Derrick Brassard in a post-practice shooting drill
I've been mulling these topics over for several days, the whole situation, and the discussion concerning Derrick Brassard, of the Columbus Blue Jackets. In a previous post on this subject I opined that some of Brass' struggles this year were a normal developmental stage, that had been delayed by the dearth of talent in the franchise. The more I think about it, the more I think some of that is definitely true, which we will explore later in the post.
Late last week, Brassard's agent issued a statement calling out Coach Scott Arniel for Brassard's situation. For the whys and wherefore's of Brassard's Agent's comments, I highly recommend this excellent post over on Ten Minute Misconduct, and the commentary which follows. This really puts the whole situation in a current context in the NHL. What I want to do in this post is to explore the similarities between what is happening to Brassard and someone who was absolutely and unquestionably relegated to Scott Arniel's doghouse, big Mike Commodore.
I got a pretty unique opportunity last year, a chance to have a chat with Mike. This occurred following a childish and petulant outburst in this space (long since retracted). In our conversation I later characterized this to Mike as a rookie mistake, which was a pretty apt description. He was gracious about my failings, for which I was grateful. He IS a pretty big guy. But he had a pretty rough experience at the hands of Arniel, and I think his experience is pertinent here. So I'd like to discuss his experiences as they might relate to Brassard,without rolling Mike under the bus. I would like to affirmatively state that he refused to criticize any coach in any way. This was wise on his part, as hockey is a pretty tight community and that stuff gets around. Mike Commodore would not comment on Scott Arniel.
Edwards at the Carry The Flag blog (yet another great entry into CBJ blogdom) posted some thoughts on Mike Commodore's current situation and how he got to that point. He's specifically asked me for my thoughts as his post grew out of an online dialogue. Time is limited because I'm trying to shoehorn in some schoolwork before the Phoenix game, but I'll type fast.
My two week "All-Star Break" has ended, and I'm back in the States after a great, long vacation with Mrs. DBJ, the Dark Blue Toddler and DBT's grandparents. As you can see, the CBJ ball cap (with a stylishly pre-weathered bill) has seen a little bit of fading from the sun at 20° 37' 0" N / 87° 4' 0" W. It was great, however, to see the many other hockey fans down so close to the equator. There were tons of Canadians out there, worshiping the sun during the day and watching CBC and TSN hockey of their favorite teams all night long at the open-air sports bars under palapa roofs.
Two week vacations are a gift from God. If you ever can figure out a way to combine both the money and vacation time from your jobs, I highly recommend such a break. It's soul-cleansing. On a one-week vacation, you're travelling for two days and don't really start mentally "unpacking" from The Real World for a couple of days, so that means you only really get two - perhaps three - days of true relaxation. In a two-week vacation, you can add a whole seven days to the decompressed time. And it's really good...I find that you don't dread returning home after a two-week vacation like you do after a one-week vacation.
But enough of this self-indulgent crap. You come here to read about the Columbus Blue Jackets, not my ruminations on how long one needs to air out the mental dirty laundry. So let's catch up on what happened while I was away...
The Columbus Blue Jackets started off the second half of the 2010-11 campaign with a 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
I gave in to fatigue after the end of the second period - these 10:30PM starts are just brutal - so my catching up after waking up tells me that there may have actually been two games last night.
For the first half, the main highlight was wunderkind forward Matt Calvert's first goal. While not exactly a Davidgian "Goal Scorer's Goal," it offers proof that keeping your nose for the puck yields benefits. Wisdom for the entire squad from the mouths of babes...
Past that, there really was nothing meaningful to discuss. The Kings - who themselves are reeling through a slump - pretty much had their way with the CBJ. And Mathieu Garon proved that while he's a good backup goaltender, he can't carry the load with a couple "goals he'd like to have back."
Quickly on Commie: Like many CBJ fans, I like what I've seen of the guy. He appears to be the type of guy you'd love to hang out with and watch sports. If he and his agent are smart, they'll start angling for him to get television analyst gigs lined up. He'd be awesome.
Beyond that, he seems like a stand-up guy. Last season was a crappy one for him, and he seemed to have figured out why...and then, having acknowledged the problem publicly, addressed it as well. You can't really ask for more from a player or a person.
