The Howsonian Era - The Later Stagnation Period to the New Reformation!
The Columbus Blue Jackets Cannon Logo
Arrrggghhh! This thing has me by the throat, and the puck drops tomorrow!! Must....blog......harder.... OK, ok, focus.
We last left this tale at the end of the glorious 2008-09 season, when the Columbus Blue Jackets lifted the playoff stigma from their resume, and made the post season for the first time.
By virtue of their strong showing, they picked 21st in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, selecting Defenseman John Moore. In the off season they parted ways with Freddy Modin, Michael Peca, and Jason Williams. Optimism was high, the pundits largely picked the squad to finish where it had the previous year, much as they are picking the 2011-12 CBJ to finish where they did last year (shocking newzzzz!)
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.
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.
...the Jackets brain trust appears to be committed to allowing its minor-league rookies such as [forward Matt] Calvert, [forward Tomas] Kubalik and defenseman John Moore to develop at their own pace with minor-league Springfield, without rushing them into the Jackets lineup.
[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.
2009-2010 numbers: 26 games played, 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points, -7, 26 penalty minutes, 20:06 avg. time on ice
Without question, 2009-2010 represented the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for The Original Blue Jacket.
It started with magic last season for Rostislav Klesla - a new contract announced right before the opener against Minnesota, followed by the game-winning goal in that same game:
Klesla added another goal just two days later against Vancouver, a blazing start to a season that imploded on November 30, 2009 against St. Louis. Here's how it was described:
Klesla was injured in a mid-ice collision with the Blues' Barret Jackman during the first period of the Blue Jackets' 5-2 victory Monday night. He is believed to have torn a groin muscle and is expected to be sidelined for at least a month.
Klesla lay on the ice for 5 minutes and did not put any weight on his left leg when he was helped off.
It wasn't just a torn groin muscle - not that such an injury wouldn't be bad enough. No, he tore stomach muscles, too. Ironically, that was two days after he put in a monster 26:29 of ice time in against Calgary. Highest of highs, lowest of lows. Poor guy could not buy a break.
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!
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).
The Dispatch's Michael Arace ably summarizes the John Moore quandry: Do you put an 18-year-old defenseman, albeit one who is talented and improving every day, out on the NHL firing line...throwing him to the wolves? Or do you bite your lip and let him mature more naturally in junior hockey?
Moore's 4 points and +1 over 4 preseason games is persuasive, but this is a franchise that is gun-shy with young talent these days. The Jackets' first-ever draft pick, defenseman Rusty Klesla, was forced into duty right out of the draft at age 19 and only now is starting to reach the potential everyone hoped he had (see: Holmstrom, Tomas - 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs).
Besides, a year of juniors will give Moore time to develop...and the Jackets will have a top six d-man in 2010 - one who could stick around for a LONG time.
