Part IV: The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

The Hitchcock Restoration

A Columbus Blue Jackets Civil War Logo

Ken Hitchcock was coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets from November 22, 2006 to February 3, 2010.  He is the winningest coach in Blue Jackets history, compiling a record of 285 G, 126W, 123L, and 36OTL.  Depending on how you fall out on your view of the shootout, he is the only coach in CBJ history to have a winning record.

In my last post I made the assertion that although many names had changed, the talent level of the team plateaued at about the 2003-04 level.  As evidence for that, I point to Ken Hitchcock's coaching record.  Prior to coming to Columbus, as a head coach he had never coached a team in the NHL for the entire year and not made the playoffs.  That is, until he coached the 2007-08 CBJ squad.

Don't get me wrong.  I think he was kind of fond of that team, because he believed that the team had maxxed out.  That they had given him everything that they had.  But it wasn't enough, they simply lacked the talent to be a playoff team.  But I am jumping ahead.

Ken Hitchcock's coaching career for the CBJ served as a bridge between two General Managers, Doug MacLean and Scott Howson.  As such, Coach Hitchcock holds a very important place in CBJ history.

Should I stay or should I go? Part I: The Forwards

[Campbell's brand-new series, getting a jump-start on the looming offseason...I'm posting while he gets up to speed with the Blogger interface. - DBJ]

Over the next couple weeks I will be doing an in depth examination of the upcoming free agents of the Columbus Blue Jackets and whether they should return or not.

PART 1 – FORWARDS

Chris Clark

RW #71

Age: 35 Ht: 6'0” Wt: 196 lbs.

Acquired: Via trade with Washington Capitals

Current Salary: $2,633,333

Status After Season: Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA)

The former captain of the Washington Capitals was acquired in the 2009/10 season along with defenseman Milan Jurcina in exchange for perpetually off-side left wing Jason Chimera. Clark was mainly acquired to add leadership to the locker room, something the team was deemed to be missing after the retirement of Michael Peca following the 2008/09 season. While Clark started off the year extremely well, nagging injuries and age seem to have caught up with him and he seems unable to stay healthy enough to play a bottom six role. It is impossible to determine the effect Clark has had in a leadership role, however it seems that Rick Nash and R.J. Umberger are the leaders of this team.

I can't see Howson offering Clark a contract, and if he did it certainly would have to be one that included a substantial pay cut. His numbers and injuries just have not allowed Scott Arniel to find a solid role for him, and even when not hurt he has often been a healthy scratch. Springfield is teeming with gritty wingers that can pitch in points every now and then, so my guess would be Clark is allowed to walk.

Game 74/Phoenix: My Take

In their last 10PM start of the 2010-2011 season, the Columbus Blue Jackets lost, 3-0, to the Phoenix Coyotes in front of 215 people at Jobing.com Arena.

Word is that Rick Nash and R.J. Umberger held a closed-door, players-only meeting after the game.  The DBJ blog had a mole in the room, and thus we offer:

THE TOP 10 COMMENTS OVERHEARD AT THE BLUE JACKETS' PLAYERS-ONLY MEETING

1. Rivet, Moreau, Clark, Murray, Hejda, Stralman - Out.  You're not going to be here next year anyway.

2. Guys, the season isn't over yet.  It's really OK to keep scoring.

Game 66/St. Louis: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets played the St. Louis Blues for the second time in three nights and lost, 4-3, in overtime tonight at Nationwide Arena.

After a scoreless first period, the Blue Jackets went on a 3-0 tear in the second with goals by Voracek, Umberger and Mackenzie. The Blues then scored 3 unanswered goals (1 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd) - and took the game in overtime.

That's right, up 3-0 and then losing 4-3. Not much more needs to be said.

NEXT UP: The Blue Jackets host the Los Angeles Kings at Nationwide Arena on Friday night.

Trade deadline - Hair of the dog edition

Just a few thoughts in the wake of the 2011 NHL trade deadline...