The larger question is that of the Arniel/Howson Blue Jackets, and what Commie's request for a trade means. Is the request a damning indictment of the Arniel system? Of Arniel as a coach?
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).
[The Columbus Blue Jackets] said the magic words to MacKenzie and Wilson: "Get a place." On 2-way contracts, but told they'll be staying w #CBJ.
First, and let's not minimize this, let's congratulate Derek Mackenzie and Kyle Wilson. Both guys are former AHL lifers who have busted their tails off to stick in the NHL and, for both guys, it's the first times in their careers that they will actually do so. I waxed (reasonably) eloquent about Wilson after his shootout winner on Monday night, and my "Time to Step Up" piece on MacKenzie says all I need to say on him. Presuming that the two guys perform at an NHL level, more power to them. It's great to see merit getting rewarded, something that both Scott Arniel and Scott Howson are doing despite the strange world of the NHL collective bargaining agreement, with issues involving waivers, one-way/two-way contracts, salary caps, etc.
Pleasantries aside, let's get to the heart of the matter. Why is the front office telling these two guys to plan on sticking around for the season at this specific moment?
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.
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.
After the Columbus Blue Jackets' 4-3 win over the (hapless) Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night, the team boarded a 757-200 at Port Columbus airport and made the flight to Stockholm, Sweden to open the 2010-2011 National Hockey League regular season against the San Jose Sharks. And with that, training camp and the pre-season functionally ended.
Sure, the CBJ will play an exhibition game on Tuesday at 1PM EST against the Malmo Redhawks, but it's hard to consider that game as an NHL-caliber pre-season game and thus won't be counted in my statistical analysis. The game could have merit related to individual performances, player injuries (getting hurt, coming back from injury) or chemistry developments, not to mention the rumored yellow and red jerseys. But let's keep it in perspective - it's not NHL competition, and it's not an NHL game.
I did a mid-preseason review after the first four games, and let's continue it with the last 4. It's a mixed bag, to be sure, but I think I can offer some spots for optimism.
OFFENSE
Team
Total Shots
Total Goals
Conversion %
Shots/Game
Goals/Game
10-11 CBJ - Full Preseason
247
25
10.12%
30.88
3.13
10-11 CBJ - Preseason games 5-8
112
13
11.61%
28.00
3.25
10-11 CBJ - Preseason games 1-4
135
12
8.89%
33.75
3.00
09-10 CBJ
2,338
214
9.15%
28.51
2.61
08-09 CBJ
2,490
217
8.71%
30.37
2.65
09-10 Washington Capitals
2,693
313
11.62%
32.84
3.82
09-10 Pittsburgh Penguins
2,688
249
9.26%
32.78
3.04
09-10 Phoenix Coyotes
2,502
211
8.43%
30.51
2.57
The obvious area for excitement is the conversion percentage - the percentage of shots that become goals. The Columbus Blue Jackets started the preseason with a conversion rate that, while not horrible, wasn't going to set the hockey world's hair on fire. In the back half of the preseason, however, the conversion percentage hopped up a few points and rivaled the percentage of the most prolific scoring team in the NHL last season, the Washington Capitals.
Aw, heck, let's do it Letterman-style: The Top 10 possible Columbus Blue Jackets "internal conversations" about a Sheldon Souray for Mike Commodore trade, from the home office in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta:
...or...
10. "Sheldon Souray's agent called. Said that Sheldon would love to play for a team like Columbus."
9. "Souray for Commodore? Who came up with that crazy idea? Don Cherry or Pierre MacGuire?"
8. "It's Friday, so let's break out the table and play 'trade a vet roulette.' Today's Blue Jacket is Mike Commodore. Spin the wheel....and....Sheldon Souray? Eww...that sucks. Spin again! Hey, Boyd landed on Duncan Keith! Let's get Bowman on the line, you know, for giggles."
7. "No, MacFarland, I wanted a viable candidate for Commodore. Not Sheldon Souray..."
2009-2010 numbers: 57 games played, 2 goal, 9 assists, 11 points, -9, 62 penalty minutes, 19:00 avg. time on ice
Will we see Mike Commodore sporting a
Stanley Cup playoff hairdo at
the end of this season?
