's great to have Bob and Dubi back).

Good to see the win streak at four games now

 

That was a fun OT win (after a not-so-fun tying goal the Flyers scored with 56 seconds left to force the OT).  One of those waiver pickups, Kevin Connauton, scored the game-winning OT goal off a great pass from Johansen:  http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/9/7365241/jackets-rally-in-ot-recap

Five-in-a-row for the CBJ:  http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/11/7379413/game-recap-28-lucky-thirteens

 

Another game the Jackets probably shouldn't have won if you look at the stats.  The Jackets got outshot 41 to 23.  And over half of the Caps shots came during the 7 power-plays(!) given up by the CBJ.  The one PP goal the Caps scored was on a 5-on-3.  But the Jackets tied it up and hung up on to force overtime.  And the team that power-plays last, power-plays best!  (Or something like that)

 

The Jackets drew a 2-minute PP with 1:57 left in OT.  And with 0:19 left in OT, Nick Foligno scored his 2nd goal of the night, his 13th of the season, to win it for the Jackets!

Looks like Connauton picked himself up another point, too.  Decent find by the front office at this point in the season, given the circumstances.

Just when you thought the Jackets were getting somewhat healthy, Hartnell fractures a finger during Thursday's win (!).  He'll be out for 2 weeks:  http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/12/just-when-you-thought-they-were-getting-healthy-jackets-lose-hartnell-broken-finger/

 

So, our gritty veteran Hartnell is out for tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  That's too bad because he was a well-known "pens-pest" while at Philly.  However, the Pens will be without their best player tonight, Sidney Crosby.  Sid was removed from yesterday's practice and it was announced he would not be playing in last night's game at Pittsburgh or tonight's game at Columbus as a precaution due to an "unspecified illness".

 

That illness is likely the mumps.  Not only because he looks like he has the mumps (see the photo below).  But the NHL is in the midst a minor mumps outbreak.  About a dozen players on five teams have caught it.  Check out this PHT report and photo of Crosby's face:  http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/12/not-saying-sidney-crosby-has-the-mumps-but-it-sure-looks-like-sidney-crosby-has-the-mumps/

 

So keep Sid far away from Nationwide Arena.  The last thing the injury-riddled Jackets need now is a mumps epidemic!!!

WOW - that a fun win over the Pens last night.  Eventually.  But the win streak is now at six!!!  That game had just about everything.  Fights, lead changes, fights, drama, fights, overtime, oh and fights.  Plus just about every type of goal possible in hockey was scored last night:

 

- Even-strength goals (both teams)

- Power-play goal (Columbus)

- Short-handed goal (Pittsburgh)

- Penalty shot goal (Columbus)

- Goal with a goalie pulled for extra attacker (Pittsburgh)

- Shootout goals (both teams)

 

The only goal type we didn't see was an empty-netter for the Jackets.  Otherwise, the Pens wouldn't have scored the extra attacker goal with 11 seconds left in regulation to force OT.  But the Jackets did earn their sixth straight win in the post-OT shootout.  After an awful November, CBJ are now 6-0 for December!!!

 

Game recap: http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/13/7388887/game-29-recap-heart-attack-classic and http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400564471

Trade made with Chicago on Sunday:  http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/14/7389917/jackets-pick-up-morin-for-erixon

 

Basically, a roster logjam on both teams led to this player-for-player swap.  D-man Erixon got lots of chances to break into the starting six on the Jackets defense this season.  But his play was just not enough to stay in the starting lineup and Erixon found himself a healthy-scratch during the recent streak of games.  Now, with some of the injured CBJ D's returing (Tyutin expected to start tonight) or on the verge of returning (Goloubef's on a two-week AHL conditioning stint and due to return later this week) plus the emergence of Connauton during this 6-game winning streak - Erixon became expendable.  Combine that with the recent injury to Hartnell, plus the long-term injuries to Anisimov, Letestu and Horton - and the CBJ offensive side could use some more depth.  Forward Jeremy Morin helps provide that.

 

For the Blackhawks, it was the opposite problem.  They had a glut of offensive players and were healthy-scratching Morin, eventually demoting him to the AHL, while they could work out a trade.  Below is the Chicago-side view of this trade.  Interesting that Hawks fans think the 23-year-old Morin had potential but never got a good enough chance with their team.  The same could also be argued for 23-year-old Erixon and the Jackets.