• If Upshall makes $2.25 million and Lepisto makes $800,000, and Klesla makes $2.975 million, do the Columbus Blue Jackets REALLY qualify as buyers at this trade deadline?
• Considering the lack of salary additions (the CBJ are still $6.9 million under the salary cap), was it a matter of deals not there to be had or was it handcuffs from an ownership/business office still smarting from losing all of those season ticket holders?
• Which Blue Jackets players do you really think were in play yesterday?
• How are Kristian Huselius, Jake Voracek and Nikita Filatov all under contract with the CBJ this morning?  
• How long do you think that the TSN guys were on air before they started to feel kinda foolish, considering that next to nothing was actually happening?
• Why have I never heard anything good about John Michael Liles, yet so many NHL/CBJ fans were clamoring to get him?
• Did Versus have an NHL trade deadline show?  Of any length?
• Which Blue Jacket(s) do you think were breathing the biggest sighs of relief at 3PM yesterday?
• How much do you think that the Anton Stralman knee injury (out 3-4 weeks) in Nashville messed with Scott Howson's trade deadline strategy?
• After a month of really interesting trades, where did that adventurous spirit go yesterday?  
• Was Michael Chaput really the center that Scott Howson was talking about when he said, "We'd like to try and get another center, espeically with Derick (Brassard) hurt. Centers that are available are few and far between in this league."  Really?  Or might it have been Brad Richards, the Dallas center about whom I gather Howson made more than one inquiring phone call yesterday?
• Klesla needs to pass a physical today to complete the trade.  Should we be concerned?
• Should I really be surprised that I was able to get a nap in between 1PM and 2PM yesterday...and nothing happened while I was out?

Game 61/Nashville: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets started the last significant western road trip of the season this afternoon in Nashville and the host Predators beat the CBJ, 3-2, in regulation.

There are 82 games in the season...there are 82 games in the season...there are 82 games in the season...

Now that I have that blood pressure-lowering Moment of Zen out of the way, let's proceed.  In my opinion, this game was lost on two plays:

The first is the easy one.  Derek Mackenzie followed up on an R.J. Umberger shot by slamming the puck in at the corner of the net for an apparent goal.  Or was it?




[Special thanks to @RyanReal for his letting me know about the television feed.  While it's choppy, it gets the point across pretty clearly.]

Game 37/Toronto: My Take

Making their once every two years pilgrimage to the Air Canada Centre on Thursday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets emerged victorious against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, in regulation for their second straight win.

At risk of being a buzz-kill, this was a matchup of two 13th place teams.  I appreciate that 13th in the West means you're almost qualifying for the playoffs (by virtue of being 4 points out of 8th) whereas 13th in the East means...well, you're not very good.  But this was most definitely a "should win" if not a "must win" (to get back in the playoff hunt, you start by picking off the weaker teams).  And they won, two points for the good guys, bumping the CBJ up to 11th by the end of the evening with a 19-15-3 record (41 points).

Game 36/Minnesota: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets finally shed their notorious "third jersey curse" last night with a 4-3 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild in front of 14,454 fans.

I'm going to temper my enthusiasm a bit with this win.  After all, it's two teams at the back of the "Western Conference" pack struggling to keep from falling further behind the pack.  But it was two badly-needed points, and we can't overlook that important fact.

Scratches last night were Rusty Klesla, Jake Voracek and Derek Dorsett.  Interesting collection in the press box. Rusty is leading the team in plus/minus, Voracek is one of the few consistent top-two liners and Dorsett is perhaps the CBJ's prototypical "energy" player.  One could surmise that the roster shuffle was somehow related to the one-on-one meetings that coach Scott Arniel had with a number of CBJ players over the course of the day.  Whether the Chris Clarks and Mike Commodores of the world lobbied their way onto the ice, or whether the aforementioned trio talked their way off the gametime roster, I have no idea.  Or, perhaps, it had no impact whatsoever.

One guy who came down from the press box with a vengeance was Fedor Tyutin.  Almost seven minutes into the third period, Tyutin made a rocket shot from the point that no one saw coming:



He also was huge on another late rush opportunity. For someone who many thought was totally incompatible with this puck possession style of play, Tyutin may still have some rough edges...but he's picking it up as the season moves along.