I've caught a little bit of flack over the use of the "Time to step up" theme across these player season previews. The argument goes, if [Player X] plays well or not...it's just not going to impact the Columbus Blue Jackets' season that much. There are [insert small number here] factors that will make or break this season, and [Player X] isn't one of them.
My friends, Mike Commodore most certainly does not fit that categorization.
In the salary scheme of things, Mike Commodore is one expensive player. "Commie" is one of the players to whom Scott Howson has hitched his wagon as general manager in Columbus. Howson gave him the big money over the long term. He's the CBJ's highest-paid defenseman (by almost $800,000 more than Rusty Klesla, the second-highest). He's tied with R.J. Umberger and Antoine Vermette as the third-highest paid player on the entire squad.
So when Mike Commodore tries a new conditioning regimen over the offseason prior to the 2009-2010 season, and it results in perhaps the worst conditioning of his career (leading to the most epic charley horse injury known to sport, not to mention missing more than 30 percent of the team's games)...we have a real big problem.
"We just had too many guys, myself included, that didn't have very good years," Blue Jackets veteran defenseman Mike Commodore said. "We have a very young team in Columbus. Last year, it was these guys' first years, and they had great years. And this year it was a learning experience. This year I think a lot of us, a lot of the young guys, found out it's not easy playing in the NHL. It's the best league in the world for a reason. I think a lot of them needed to learn how to be a pro. And then for some of us older guys, for me, for example, I went through an injury-plagued year until after the Olympic break and for me, it was a learning experience for me too, learning how to deal with that stuff, and I didn't deal with it in the greatest manner, and I wasn't the only one as far as injuries go." ... "It's easy to think maybe you're better than you are. You kind of take things for granted," Commodore said. "We got off to a good start and then started tanking it. For this year, maybe for the first time -- I've only been there two years -- people weren't taking the Columbus Blue Jackets for granted, especially for the first three-quarters of the year. We weren't seeing the backup goalies. We were getting the others team's best, and we couldn't handle it this year."
As frustrating as Commie's year was, he was open and honest about it all along. No sugar-coating with this guy - which probably is good for the Blue Jackets. Facing the facts is generally a good policy in a wins-and-losses business like professional sports.
Here are your highlight's from last night's 5-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers:
Although this game wasn't on Fox Sports Ohio or Versus, maybe you caught the CenterIce feed. If not, the Dispatch always has excellent game wrap-ups that give details of how the goals were scored and such.Check out the one for last night's game here (honestly, I prefer the ones not written by Arace, but I'll take what I can get).
The worst part of the game last night was that Hejda was injured after playing only four shifts. He apparently sprained his right knee and will likely be out for the rest of the season. Because of Hejda's injury, Paetsch switched from playing LW to D. He somehow managed to finish the night an impressive -3. Brassard, Pahlsson, Umberger, and Voracek were tied at -1. Paetsch bounced around pairings and made me worry every time he was on the ice. [Update: Apparently Paetsch was also frustrated with his play. I didn't notice is but one #CBJ twitter says that he broke his stick after an Oilers goal. Lots of stick smashing going on: after the empty netter, Ryan Whitney smacked his stick against the glass.]
The most exciting part of the game (for me) was that Marc Methot got his second goal of the season. As leeauer on twitter says... "you don't leave Marc Methot uncovered"! With his goal the Jackets were up 3-1, but then goal scoring went back and forth between the two teams. With 12:15 left, I admit, I was worried that "Jackets time" would begin and somehow the Oilers would come out on top. I am pleased that that didn't happen.
All sorts of significant/notable milestones were reached last night, including Fedor Tyutin, who has now played in 400 games. He also tied his career high for assists with 25, the number he had last year in 82 games. Last year he had 34 points and right now he has 30, so look for him to set a record there, too. Derek Dorsett had the first multi-point game of his career last night with his two assists, on the fourth and fifth goals, scored respectively by Huselius and Vermette. Those two men had a heck of a night last night. Vermette now has 55 points after getting three last night with his empty-net goal and two assists. His previous season high was 53 during the 2007-2008 season when he was with the Ottawa Senators. He had 5 shots on goal and won 16 of 26 faceoffs. Huselius had a four point night with one goal and three assists, four shots on goal, and finished +3.
