Very early season musings

The coaching Man of the Hour in Columbus,
goaltenders coach Ian Clark

In looking over the first couple of games, I've had fleeting thoughts that don't necessarily warrant entire blog posts (right now) but might be worth considering going forward:

• In the "Don't Set the Bar Too High" department, I'm happy that the CBJ didn't get blown out at home on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd against Nashville.  They probably bought themselves some time with the ever-fickle locals as a result.  
• Could CBJ Assistant Coaches Brad Berry (defense) and Ian Clark (goaltenders) kindly report to Nationwide Arena?  The NHL 2011-2012 season is underway, and your players need coaching.  Badly.
• To be Mark Dekanich right now is to be a study in anticipation and frustration.  Steve Mason's performing OK-to-poorly (with no comment on the defensive help Mase may or may not be getting) with a painful .870 goals against average.  And when Mase is pulled in game two for AHLer Curtis Sanford, DexShow has to be thinking, "If I wasn't injured, that would be ME!"  Let's hope that either Mase gets his game together quickly or DexShow is ready to roll once he returns.  At this point, I don't care which.  (Or that GM Scott Howson doesn't have to give up too much in the trade market to get a consistent goaltender...)
• I can understand how the CBJ would have trouble getting the puck into the offensive zone against Nashville, especially when Nashville locked down after going up by one goal.  But Minnesota? Minnesota?  Ack.

Observation from practice

For the first time in way too long, the Dark Blue Toddler and I ventured down this morning to Nationwide Arena to check in on the Columbus Blue Jackets' open practice in anticipation of tomorrow's tilt with the streaking (7-1-2 in their last 10 - Yow!) Los Angeles Kings.

When reached for comment about practice,
the Dark Blue Toddler stopped on the stairs to say,
"Up! Up! UP! Down! Down! DOWN! Hockey! Boom!"

The visit was punctuated by a pre-practice breakfast with DBT at the Arena District's Sunny Street Cafe on Nationwide Boulevard, where we redeemed a Groupon and he gnawed on perhaps the largest "dinosaur" pancake that I've ever seen.  (They apprently pour the batter into a 8-inch long dinosaur mold, kinda like a cookie cutter for pancakes.)  Of course, the DBT is the discriminating type, so he ate my home fries instead.  At least I got coffee.  And Sunny Street is a great way to kick off your CBJ practice morning.  Nice folks, fast service.

As for practice, I got pretty much what I've come to expect with the little man.  DBT runs the stairs and the rows nonstop (only stopping to tell me what row letter I've parked in to monitor him while he tears around sections 114 and 115), and I get about 15 minutes of actual observation during a one-hour practice.

Most notable from practice was who was NOT out there: Steve Mason.  We now know that Mase has bronchitis and a "minor" pulled groin (how such a muscle pull can be "minor" is beyond me).  With that, and no goalie callup from Springfield, we were treated to the CBJ equipment manager in net.  I think I got a taste of what the diminutive Darren Pang would have looked like between the pipes for the Blue Jackets.  Actually, the guy did OK considering they weren't pushing him too hard out there.

Time to Step Up: Loyal, but not a lemming

Frustration has now deeply set in for your somewhat-trusty blogger as it pertains to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The events since Thanksgiving have exposed five glaring weaknesses on the squad:

1. A set of forwards who seem embarassingly ashamed to take a shot on goal, as if it would hurt them with the all-important style points that the Eastern Bloc figure skating judge gives out.  (The Romanians love to see passing, apparently.)
2. A set of defensemen that redefine the term "square pegs in round holes" with their inability to implement Scott Arniel's hoped-for defensive scheme.  They can't push the puck up the ice, can't pass the puck up the ice and can't defend the goaltender like, well, just about any of the NHL teams that they have played this season.
3. A pair of goalies (one a post-adolescent mental case, the other a capable backup) who appear to often lack the ability to carry the team on their backs as top-level goalies occasionally do.
4. A coaching staff that may or may not have been ready for the toxic combination of the above - combined with a team mentality that apparently accepts withdrawing to a "happy place" where wins and losses don't matter as much.  
1. Head coach Scott Arniel knows what's wrong (personnel, culture) and appears to lack the tools to fix it, not that he's not trying.
2. Defensive coach Brad Berry probably will need counselling by the time this season is over.  He could be a great coach, but we'd never know because his defensive corps simply can't do what needs to be done.  On the bright side, his penalty killing has looked decent.
3. Offensive/power play coach Bob Boughner has not demonstrated that he is ready for NHL prime-time.  Goal production is pitifully low, and power play goals are few and far between.
4. Gauging his behavior with the media, goaltender "coach" Dave Rook appears to be more interested in protecting his professional reputation and apparently more important consulting gig than in bringing his star pupil back to his Calder Trophy-caliber level.  (Note that said trophy was earned in a season when Rook was not around.)
5. A front office that, while doing an admirable job (re?)stocking the AHL-level talent pool and exhibiting remarkable patience considering the implosion that they are witnessing at the NHL level, cannot bring themselves to make any of the potential personnel moves that are necessary to get this team on the right track.  While I grant that "it takes two to tango" in any personnel move outside of an AHL demotion, I also note that teams have actually made trades for players of reasonable substance during this season.  Ask Montreal, Los Angeles Colorado and their trade partners whether it's impossible to make a meaningful trade mid-season.  And don't try to tell me that there aren't teams out there that are ready to deal.  I submit that Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and the Islanders appear from media activity to be ready to make something happen.  If I thought about it harder, I bet I could come up with more.