Game 33/Calgary: My Take

The rested Columbus Blue Jackets got to take advantage of the road-weary Calgary Flames tonight at Nationwide Arena to the tune of a 3-1 win in regulation.

The two points in the standings for the CBJ represents the first regulation win since December 11's 3-1 win over the New York Rangers.

The game itself was competitive, highlighted by nice, tough goals by Jake Voracek and Jared Boll - not to mention another strong effort from Mathieu Garon in net.  Calgary tried to muster a little gusto in the second and third, but it was pretty much all CBJ tonight.

In fact, I'll go as far as to say that it could have been a lot worse for the Flames - if not for the Blue Jackets.

Game 26/Dallas: My Take

The slumping Columbus Blue Jackets welcomed the streaking Dallas Stars into Nationwide Arena on Monday night and overcame the Stars, 3-2, in a post-overtime shootout.

This was my second regular season game in my ticket package, so my review of the night's events will take on a different tone from having actually been in attendance.  As much as I'd like you to think that a recap based off of TV is the same as one based off the in-arena experience, it isn't.  So enjoy it when you can!

Mrs. DBJ and I bundled up and headed down to Nationwide very mindful of the Buffalo and Pittsburgh debacles.  Our mood heading in was, "Please, don't let it be that bad."  Yeah, the Kool-Aid is back in the fridge and likely will stay there for a while.

Game 22/Detroit: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets traveled to Joe Louis Arena to salvage half of a home-and home weekend series with the Detroit Red Wings and left empty-handed in a 4-2 loss.

After taking a 1-0 lead on a Derick Brassard tip-in at the end of the first period, the CBJ gave up two goals in 14 seconds in the middle of the second period.  Clearly rattled but still determined, the Jackets mustered the necessary competitive effort to compete with the (in my opinion) prohibitive Stanley Cup favorites until the start of the third period, when Valtteri Filppula took advantage of a Steve Mason rebound that had zero defensive back-side assistance and flipped one in the back of the net to make it 3-1.  The game appeared over until late in the third when the second power play unit (in a desperation empty-net configuration comprised of Umberger, Vermette, Brassard, Voracek, Russell and MacKenzie) finally slipped one past the Red Wings' penalty kill  to make it 3-2 with 1:30 to go.




It ended up being too little, too late, with the Wings dropping an empty netter in to end the game.

One of the downsides of actually being able to watch the vast majority of the game when it's a loss is that it  allows me the opportunity to gauge the demonstrable mindset of the two teams and, when a game starts as a virtual stalemate, to identify the moment when the game swung out of control.  (Gee, why I can't a get a rousing home win to have nearly three solid hours in front of the TV?  Did it have to be this game?)

Game 17/Anaheim: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets stared down the grim face of history on Friday night, never giving in (or giving up) against a tenacious Anaheim Ducks squad at the Honda Center.  The Blue Jackets won, 4-3, marking their first Friday win of the season.

Or was it Saturday?  I mean, the victory wasn't sealed until after midnight Columbus time.  Curse these West Coast trips...

Anyway, onto the game.  It seems like only yesterday that I wrote this:

All the CBJ will do is come into your house, track mud onto the carpet, empty your fridge, eat your chips, turn on all the lights...and send your fans home unhappy. 

That's what the Columbus Blue Jackets do this year.

And again, it rings true.  Those plucky Blue Jackets just don't seem to realize that they're supposed to lose their way through these West Coast trips, that it's the Los Angeleses and San Joses and Vancouvers who are supposed to threaten the Detroit/Chicago (but certainly not the rest of the Central Division) hegemony in the West.  This crystallized for me in the final 1-2 seconds of the game, where Corey Perry realized that his team was going to lose to Columbus and, in a fit of exasperation, hauled off and sucker-punched Antoine Vermette.

Game 11/Montreal: My take

The Columbus Blue Jackets led the Montreal Canadiens wire-to-wire, eventually shutting out the Habs by a score of 3-0 at Nationwide Arena.