Jared Boll fought Theo Peckham, and even though Boll went to the ice first, he definitely won that fight. Thankfully Boll seems to be okay despite smacking the back of his head against the ice.
I do feel a bit bad for Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who is 0-8-2 in his NHL career. He is huge though! 6'6". But the Blue Jackets did bring his goals-against average down!
Thanks to Dispatch Writer Aaron Portzline who found out who the hard hat winner was for last night's game. Mike Commodore received the hat, who protected Mason's net when Mason himself couldn't. Also, Garon got the hard hat after the 2-1 win over the Thrashers on 3/11 and Vermette got it after the 5-2 win against the Ducks on the 9th. Here's the video of Commodore's sweet moves in case you don't feel like watching the entire highlight reel above!
Next up: the Minnesota Wild on Friday. Yours truly will be in Nashville on Saturday for the Blue Jackets game, so be sure to check back here for a report on how that went, or at least some photos!
Methot goal photo: Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images
1. Somehow linked to playing one of the worst teams in the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets "50 Minute Men" made a reprise appearance...in reverse...last night, offering roughly 10 minutes of inspired play and still beating the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2.Your highlights:
1a. The win catapulted the Jackets back into first place in the NHL Western Conference's Central Division with 20 points. It's only a 2-point lead over Chicago, who plays the Kings on Monday night, so there's a likelihood that the CBJ will slip back out of contention.
1c. Despite their performance, I'm glad that Carolina came to town as I love their jerseys.
2a. Mase even got an assist on the Boll goal. I love it when goalies get assists...you really know the machine is humming on all parts of the ice!
3. With only 7:26 of ice time to his name - though it sure seemed like more, Nikita Filatov got the CBJ's first score of the night and his second of the season. Playing fourth line minutes with fourth line talent doesn't give you the best opportunity to shine, but Filatov is pushing through and getting noticed. He won't ever be the Nash-like power forward that Ken Hitchcock clearly covets (going back to Mike Modano in Dallas), but he has the tools and spunk to be a goal-scoring step up from Kristian Huselius in the not-too-distant future.
4. Speaking of, did anyone really feel the absence of Huselius from the roster last night? As in, "But for the Huselius injury, the game would have gone in a totally different direction?" I didn't. And Juice is worth $5 million against the CBJ's already-restricted salary cap.
4a. If I was Scott Howson, I'd see if Hitchcock could push Filatov along a little more aggressively and market Juice as trade bait. The CBJ could get some impressive talent at $5 million per year, talent that might be of bigger utility to playing Hitch-hockey.
4b. Is Freddy Modin planning on coming back? Any time this season, perhaps? And do the CBJ want him to come back?
5. On the subject of coming back, Mike Commodore returned after recovering sufficiently from what has to be the worst charley horse in human history. At 14:26 of ice time, 3 shots and a -1 rating, he appears to have done OK for a recovery/rehab game.
5a. When I hear the term, "charley horse," I still think of a calf cramp caused by lack of potassium. A banana or two fixed it in about an hour. Clearly, Commie had something different, but I can't help but think, "Just eat a banana and get back on the ice!"
5b. Happy birthday, Mike. It was your 30th yesterday, and your being one of the "older players" on the roster reinforced how old I really am.
5c. Mike's interviews on Fox Sports Ohio last night reinforce my thinking that that the man should have a job in the booth when he gets out. Plain-spoken, clear-spoken and kinda fun to listen to. You just want to hang out with Commie after listening to him.
6. Continuing the "Who is this person and what have you done with Jared Boll?" theme, last night spotlighted the "Boll the Sniper" persona (as opposed to the "Boll the Feared Pugilist" persona of the other night). Taking a feeder pass from Stralman (via Mason), Boll skated virtually untouched down the ring, did a couple dekes that I'm still trying to master on NHL 10, and top-shelfed against the Carolina backup goalie. Dang. If he can do that consistently, put that man on the shootout crew!
7. In the DBJ media critic section, let's start by giving the fine folks at Fox Sports Ohio a hearty applause for playing with their format and using a throwaway game (Carolina isn't setting the world on fire) to try out some different approaches to their broadcast. I will never criticize those who say, "Why not?" and attempt to innovate. You never know when something great will happen as a result. We got some hits and misses, which I will catalog below:
7a. The opening of the "All Access" game broadcast put a camera in the locker room and followed the team out onto the ice. It used an innovative angle to show the team taking the ice and gave the viewers the feeling of emotional investment through the entire sequence. I LOVED IT and hope that this becomes a staple of all Blue Jackets broadcasts.