 

http://www.secondcityhockey.com/2014/12/14/7390237/jeremy-morin-trade-is-no-surprise-but-still-disappointing

The Jackets (12-15-2) take their six-game winning streak on the road tonight to Detroit to face off with the Red Wings (17-7-7), who are having another of their customarily solid seasons (2nd Atlantic Division; 3rd Eastern Conference).  The Jackets activated D-man Fedor Tyutin off the IR and reassigned Kerby Rychel to Springfield.  Newly acquired forward Jeremy Morin looks like he'll draw into tonight's starting roster.

 

After Detroit, the CBJ return to begin a five-game home stand:

 

- Thurs (12/18) vs. Washington

- Sat (12/20) vs. Chicago

- Mon (12/22) vs. Nashville

  ----- CHRISTMAS BREAK -----

- Sat (12/27) vs. Boston

- Wed (12/31) vs. Minnesota

WOO HOO!!  Seven straight wins!!! 

 

http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/16/7406101/game-recap-30-red-wing-the-other-white-meat

 

What a difference a month (plus some healthy players and BOB!) makes.  One month ago, the Jackets lost to the Red Wings 5-0 in Nationwide while enduring a nine game losing streak.  Last night, the Jackets played toe-to-toe with the Wings at the Joe, eventually winning their 7th-in-the-row.  I say eventually because this was a tight tense playoff-like game that was scoreless after 20 minutes; after 40 minutes; after 60 minutes; and even after 65 minutes.  Our Bob and their Howard were on top of their games - both collecting regulation/OT shutouts with solid defensive play and some spectacular saves.

 

Only after three shootout rounds did the Jackets earn a 1-0 victory.  Datsyuk scored the Wings only SO goal, then Joey and Boone scored SO goals, followed by Bob making one final save for the win.  A game highlight video link is below.  Unfortunately, it does not include any amusing footage of former CBJ player (and current CBJ broadcaster) Jody Shelley wedging his 6'-3" frame into the extra tight 17.5" gap between the benches for his "inside the glass" coverage of the game(!)

 

http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/17/7407771/blue-jackets-1-red-wings-0-so-game-highlights/in/7166560

Well, there goes the streak, though we still got a point for the OTL.  I couldn't actually see it, just saw the scores keep popping up on my phone, but it looked like a good one (we came from behind to take the lead before they tied it to force OT, and then we lost in OT).  Maybe we were just gassed from so many OT games in a row.  Even [uninjured] pro athletes have to have limits to their endurance.

Yes, goodbye to the 7-game winning streak.  But they've still got an 8-game point streak.  And a 5-game OT streak, FWIW.

 

I did view last night's game and I don't think it was overall team fatigue.  The Caps also had an OT on Tuesday (plus an NHL-record 20-round(!) shootout after that OT).  A couple of Washington players just combined on a really good play for the OT goal: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12050635

 

Bob had a below-average game.  Maybe some fatigue here, but likely just a down game for him.  It happens.  But even so, the Jackets still looked like they would win last night when Michael Chaput scored his first-ever NHL goal with 4:25 left to give them a 4-3 lead.  Then the Jackets lead got "distinctly kicked".

 

With 3:00 remaining, Caps d-man Mike Green sent a shot just wide of the Jackets net that struck the skate of a Caps player and deflected past Bob into our net.  After viewing the replay, almost everyone not wearing Caps unis thought the goal would be disallowed.  Because it looked like the Caps player intentionally directed the puck into the net.  But after the replay went to the Toronto war room, it was ruled a good goal because there was "no distinct kicking motion".  It sure looked like a "distinct kicking motion" to me.  Here's a GIF of it from  http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/18/7418587/game-31-recap-streak-snapped-in-a-fight-filled-affair

 

I was intending to simply post this PHT link about a depth forward (Brian Gibbons) going to miss 2-3 weeks because of a knee injury suffered during the Caps game: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/19/rinse-repeat-blue-jackets-place-gibbons-on-ir-could-get-hartnell-back-in-weeks/

 

But that article also had a link to Dispatch CBJ reporter Aaron Portzline's twitter feed.  And Porty's feed contained this extremely bad news item (posted below):

 

Aaron Portzline @Aportzline - 35 minutes ago

https://twitter.com/Aportzline

Puck-rakers: #CBJ Boone Jenner to miss 1-2 months with a stress fracture in his back; Collins recalled

http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/blogs/puck-rakers/2014/12/jenner-to-miss-1-2-months.html

 

The SFW nature of UO prevents me from expressing my true feelings upon hearing this news.  But seriously, WTF?!?  Just when the Jackets get Dubinsky and Tyutin back to have some semblance of the lineup we thought they would have this season!  Now Boone gets this serious injury?!?  Jenner had already missed 12 of the 31 games this season with a broken finger when a puck hit his hand during a pre-season practice session.  So the "hockey gods" should have been appeased.  But noooooooo!!!!!