What I found most exciting out of the evening was not the great Rick Nash wrister over Carey Price's shoulder nor the Derick Brassard cleanup goal off of a Jake Voracek breakaway.  No, what I was most impressed by was the total control of the game that the Blue Jackets displayed over the Northeast Division-leading Canadiens.  This, by my estimation, was the finest win that the Jackets have posted this season.

Post-Minnesota thoughts (Plus 2 more)

So the Columbus Blue Jackets squeegied the Xcel Energy Center ice with the Minnesota Wild last night in what appeared to be, more or less, a battle of NHL-caliber rosters.  Surely not as exciting as the scrubs pulling out the shootout win at Nationwide this past week, but one has to remember that this is a town that revels in the glory of a (mind-numbingly boring) 70-3 Ohio State football win over MAC cellar-dwellers East Nowhere State.  So a wire-to-wire dismantling is good for the fine folks of Columbus.  Kinda cleanses the pores, if you will.

As for the game performance, I was like everyone else and had to listen live on radio.  (And I have Insight for my cable now, meaning I didn't get to watch the replay on NHL Network because...Insight doesn't carry NHL Network.  Sigh.)  My impressions, like nearly all of those who have offered online commentary of the game, thus is filtered through the eyes and words of George Matthews and Bob McElligott.  Fortunately for CBJ fans, George and Bob are pretty good at calling a game - especially once one gets used to George's awesome play-by-play quirks.  (But Bob really doesn't need to do John Madden impressions.)  I've found that I more or less agree with a lot of what they're saying, so let's take their impressions as gospel.

Sounds to me like the Sammy Pahlsson-anchored third line will be shifting from a liability to a strength this season.  Pahlsson has his game on, perhaps spurred the addition of Ethan Moreau.  Moreau also appears  to be playing well (despite my lousy call from the other Minnesota game).  Both guys had goals and assists.  This bodes well going into the regular season, but coach Scott Arniel hopefully will take caution with whomever he pairs with those two as to augment - and not break up - the chemistry that is growing.

Post-9/24 AM practice thoughts

With the Dark Blue Toddler in tow, I headed down to Nationwide Arena to witness my first-ever Columbus Blue Jackets practice with the little guy...only my second practice ever, I believe.  I'm much more of a TV/internet fan of the club than an in-person fan, largely due to familial and work/family constraints, so it's interesting to see the machinations of the Columbus Blue Jackets system on full display with no filters applied beyond the glass that separates us from the ice.  I'd love to do it more often...hope to do so in the future.

Attending a practice in person only reemphasizes how much I have to learn about the game I enjoy so much.  With drills running almost constantly at both ends of the ice, and occasional specialty drills at center ice, there's so much going on that you really don't have a means to drink all the water coming out of the visual fire hydrant.  So you drink in what you can, pray you didn't miss anything big, and enjoy the experience.  Or at least I did, while not chasing my son up and down the stairs.

I only caught the on-ice practice for the last 45 minutes of the team that will play tonight, with barely enough of the balance of the squad to count as seeing them in-person.  Chasing the Toddler around the arena means that no photos will accompany this post.

Howson has assembled a tall roster, but I don't know as any are taller than Tommy Sestito.  Just saying...

Time to step up: Jake Voracek

• Right wing
• 21 years old, 3rd year in National Hockey League
• $1,270,833 cap hit 
• 2.1% of Columbus Blue Jackets salary cap
• Contract expires at end of this season
• 2009-2010 numbers: 81 games played, 16 goals, 34 assists, 50 points, -7, 26 penalty minutes, 15:37 avg. time on ice

Before Puck Daddy posted Lee Auer's fine CBJ "Mount Puckmore" article, there was some discussion on Twitter about who should be looked at as the four faces of the franchise.  Perhaps the most intriguing idea was to put Jake Voracek in the mix.  Sure, he has only played two seasons in the NHL, the argument went, but Voracek is perhaps the one young member of the Columbus Blue Jackets who is on a straight line progression to NHL super-stardom.  Steve Mason tumbled in year two, Derick Brassard has had his issues, John Moore isn't at the NHL level yet, no one really knows on Ryan Johansen yet, but Voracek...he's a climber.  

