New Sheriff in Town

Todd Richards was an authoritative voice in his 1st practice

Todd Richards ran his first practice for the Columbus Blue Jackets today.  The difference was palpable.  Richards was firm and authoritative throughout the practice, and he clearly has some things he wants to change.  If a drill wasn't started the way he wanted it, he'd stop it and make them start over.  He worked the players hard.

It seems clear that he has changes in mind in defensive zone coverage, as well as on the offensive side.  A 5 on 5  D zone drill late in the practice got spirited, and he jumped in, insisting that the players on offense not concede anything.  The pace quickly picked up.

From my seat half way up the lower bowl, I could clearly hear him (and my hearing is nothing to write home about) telling the centers to 'get out there, no lazy circles' and telling them that the coverage he wanted was going to be hard work.  I don't know how the players felt about it, but it was music to this fan's ears.

DBJ's 5 Thoughts on Game 41: Anaheim

Anaheim 7 - Columbus 4
11-25-5, 5th in Central Division, 15th in Western Conference

[Edited by DBJ to correct the time/date stamp and get the blog in proper chronological order.  The author for this piece was Greg May.]

In the third game of this four game road trip, the Blue Jackets lost to the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 7-4. It was a wild one on several levels.

1. Why? That is the question many Blue Jackets fans were asking when they learned Steve Mason was getting the start over Curtis Sanford, who had just posted the team's first shutout of the season one night earlier against a red-hot L.A Kings team. Counting the San Jose game, his first game back since injuring his right hip two weeks ago, Sanford had stopped 68 of 70 shots on this roadie, a .971 save percentage.

Mason, on the other hand, hadn't started since riding herd on a kick-in-the-gut 4-2 loss to Washington at home on New Years Eve, a game in which he surrendered all four goals in the third period to eviscerate a 2-0 Jackets lead. For whatever reason (and who really cares what it was), Arniel opted to go with Mason against the Ducks. If Mason's New Year's resolution was not to give up four goals in a period again, it only lasted eight days.

Mason got beat every which way in the first period, giving up four goals on 16 shots. After letting in a high glove-side snapper by Andrew Cogliano off a juicy rebound, Mason proceeded to get beat high glove side again by Corey Perry, on a wrap-a-round by Teemu Selanne after it appeared Mason quit on the play and lost the puck behind the net, and finally on a five-hole wrister by Saku Koivu. I will add the usual caveats: the team came out flat, turned the puck over charitably and got outshot 16-8 in the first period. Still, even Arniel had seen enough of Mason at that point.

So, for those counting at home, that's 8 goals against on 24 shots for Mason in his last two periods. With Mark Dekanich now rehabbing in Springfield, the Blue Jackets might finally have a viable alternative to keeping Mason on the roster. As for the long term, here's something to consider that DBJ himself dug up (which he tweeted to me from his "undisclosed location'). Seems like a reasonable expenditure of a million and some change at this point, doesn't it?

The Dark Side (11/20/11)

First of all, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to DBJ for inviting me to join the writing staff. I'm thrilled, honored and  excited. This is the first of what is intended to be a weekly stew of ramblings, musings, insights and outsights, with a pinch of genaeral nonsense. It more or less named itself when DBJ asked me if I wanted to come over to "The Dark Side". Here I be.

Most everyone knows by now that the Blue Jackets were finally able to get off the schneid with the overtime win against the Predators, more specifically a seventeen game schneid of winlessness in Music City dating back to 2006. But buried in the joy and elation were a couple of mini-schneids from which we were able to be ejected. Umby broke a nine game goal scoring schneid, not to mention a streak of six games without a point. Jeff Carter registered his first goal as a Blue Jacket, a schneid that lasted 8 games, and he too ended a six game point scoring drought. And last but not least, The Wiz scored his first goal of the year ending a schneid of 10 games. And what a goal it was. 

Anyone who has been down near the ice at Nationwide when the Wiz has teed one up from out by the blueline says essentially the same thing: his shot is as heavy as a flatbed of lead rails. When it misses the net and hits the end board, the only thing louder at Nationwide is the cannon. As far as Blue Jackets fans are concerned, the shot that went Wizzling past Pekka Rinne's left ear on Saturday night to win the game might as well have blown through the back of the net, through the end boards, out of the building and landed in Lot A outside of Nationwide. It killed The Streak, and it is safe to say it would have killed anything else that got in its way. 

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.

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.

"A good non-call"

Nothing beats homer announcers, and the NESN team of Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley do their part to minimize the fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets' R.J. Umberger took a pretty nasty elbow to the back of the head last night at the...um...elbow of the Bruins' Brad Marchand.




I'm sure that the NHL will at least investigate this one. Of course, it had nothing to do with boarding or charging, so the NHL General Managers won't care.

"A good non-call."  RIGHT.

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.

End scene - and a preview of the second act

I was going to use some heroic shot of Rusty, but this
just tickled my fancy. (Photo from buylisthomes.com)

Act 1, Scene 10

Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson officially closed the door on the first act of the Columbus Blue Jackets franchise in the midst of its 10th Anniversary season in trading "The Original Blue Jacket," defenseman Rusty Klesla, to the Phoenix Coyotes.

