Committed to #Vinning

No wins yet, but Vinny is doing his part.

The Jackets arguably had the best offseason of any team in the league. Columbus filled two of it's biggest holes in the lineup by acquiring Wisniewski and Carter. They also upgraded the wing by signing Vinny Prospal who is quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team. Vinny loves to score and you can never go wrong there. Finally, the Blue Jackets and the City of Columbus made significant progress towards fixing the arena-lease issue. Combine all of these things with the surprising surge of young players making the team from training camp and you will have a fan base that is [!!!] ready to start the season. Unfortunately for Jackets and us fans, none of the offseason changes alone are worth points points in the season standings. 



The dismal start to the season has upset quite a lot of people and rightfully so. The argument that there are many new faces and a new coach is a good one, but that argument can only carry so much weight for a team who has clearly shown they want to win now. 


The Blue Jackets new mantra for their players reminding them the best way to win a hockey game: "earn it." Last year the Blue Jacket's began using the slogan "Hardcore Hockey." The phrase helped to describe the new system the coaching staff wanted to play and ultimately what the fans should expect from the Blue Jackets. One of the best things a slogan can do for a company is generate interest and "Hardcore Hockey" does a great job of doing that; Because, honestly, what is "hardcore" hockey? 


Being committed to do things like dominate on the forecheck and maintain possession of the puck is hard in the NHL but doing it for an entire 60 minutes is even harder. The difference between how the Jackets have played so far this season and how they want to play (hardcore) is the commitment to play hard for the entire game. If the level dominance shown by the team in the first period and second period can be relatively maintained for a game or even a season then there is no question in my mind this team would make the playoffs. As many have said, and I agree, this is only the first three games and there is plenty of time to get back up...


They just have to start winning.


What do you think "hardcore hockey" will become as the Jackets begin to coalesce and earn their wins?


Thanks for reading and thanks again to Dark Blue Jacket and Gallos for allowing me contribute here!


-Cody