Think about it: Voracek hit 50 points this season.  In Rick Nash's 2nd season, he had 57.  In Marian Hossa's 2nd full season, he had 56.  In Patrick Marleau's 2nd season, he had 45.  In Corey Perry's 2nd season, he had 44.  In Martin St. Louis' 2nd full season, he had 40.  If you're getting my point, you're seeing that Jake Voracek is right in the mix of some pretty awesome NHL talent at similar points in their careers. 

A defense of Claude Noel - and Scott Howson

Per the Dispatch, the Columbus Blue Jackets' (interim) Head Coach, Claude Noel, is interviewing today to remove the (interim) tag from his title.  Though a few in the CBJ fan community think this to be an act of charity by General Manager Scott Howson, permit me to offer a few reasons why Noel is a very legitimate candidate...if not a front-runner, in part courtesy of his profile on the CBJ website:

• During his time as head coach of the AHL Milwaukee Admirals from 2003-2007, he led the club to a 183-94-12-31 regular season record, three 100-point seasons and two West Division titles. 
• He also compiled a 33-21 record in the Calder Cup Playoffs, including two appearances in the Finals (2004, 2006). 
• During the 2003-04 season, the club compiled a 46-24-7-3 record and went 16-6 in the playoffs en route to capturing the organization's first Calder Cup championship. That year, Noel was named the AHL’s Coach of the Year.
• In 2002-03, he was named ECHL Coach of the Year with the Toledo Storm.
• He went 10-8-6 as (interim) head coach of a hybrid NHL/AHL team in Columbus, posting that record while Scott Howson jettisoned Raffi Torres, Freddy Modin and Milan Jurcina and backfilled the team with Syracuse Crunchers.  
• He pulled Derick Brassard and Jake Voracek's heads out of the jumbled morass left by Ken Hitchcock.
• He fostered an environment where Steve Mason got competitive again.
• He gave the team back to the players, and Rick Nash and R.J. Umberger took the reins.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can come up with on short notice.  Point is, he knows this team inside and out and has demonstrated that he knows how to win.  That combination makes him unique against any other candidate.

My point is, Claude Noel IS a legitimate candidate.  I've been saying that for months - go pore through my blog and see how many times I've said that Noel's performance makes him worthy of serious consideration.  

Now, to Scott Howson.  If it's not clear by now, he's no one's fool.  He's dumped the most significant of the Doug MacLean mistakes off on other teams, brought in dynamic young talent in return, restocked a major component of the farm system (the now-overflowing defensive talent pool), rebuilt the team's salary budget for the long haul (no small feat when playing a $50 million hand in a $60 million salary cap league) and - by and large - has avoided overpaying too much of the roster.  Now, it's time for him to pick his coach.  In doing this, he has interviewed the best of the best with a host of different characteristics:

• Dineen & Arniel - Top AHL coaches with experience.  I'll grant that Dineen has sentimental value with the fanbase (although a link to the team's tortured past doesn't seem like an automatic positive to me...), but I honestly doubt that Howson could care less about his past history with the Blue Jackets.
• MacLean (gosh, it still makes me cringe to type that name even though he's no relation to the CBJ's former majordomo) - Top assistant to arguably the best team in the NHL in recent memory.
• Boucher - I know he hasn't interviewed yet, but Howson's clearly leaving the process open to interview this wunderkind who has only won everywhere he's been in his young career.
• Noel - Proven winner (A top AHL coach, too, when he was in the "A") who admirably cleaned up the psychological mess left by Ken Hitchcock.

This is a fantastic roster of candidates, which in and of itself speaks to the program that Howson has (re)built since taking over for the more unfortunate MacLean.  There are no gratuity interviews here - the people who are talking to Howson see the potential of this young and rising team.

This isn't some high school recruiting effort like, say, the "search process" that brought Gordon Gee back to the Ohio State University.  This is a serious, and methodical, search for the ideal candidate for a young team on the rise.  Blue Jackets fans are damned lucky that someone as smart as Scott Howson is the shepherd of this process.