7b. The behind the scenes looks at the broadcast trailer and the booth shots were novelty, to be sure, but good for only one such display per season.
7c. If you're going to mike up a player, make sure you use more of his live commentary than, "Let's go, boys!" one hundred times.
7d. The in-game interviews with Ken Hitchcock at the conclusion of the intermissions were gold. Keep it if you can.
7e. The behind the scenes look at the game ops? See my take from 7b.
7f. This is a philosophical discussion, so bear with me. There appears to be two basic schools of thought on how to broadcast a sporting event. One school suggests that one should broadcast it as a journalistic endeavor, reporting objectively on what happens on the ice and throughout the game. The Columbus Dispatch takes that approach in their writing, for example, and the major broadcast networks do, too, in their tv broadcasts of sports of all types. The other school of thought is that the broadcast is promotion of the event as entertainment, which reduces the journalism and plays up the glitz and glamour. Both are reasonable arguments. The "All Access" game clearly emphasized the latter over the former. The problem was, the devastating Cam Ward injury warranted a shift on the fly to the journalistic mode. Fox Sports should have had a camera following Ward down the tunnel to the locker room and on the ambulance pulling out of Nationwide. They should have inserted a Cam Ward question into every interview of the night (in this case, making sure to interview Carolina players and coaches as well as CBJ'ers). This was one of the biggest stories in the NHL last night, and Fox Sports was interviewing the organ player.
8. Anton Stralman is in a quiet groove, getting his 15:11 of ice time, grabbing an assist and not making a showing performance. Is this a European thing - the quietly efficient, professional hockey outing? Anyway, I miss seeing his authoritative control of the point and the slap shots on the power play. But that's nit-picking...I'm just glad he's on the roster.
9a. I feel horrible for the guy - the injury might knock him out of the Olympics and - more importantly for his employer - keep the Hurricanes far away from viability for quite a while. He's a talented goaltender regardless of his team's record, and he should be on the ice.
9b. The Rick Nash skate cutting his leg (knee?) was a fluke. A really, really unfortunate fluke. But as Mase mentioned, Ward doesn't wear knee guards under his big leg blockers.
Ward is one of the goaltenders who doesn't wear knee protectors under his padding, Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason said.
"We have the option to wear them, and he chooses not to," Mason said. "You hope everything is OK and it's not too serious, but there was a lot of blood. That's a pretty scary situation and it could happen to anybody, but that's why I wear the knee pads, and (Mathieu Garon) wears the knee pads."
Might want to rethink that, Cam.
9c. I've already mentioned how Fox Sports Ohio fell down on covering this, but it's a big enough point that I'll mention it one more time.
9d. Kudos to Twitterer "derdrache" for being the first to mention that Ward was being taken away in an ambulance. You scooped the "real media" - a hard thing to do when the Dispatch does such a great job in covering the CBJ.
9e. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much blood on the ice, nor have I ever seen it take so long to get all of that blood off the ice. That hockey, it can be a dangerous sport...
10. This was a classic game in the "Only we can beat ourselves" mode. The Hurricanes really didn't play that well. The Jackets played to their level for 40-50 minutes and used the 3-minute, 3-goal spurt to push themselves over the top. They won't get away with this type of play every night, so enjoy it while you can, guys.
Next up, a heavily wounded Red Wings club comes to Masonwide on Wednesday. (Here's hoping Jason Williams gets better soon. He was good to us as a Blue Jacket.) Should be an interesting challenge - to see if the CBJ can play with some snarl against the team that swept them from last year's playoffs.
1. The 6-4 Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the 6-4 Phoenix Coyotes last night at Nationwide Arena and played roughly 25-30 minutes of reasonably solid hockey. The rest of the game made my nephew's squirt league look like NHL All-Stars. The Jackets lost, 4-1.
1a. It's been a tale of two seasons. The Jackets built on the lessons learned in the brief playoff run last year and went 5-1. They then lost Jan Hejda, lost their perspective and started sliding, going 1-4 over this most recent stretch. With Pittsburgh and Washington, arguably the best two teams in a weak Eastern Conference, on the docket for Friday and Sunday, a 1-6 streak is very possible.