With that, Klesla's name and image now can finally retire to the glass cases around Nationwide Arena that celebrate past players like Odelein, Sanderson, Knutsen and Dineen (We can't forget Dineen!); team ownership and historic events in franchise history.  While he was a serviceable defenseman, he had ongoing injury issues in recent seasons that made his reliability questionable and greatly impacted his productivity.

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 57/Los Angeles: My Take

The streaking Columbus Blue Jackets welcomed the streaking Los Angeles Kings to Nationwide Arena tonight and, in the first playoff-caliber game in a long while, lost in the shootout to the Kings, 4-3.

I'm a tad under the weather and will keep this short.  Perhaps Gallos, who was on hand, could add some thoughts in the comments.  Everyone else, you're welcome to contribute as well.

• Rick Nash is a man possessed.  He is pulling every string possible to will this team to win.  Tonight, it wasn't enough.  Other nights, it will be.  All I can say to the rest of the NHL is "He's Rick Nash - and you're not."  
• R.J. Umberger left the ice injured (a knee/leg on knee/leg hit), came back, and threw his body around like he was the only Blue Jacket on the ice.  Whereas Nash was flying high based upon skill, Umberger was on sheer will and guts.  Helluva combination.

A hit worthy of its own post

From last night, R.J. Umberger lays out Brent Seabrook:




WOW.  What else can be said?

(Somewhat) Tanned, rested and ready for the second half

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...

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?)

Umberger = "Hope" for hockey's good guys

With apologies to Shepard Fairey, I hope you enjoy these two takes on the now-classic Obama "HOPE" poster...with R.J. Umberger's cause front and center.


      

In all seriousness, please make sure you vote today - and every day, through November 29 - for R.J. Umberger for the NHL All Star starting roster. What a wonderful message it would send to the National Hockey League, that a guy can stand strong for his team, do what it takes to win, never back down and lead by example.  That scoring goals is great, but character counts, too.

You can vote up to 30 times per day (I didn't make the rules...) at vote.nhl.com or by texting UMBERGER to 81812 (text message fees apply).

As for the graphics: Got a favorite version?  Or did you like the original poster better?

Vote R.J. Umberger for 2011 NHL All-Star!

The time has come, my friends, to do your duty as Columbus Blue Jackets fans:

Click here to vote, or text UMBERGER to 81812.  And you apparently are allowed to vote 30 times per day, so click away!

Matt Wagner offers plenty of good reasoning as to why you should give R.J. your full support, so read it now and be prepared!

Umberger sheds light on the new third jersey

Columbus Blue Jackets alternate captain R.J. Umberger was on Sirius/XM's "Puck Daddy Radio" show today to talk about the Blue Jackets' blowout win over the St. Louis Blues last night and the pre-game gamesmanship in which he and others involved in the game engaged.

In the final question of the segment, the hosts asked R.J. about the new third jersey - whether he'd seen it, what it looked like, etc.  R.J. said that he had seen it, both last season and this season.

Game 10/Colorado: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets lost, 5-1, in apparently convincing style to the Colorado Avalanche last night.

I was out of town and missed the game.  Strangely, I couldn't find it on XM satellite radio, either.  Thus, I was limited to periodic text message score updates from Google.

By the sounds of it, it appears that my life may be better for not having watched that particular game.  Hey, it's an 82-game season...and the CBJ are still above the playoff-qualifying line.

It also appears that Scott Arniel is trying to get to the heart of the matter in recognizing that the Blue Jackets may not have sufficient will to overcome adverse circumstances.  Now would be a great time for the $7.8 Million Man to step up and start kicking a little tail, both on and off the ice (and help us in the fanbase appreciate why he's captain instead of the likes of R.J. Umberger).

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.

You say poorly conditioned, I say sloppy

Scott Arniel is using the media to talk to the refs, the league...and his team.
(Photo from The Hockey Writers)

Interesting utterances out of the new Columbus Blue Jackets head coach yesterday.  Scott Arniel was quoted by the Dispatch as saying,

"I don't want to get in trouble (with the NHL) here," Arniel said, "but I looked at all (16) penalties (on film). There were some interesting calls that I didn't think were penalties. I think some of that is carryover from last year and years past. We've been a team that's high in the amount of minor penalties that we take. Sometimes your reputation precedes you." [Emphasis added]

Before I take this too much further, The Dispatch's writer in the Puck Rakers chat today suggested that it might be a little gamesmanship on Arniel's part - letting the league and the referees know of his displeasure at being plagued with ticky-tack fouls that have followed them throughout the preseason and across the Atlantic.  I can subscribe to that theory.

I also think, however, that Arniel is using his honeymoon period to the hilt.  He's recognized issues that he does not like - cultural, coaching, whatever - and is attacking them full-on.  To this end, he's not just suggesting that the refs blew a bunch of calls (and he DID do that) but instead is going further to suggest that his own squad has a roster as a sloppy/lazy/pre-lockout playing bunch.

Yeah, I said it.  Arniel called his team out.

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.