 

Getting Jenner back plus Dubinsky finally brought some of the skill, grit and depth to the center position that propelled the Jackets last season.  And this was a big part of the recent winning streak.  Now its back to the lineups that we saw in November.  That awful awful November.  Jenner will join centers Anisimov and Letestu on the longer-term IR.  Plus Hartnell and Gibbons on the shorter-term IR.  Plus D-man Murray on the we-dont-know-how-long IR.  Plus Horton on the very-likely-forever IR.

:-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

More about the Boone Jenner injury from the CBJ website:  http://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=744995

 

Go Jackets!!!  Beat the Blackhawks tonight!!!  Or at least do your best with the lineup you have left. :|

Go Jackets!!!  Beat the Blackhawks tonight!!!  Or at least do your best with the lineup you have left. :|

 

Amazingly unexpected improbable CBJ win over the Blackhawks last night.  Now 8-1-1 over the past 10 games (9-game point streak and a 6-game OT streak too) for the boys in union blue!

 

There was no way the Jackets should have won over the 2nd-in-the-entire-western-conference Blackhawks last night.  The Jackets lineup was depleted by injuries (again), got badly outshot 41-19 (again), and got the shaft with a bad goal call (again).  But Bob was BOB!!!! last night, stopping 39 of 41 shots and coming up huge in the shootout.  That, plus two goals in regulation from waiver wire pickups (Skille and Connauton) and a filthy shootout deke by Jack Johnson, was enough to steal a win from Chicago.

 

RECAP: http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/20/7429305/game-32-recap-jackets-steal-one-from-hawks-in-shootout

 

VIDEO: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564579

Once again, gotta say I'm impressed with the front office for finding those guys, considering that we were both not really near the start of the season and also not really near the trade deadline, so the market was presumably pretty thin.

 

Now if we could only keep the players we were supposed to have actually playing ...

 

It's crazy to be on a nine-game point streak and I still just can't help wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.  We're playing so far above where we should be considering who we can actually put on the ice, it's just crazy.

I know what you mean.  The Jackets have been somewhat fortunate over this 9-game point streak.  Especially in the four SO wins.  The December schedule hasn't had any back-to-back games - allowing the Jackets to start Bob in every game, who has been red-hot lately.  All of this has allowed the CBJ to go 8-0-1 over this 9-game point streak - despite only outscoring opponents 28-24 in regulation & OT over these nine games.

 

So you should expect some "reversion to the mean" for the Jackets.  Plus the injury situation is just out of control.  This illustrates just how bad the injuries have been:  Through 32 games, the Jackets have lost 209 man-games to injuries this season.  --  In last season's entire 82-game season, they lost only 292 man-games.  And that was with significant injuries to Bobrovsky, Gaborik and Horton last season.  It's become clear that this season's CBJ will never be "fully healthy".  The best we can hope for is "partially healthy" or "healthy enough to be competitve".

 

But despite all these injuries, this season's CBJ have the same point total though 32 games as last year's playoff-bound team over 32 games.  This season's offense is far weaker due to injury.  But the defense is pretty sound and mostly healthy (as of this post).  And Bob has returned to be solid in goal.  The Jackets Cannon offered a more extensive version of this review at http://www.jacketscannon.com/2014/12/21/7427783/exorcism-anyone

 

Prior to the current point streak, there was some fan talk of "tanking the season" in order to get one of the top two "generational talent players" in next year's draft.  That talk has mercifully faded away.  Now there is legitimate hope for the CBJ to reach the playoffs.  Or at least make a really good run for the playoffs.  But don't expect any big trades for additional offensive talent this season.  Management doesn't want to mortgage the future for one playoff run.  So it looks like the Jackets will basically let it ride for the rest of this season - and see how far it goes.

You say "the defense is pretty sound and mostly healthy," but they've still been giving up a tremendous amount of shots on goal; only Bob's insane save percentage has been able to be the equalizer.  Maybe that's just because the offense is so depleted that we can't keep the puck in the opponent's zone for long stretches, and they can to us ... but regardless of the reason, that's one reason I keep seeing the other shoe dropping at some point.