2. Contrary to a healthy portion of the CBJ fan base, I do not blame Steve Mason. Let's analyze those goals, shall we? (Seems fitting that the NHL posted the Coyotes feed...)
Goal 1 (video time: 1:35) - Hanzal grabs a rebound while rushing the crease. Mase was on his knees and made the initial low block. The short rebound went right in front of him, and he opened his legs up to grab the puck. Hanzal dropped it in the slightly-ajar five-hole.
Goal 2 (video time: 1:55) - Puck was shot wide, but Tyutin's skate ricocheted it back in behind Mason. Not Mase's fault as he was in line with the shooter.
Goal 3 (video time: 3:35) - Michalek uses the power play activity on the other side of the ice to his advantage, gets a pass from another 'yote, and drops it in behind Mason. I think that was glove side high, which Mase left wide open. Note that the shorthanded CBJ defense bit just like Mason did, offering no backside protection.
Goal 4 (video time: 3:55) - Mase got schooled by Lang. Mase squared up, the angle was relatively challenging for Lang, and Lang blew the puck past Mason. Given Mason's apparent state of mind, I'm going to guess that he mentally had punched the clock on the night.
In my estimation, Mase was uniquely responsible for goals 1 and 4. Goal 2 was a dumb fluke, and goal 3 was a defensive failing on the penalty kill. With a 2-1 game, however, Mase's spirits would have been higher...and the Jackets sure had enough nice looks at LaBarbara to salvage a point if not win it outright.
2a. If we take goaltending guru Dave Rook at his word and believe that Mason is technically sound, then the team needs to focus on the grey matter between Mason's ears and the defense that plays in front of him. Is Mason going to win the Vezina Trophy this year? Most likely not. Will he be the cause for a team meltdown? Without some help, it'll sure seem like it.
2b. I sincerely hope that Mason has shelved the idea of playing in the Olympics for Team Canada and is focussed on getting his game turned around.
3. On a team with fewer and fewer players who are positive in the +/- on the season, the Jackets had to send defenseman Mathieu Roy back to Syracuse because they risked exposing him to waivers if they kept him around too much longer. This was a shame, as Roy was a reasonably solid d-man and would have been helpful.
3a. This move also signals that Jan Hejda is coming back to the team soon, and that won't happen quickly enough. The CBJ need that +8 on the season, with his settling influence, back in the lineup BADLY.
4. Kristian Huselius is a riddle wrapped in an enigma, but it's pretty clear that he doesn't have the chops to play Hitch-hockey. That's a damning statement when you consider that he's the team's second-highest paid player with a cap hit of $4.75 million, eating up just under 10 percent of the Jackets' salary money for the year. 10 percent of the team's money going to player who plays as erratic as Juice? Not wise.
4a. As a counterpoint, Antoine Vermette, with a $2.7265 million cap hit, is really playing quite well. He's driving to the net, working well with his linemates - especially Jake Voracek - and is around the scoring chances more often than not.
5. Jared Boll made his obligatory appearance and got in a fight with a guy who had a longer wingspan. Boll literally couldn't connect on nearly any of his punches, "lost" (if you really want to call it a fight), got a 5 minute major and was on the ice for a whopping 3:34 during the entire game. Someone remind me why he's on the roster?
6. Derick Brassard started getting out of his funk - finally! He netted a power play goal and got the CBJ out in front first for the first time in seven games. He also had his motor running for much of the game, notching 10:20 in ice time and warranting a promotion back up to the top 2 lines. Good to see on a whole number of levels. I like his competitive spirit.
7. Anton Stralman put in another solid night, with 15:36 minutes on ice, a couple shots and both power play and penalty kill service. And he comes across as eerily unflappable. Methinks we have another Hejda in the making.
7a. Another D-Man, Fedor Tyutin, must be getting tired. He was the Jackets' high minute player last night with 18:54 on ice, took 3 shots and only had a -1 on the night. Almost makes the ricocheted goal excusable.