And so, seeing the team going nowhere on Sunday night en route to a totally unnecessary loss against a division rival that has been suffering from poor defense all season long and that was missing its top two scorers, I turned off the television set.  Since starting to watch the Blue Jackets seriously just prior to the announcement of Ken Hitchcock as head coach, I have never done that voluntarily.  I just could not take it any more.  I saw nothing, and I mean nothing, from the CBJ that would have given me hope that the team could turn that game around.  In fact, I'm surprised that they kept it to a three-goal game.  

Since that debacle, I have reflected upon my attitude and actions vis a vis the team.  Am I overly negative?  Am I contributing to the "culture of whining/losing" that some might suggest exists in the Blue Jackets fan base?  

No.  Let's make this clear, there's a huge distinction between my criticism and that of a "whiner".  

Mine is 110% pure frustration.  

Game 27/St. Louis: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets traveled to St. Louis, Missouri tonight and lost to the Blues, 4-1, in regulation.

That this loss - the third straight road loss - happened against a team that was reeling from injuries is all the more telling.  This is a team that, despite the shootout win over Dallas and the shootout loss (hello, loser point) against Nashville, is reeling and pretty much devoid of confidence since getting undressed by the Detroit Red Wings in games 21 and 22.  They haven't won in regulation in the past nine games - since November 22.  Sigh.

Game 3/Chicago: My Take

OK, so there apparently ARE days where it's better to be stuck in class than in Nationwide Arena.  When your beloved Columbus Blue Jackets get shellacked by a depleted Chicago Blackhawks squad, 5-2 on 40 (!) shots, this probably fits the bill.

I was only able to catch just a few minutes of actual action, so I can only go off what I've seen on Twitter and the scoresheet.  Perhaps that allows me a little necessary distance to discuss this rationally.  For had I been in the arena, I probably would get a tad strident.  So let's step gently through this minefield and try to understand what happened.

Games 1-2: My Take

Game 1: San Jose Sharks 3, Columbus Blue Jackets 2
Game 2: CBJ 3, Sharks 2 (OT)

Is is OK to say, "Thank God, it's over," in relation to the Columbus Blue Jackets' NHL Premiere games in Stockholm against the San Jose Sharks?

I never had a good feeling about this whole trip.  Too much travel (and jet lag), a screwy preseason schedule to accommodate playing in Europe, so many potential distractions, inability to move/claim players easily...in my mind, opening the season this way was a recipe for disaster.

To be fair, the team wisely used the time as a chance to do some team bonding and apparently made the most of it.  (And, like most CBJ fans, I got a kick out of how Mike Commodore was apparently goofing around with Derick Brassard all throughout the trip.)  And perhaps the most valuable aspect of the trip was the international exposure that Columbus received.  It seems as if the local sports folks got that - for the sake of central Ohio's economy, let's pray that the local economic development folks did, too.

As for the games, the CBJ largely looked like a team that was learning a new system -- against one of the top teams in the league.  Oh, we were?  Huh.  Who knew?

Watching games with mobile young'uns running around as I was means that you get bits and pieces and often miss a spot here and there.  But as I saw it, that was the Jackets play on the ice...bits and pieces of solid execution and a few spots where they were lost in the Lutfisk.

Time to step up: The coaches

THE COACHES

So your professional hockey team endures perhaps the most disappointing season in its ten-year history.  Forwards aren't scoring as anticipated, defenders are falling like flies, goalies can't hold serve for longer than a game or two.  But despite all the disappointment, it's still the third-highest point total in that same period of time.  What's a general manager to do?

If you're Scott Howson and your team is the Columbus Blue Jackets, you keep the team together and wipe the slate clean in the coaching suite.

Yup, Ken Hitchcock and his band of long-time CBJ assistants all were shown the door over the course of a few months.  Howson then went out and looked for a new head coach, interviewing established assistants and rising stars alike.  After conducting that wild and wooly coaching search, Howson's preferred choice, Guy Boucher, was poached by Steve Yzerman and the Tampa Bay Lightning at the last second.  Which leads us to...

What a curious situation to be in, the second choice in a coaching search.  Clearly you're qualified for the job, having made it to the final round of interviews, but you're not THE guy that the boss wanted.  Honestly, I'm not sure how I'd handle that if I was in Scott Arniel's shoes.  I suppose I'd just saddle up and do my best - as if I was the top pick - and hope that time proves my selection to be the right one.  Still, there's no getting around the fact that it's awkward.

Is Scott Arniel ready to have his name in lights?

Until you win.

Luckily for Arniel, he has won quite a bit, with a 181-106-33 record over four seasons with the Manitoba Moose, the AHL farm team of the Vancouver Canucks.  He took the Moose to the Calder Cup finals once and, perhaps more importantly, never missed the playoffs in any season where he was head coach.  That's saying something considering the talent level on a farm team can drastically change from season to season - heck, from day to day - depending on the whims of the NHL club.  So that he has won consistently with a less-than-consistent roster...that's important.

But now he's stepping up into the big leagues, and it's a whole new game.  Sure, Arniel has the pedigree - longtime player, assistant under longtime Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff, head coach in Manitoba - but being a head coach at the top level requires a level of creativity and skill that comes from trying to motivate players who make multiples of your salary and probably could have you fired with a couple of phone calls.  Does Arniel have the deft touch to massage the egos, install his system and actually win games at the NHL level?  Knowing that Scott Howson doesn't make any move (let alone select a head coach) without a ridiculous level of due diligence, I'd tend to think that he does.  But time will tell.