Out of Time: Fire up the (assistant) coaching carousel

The pace of news is getting out ahead of me...I want to write my opinion pieces on the different aspects of the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, but things keep happening...forcing me to write more reactive pieces.  And as it relates to the coaching, I actually wanted to target my attention to the two people that I'll discuss today, but there's a lot more that I want to say about the coaches in the days ahead.  So forgive me while I jump to the back of the book and offer up some thoughts that are a tad out of sequence with my intended plan.

DAVE ROOK - GONE!

It is with no small measure of joy that I share with DBJ blog readers a link from the Dispatch informing the world that goalie consultant Dave Rook has resigned from the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching staff.  The public reason is that he now recognizes that the CBJ want him in Columbus more than he wants to be, and he won't move his family down from Canada.

Game 53/Pittsburgh: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets paid their first regular season visit to the shiny new CONSOL Energy Center and didn't bother to wipe their feet with a 4-1 victory over the host Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pens fans will suggest that their missing superstar players, Sidney Crosby (concussion) and Evgeni Malkin (knee), played a major factor in the loss.  It's possible.  But the rest of the NHL doesn't care, nor did they tie up $17.4 million in cap space on two players like Ray Shero did.  Losing both of these players at the same time is armegeddon for Pittsburgh, and that's sad for the Pens because the rest of the league has a stack full of IOU's to collect upon with the league's Golden Children.

But enough about the opposition.  This is a Blue Jackets blog, and we're going to talk about the winners of tonight's game.

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.