8. I'm still not convinced that the team is missing anything significant with regards to skill or system. More and more, I think that this is a matter of team maturity. There is significant playoff/Stanley Cup experience on the team, but there's an even more significant number of young, young players on the squad. Until the young players begin to realize that they need to play the system to win - and that might be subjugating themselves and their talents to play in that system - it just won't happen for the CBJ.
8a. Even more importantly, there appears to be a lack of player leadership. We all know that Rick Nash is the strong, silent type of captain, one who leads by example on the ice, right? Well, leading by example last night equaled 3 shots and 2 minutes in the sin bin for 15 and a half minutes of play. That's not good enough - he was virtually invisible! He should expect more of himself, and he should DEMAND more of his teammates.
8b. I won't call it a crisis in player leadership, but I won't place the blame on the coaches for what we saw last night. Hitch has pulled rabbit after rabbit out of his hat to get this team moving in the right direction, and it's the players' responsibilities to do their part as well. It's just not happening right now.
8c. Do you think that Michael Peca would come back for cheap - say, Jared Boll's $743,333?
8d. To their credit, alternate captains R.J. Umberger and Mike Commodore both tried to get the team going. Commodore ran Hanzal after the early goal (and got penalized), and Umberger picked a fight in the crease with one of the 'yotes. There is veteran play, but are the youngsters catching on? The lack of fight in the team after the Jason Chimera hit in Los Angeles was downright scary. Where's the fire?
9. I usually don't talk much about the other guys, but Jason LaBarbara was incredible out there last night. As mentioned earlier, the Jackets had a handful of quality shots - all but one turned away by the Phoenix backup. As we CBJ fans know what good goaltending is and haven't seen it on our side in a while, it's only fair to offer compliments where we see it from the other side.
10. Recycling a post from just under a month ago, It's All About Desire. For some strange reason, I think I'll be going back to this well a few times over the next month or two...
Next up, a Malkin-less, 10-2-0 Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night. I am on record with friends in predicting that the Pens will drop between 7 and 9 goals on the Jackets on the presumption that the Jackets won't get the Hitchcock gospel. With Malkin out, I'm predicting between 6 and 8. I'm not being an alarmist, but I sure am being a realist. This is one tough team against which systemic damage can get repaired.
1. After giving up a goal in the game's first minute at Edmonton's Rexall Place, the Columbus Blue Jackets settled down, regained their composure and dropped 4 straight goals on the Oilers over the back half of the 1st period and the front half of the 2nd. They then forgot that it wasn't Eastern Standard Time and went to sleep. The team awoke to find that they lost the game, 6-4.
2. The league's number one penalty killing team gave up two goals on power plays tonight. The streak of consecutive penalty kills died at 29, apparently only 2 short of a team record.
3. Marc Methot apparently has come down with the flu and played like it when letting the first goal past him.
3a. The rest of the team would be well-suited to use the flu excuse for last night's performance.
3b. Methot's illness makes me think that Mike Commodore, who warmed up as Methot was a game-time decision, will get playing time in one if not both games in Southern California over the weekend.
3c. Mike Commodore's intermission interview on Fox Sports Ohio makes me wonder why the Blue Jackets didn't loan him to FSO as a second analyst during this injury break. Mike's got great camera presence and would offer a terrific insight for the Blue Jackets fans. I bet he would have enjoyed it, too.
4. I'm not sure what's more surprising: Raffi Torres scoring a goal and the Jackets NOT winning the game, or Kristian Huselius scoring at all.
4a. Huselius scored twice, by the way, clearly celebrating his move to the second line. He seemed to have decent chemistry with Jake Voracek, who had assists on both goals.
5. Nikita Filatov played 5:42 on the right wing. He had one near-breakaway that was stuffed by an open-ice hit around center ice. He played no worse than Jared Boll in my estimation, and his upside is infinitely higher. I'd keep playing him.
6. As the Jackets only showed up for half a game, I'm only doing half of my 10 Thoughts this time. Jackets, go sit in the corner and think about what happened last night. AND NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.
7. Ever.
8. Ever.
9. Are you hearing me?
10. That was Edmonton for Pete's sake!
Next game is Saturday night on the Pond in Anaheim. If the Jackets are to go .500 on this road trip, they have to win both weekend games in Southern California.
This effort would be helped immeasurably if Captain Rick Nash actually took a shot on goal, something he didn't do in Edmonton.
...or... 