To those who say that this is an open and shut case - that it's been Kevin Dineen's job all along, that Howson is only going through the motions, that Noel is being extended a professional courtesy by even getting an interview - I can only say that you're playing checkers while Howson's cleaning your clock in chess.

Who would you have drafted? (incl. 2000 draft)

CBJ Tweeter En4cer45 threw out an interesting idea for a new series on the blog, one that I'm going to take him up on.  He suggests:

Most of the time people complain about teams' draft picks, so what I'm proposing is to take the 5-10 players selected after and, including who the Columbus Blue Jackets picked, offer up a reader poll to determine who should we have picked.

Great concept!  So get ready, DBJ readers (and CBJ fans), I'm going to throw out a series of polls for you to vote on - done on an annual basis.  To review the Blue Jackets past first round draft picks:

• 2000: Rusty Klesla (4th overall)
• 2001: Pascal Leclaire (8th)
• 2002: Rick Nash (1st)
• 2003: Nik Zherdev (4th)
• 2004: Alexander Picard (8th)
• 2005: Gilbert Brule (6th)
• 2006: Derick Brassard (6th)
• 2007: Jakub Voracek (7th)
• 2008: Nikita Filatov (6th)
• 2009: John Moore (21st)

We might pass on the 2009 draft as those classes largely are still percolating in juniors and the minors.  We should probably skip 2008, too, but I'm guessing that the discussion about who to pick other than Filatov could get interesting.  

Regardless, there's a lot of discussion to be had. Hindsight IS 20/20, and we in the CBJ fan base sure have a lot of hindsight to offer!

So let's start right now with the 2000 draft.  The premise is simple...you start with the CBJ pick and compare him against the following 10-ish picks.  Check the box next to the name of the person you would have drafted (including the CBJ pick - you're allowed to pick our own) and click "Vote Now!"

The first team abbreviation is the team that drafted the player; the second team abbreviation is the player's current team.  Lifetime statistics are posted as follows: 

• Skaters: Position | Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Penalty Minutes | +/-
• Goalies: Position | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Overtime Losses | Shutouts

If you have a thought that you'd like to add to the discussion, post it in the comments after you vote!  

Rosebud

Sometimes it takes the worst of scenarios to occur for the truth to come out.  Like any image-conscious businessman (like, say, Charles Foster Kane), the Jackets would much rather play with smoke and mirrors rather than admit ugly truths.  However, when the days are darkest, tongues loosen.

I'll submit that this just happened with the Columbus Blue Jackets, as reported by Tom Reed at Puck Rakers.  While not the deathbed revelation of Charley Kane (luckily not as cryptic, either), Ken Hitchcock had perhaps the most cogent argument for staying the course with the Blue Jackets despite their 20 loss in 23 game stretch and both fans and media turning their backs on the franchise.

It turns out, after all, that this is part of a larger franchise strategy.  I'll let Hitch speak for himself:

"We maxed out last year and we didn't win a playoff game. We have to get a lot better than that and the only way you do that is by going through the growing pains.

"We are in a winning business and so people have complained that we're not winning right now. If we don't go through this long-term vision -- which could be six months, it could be a year -- then we are not going to be really good when we need to be really good."

THERE!  That's it.  The team leadership had a plan last year - playoffs or bust - and executed it to within an inch of their lives.  But they were wise enough to appreciate that getting to the playoffs and doing something once you're there are two different things.  So they considered their options and decided to suck it up and go the youth route.  It's the long view, but, as Hitch says, the team will be really good when they need to be really good.

10 Thoughts about Game 33: Nashville

1. After everyone in the Columbus Blue Jackets' locker room piped in with comments about the "serious," "critical" and "urgent" nature of tonight's game, the Jackets proceeded to play the exact same type of game that they've been playing recently in losing to the Nashville Predators, 5-3.

1a. The Jackets have lost 11 of their last 13 and currently sport a record of 14-13-6 (34 points).

1b. Here are your highlights: