Who are the CBJ's pace-setting scorers?

The second post in my "Blue Jackets by the Numbers" series takes a look at the polar opposite of the first, which looked at clutch goal scorers.  While I would never suggest that the combination of scoring acumen, ice water in the veins and a dash of good fortune is anything but the most important combination in sports, I think it's also important to look at those who come roaring out of the gates to get their team on the path to victory.

Thus, we're going to look at the Columbus Blue Jackets players who scored the "pace-setting" goals, or the first goal for the team in a game.  It's not necessarily an easy thing to break the scoring ice, and those who have the touch early provide needed spark to get their team moving.  As we all know, momentum is king in sports, so let's celebrate those who gave the Blue Jackets momentum last season.

Need an early Blue Jackets goal?  Look to Antoine Vermette!
(Photo from DailyMe)

This particular query was much easier to construct; all I did was filter through the goal scorers who put the CBJ on the board first in the first period in a given game.  With no further ado, here's your list of 2009-2010 Columbus Blue Jackets pace-setter goal scorers:

• Antoine Vermette - 5 games
• Rick Nash - 3 games
• Jason Chimera, Kristian Huselius & Andrew Murray - 2 games each
• Derick Brassard, Chris Clark, Raffi Torres & R.J. Umberger - 1 game each

Oh my...Antoine Vermette is quite a sparkplug.  But here's an interesting trivia note: He scored 4 of those 5 goals on the road!  Matters not, as a goal is a goal no matter where it is scored.  Vermette's efforts largely didn't help the cause, though, as the Jackets lost 4 of the 5 games in which he was the team's first first-period scorer.

CannonFest coupon surfaces

Perhaps you heard a rumor that Buffalo Wild Wings was working up a couple fun promotions for CannonFest.  You would be right.

Here's the first - get one of those giant cans of Canadian beer, just like you do at Nationwide Arena.  Helps lubricate the hockey talk.  (Of course, don't overdo it...you have to survive 'til the start of hockey season!)

We in the Columbus Blue Jackets blogging community hope you can join in the fun at CannonFest!  It'll be a great, laid back time to talk NHL hockey with many of your fellow bloggers and fans.

Clip and save this coupon so you can use it on the 15th!  Only 2 weeks away....!!

Don't be one of them

Who are the CBJ's clutch scorers?

It's getting time to start formulating thoughts and ideas for the season preview, and - time permitting - this blog will have a couple different perspectives on the team that could prove useful in how we look at the Columbus Blue Jackets and its roster.

To start work on this project, I built upon some database-oriented work that I've been doing in my "spare" time (basically, when the Dark Blue Toddler is sleeping). I've had a few lingering questions about the roster and, after learning a little more about Microsoft Access, think I now know enough about the program to start using it for CBJ purposes.

It shouldn't be surprising that captain Rick Nash is Columbus'
premier clutch goal scorer, but who are the rest? (Photo from tafhl.com)

My interests revolve around team scoring. It's clear as day that the Blue Jackets need to boost their scoring - they scored 216 goals last season, meaning that only five teams in the entire National Hockey League (Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Boston and Florida) were less prolific. By comparison, the Presidents Trophy-winning Washington Capitals scored 318 times. The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks scored 271 times. The average number of goals for a playoff-qualifying team in 2009-2010 was a hair under 243 goals. So if the Jackets are going to win, it's because they're going to put lots of pucks in the back of the net. (Yes, the Jackets need to tighten up their defense, too, but I maintain that 2009-2010's poor CBJ defense was more a function of injuries than lack of talent.)

All scorers aren't equal, though, and that's where my research lies. First, I catalogued every single goal scored by the Blue Jackets last season. Every goal was identified by date, opponent, home/away, game number, win/loss (and score), period scored, order of CBJ scoring by game (1st goal, 2nd goal, last goal, etc.), names of goal scorers and assists, empty net, shootout, power play, short-handed and penalty shot. It was a bit tedious in getting all the data organized, but it's gold to me now.

Perhaps most intriguing to me, however, was the inclusion of a unique characteristic for each goal: The score differential when the goal was scored. Why is this important? In my opinion, a goal is more important when the game is on the line. The goal scorer is the type of person you want on the ice when it's crunch time.

So I started playing with this data and think it's time to start sharing some insights as a personal "training camp" to get ready for the season previews.

Stralman signs

Apparently Anton Stralman and Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson thought better of going before the arbitrator and agreed at the eleventh hour to a one-year contract.  At $1.95 million, it's a definite compromise for both sides.

Shedding the dreaded +/- 'Green Jacket' will help keep Anton Stralman (-17 in 09-10)
 around in Columbus beyond this season (photo by Dave Gainer/The Hockey Writers)

The money is neither here nor there in my book as the Jackets likely won't hit the salary cap this year.  The term, however, is interesting.

From Stralman's perspective, his agreeing to a one-year deal tells me that Anton (or his agent) still feels that the NHL is a potential goldmine for the young defenseman.  They're going to take the good (but not great, despite being nearly triple last season's salary) money for one more year and test the market again.  The question I need to look into is whether Stralman would be an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of the season.  From Stralman's perspective, a one-year contract makes sense if that's the case.

Anton Stralman matters...to a point

Betcha didn't know that Stralman had a nasty streak.

Tomorrow is the Big Day Thus Far in the Columbus Blue Jackets offseason - the steel cage match arbitration hearing between defenseman Anton Stralman and CBJ general manager Scott Howson (backed up by assistant general manager Chris MacFarland).

As best I hear it (and I'm just reading the news sources like everyone else), Stralman and the CBJ are about a million dollars apart.  Stralman appears to be pinning his hopes on the 4-year, $14 million Restricted Free Agent offer sheet that Niklas Hjalmarsson got from the San Jose Sharks (which was matched by the Chicago Blackhawks, sending the Hawks reeling into another round of Salary Cap Hell cutbacks - So sad! ).  That means that Stralman is pegging his value somewhere around Hjalphabet's $3.5 million cap hit.  Take a million off because Stralman isn't half the defenseman that Hjarliwicz is, and $2.5 million is still a lot for our friend Anton.

Luckily for the CBJ, Stralman appears to be a one-year inconvenience to management.  Scott Howson asked the arbitrator for a one-year contract decision, as is his right, and reserves the right to walk away if he doesn't like the decision - making Stralman an Unrestricted Free Agent.

Want to learn more about our prospects?

Premium Scouting does a rather thorough scrubbing of the Columbus Blue Jackets' prospect pipeline with predictably mixed results.  Check it out here.

That is one fine photo of Columbus' rising blue liner.
Doesn't the number "7" look cool on a hockey jersey?

On the bright side, it's pretty clear that the authors like the talent that Scott Howson has drafted.  (Douggie MacLean's drafts....not so much.)

I'm not entirely sure I agree with the ranking of the top ten prospects, but I don't have a lot of reason to disagree as a collection:

1. Nikita Filatov, LW
2. Ryan Johansen, C
3. John Moore, D
4. Cody Goloubef, D
5. Maksim Mayorov, LW
6. David Savard, D
7. Kevin Lynch, C
8. Matt Calvert, LW
9. Petr Straka, RW
10. Tomas Kubalik, RW

Looking at that list, I'm also struck with the appreciation for why general manager Scott Howson drafted a couple goalies this past draft.  Not having ANY goalies in your top ten prospects probably is not a good thing.  

Traverse City tournament dates

Former CBJ prospect Jared Boll (right)
getting ready for the big leagues.
(Courtesy of Light The Lamp)

As many Columbus Blue Jackets fans know, the CBJ send a team of prospects up to sunny and beautiful Traverse City, Michigan (visit Sleeping Bear Dunes!) to play in a brief tournament against other NHL teams' prospects.  It's a nice move as it builds cameraderie and chemistry with young players who surely will play with each other at some point through the junior/minor league systems.  In addition, it gives the teams a chance to put prospects (some street free agent prospects, others drafted/signed) into more meaningful game environments and see how they perform.

Here's the entire schedule for the September 11-15 tournament, but I'll reprint the Columbus Blue Jackets' schedule:

Sat. Sept. 11
9:30 AM - Practice at David's Rink
3:30 PM - Game v. New York Rangers at Huntington Rink

Sun. Sept. 12
8:30 AM - Practice at Huntington Rink
2:00 PM - Game v. Minnesota Wild at David's Rink

Mon. Sept. 13
9:30 AM - Practice at Huntington Rink
No game

Tues. Sept. 14
10:30 AM - Practice at David's Rink
6:30 PM - Game v. Carolina Hurricanes at David's Rink

Weds. Sept. 15
Top 2 teams in each division (Howe and Gretzky) practice.  One team on each rink at 9:45 and 10:45.
2:00 PM - Seventh-place game at David's Rink
2:30 PM - Fifth-place game at Huntington Rink
5:30 PM - Bronze Medal game at David's Rink
6:00 PM - Gold Medal game at Huntington Rink

No official word on TV for the games, but the NHL Network carried the tournament (or at least portions of it) last year.  It would surprise me if they don't do so again.  (Ack!  Looks like the NHL Network is out this year.  So who's carrying the competition?)

As for the CBJ roster for Traverse City, I have no idea and haven't seen anything come up on the CBJ official site.  As a prospect camp, it stands to reason that some of these prospects will be in attendance.

One Shining Moment

Strangest thing happened last night: I got an email telling me that The Dark Blue Jacket was one of the top 40 NHL blogs. I got an award button to put on the site and everything.

OK, how does one put this kindly: I'm not sure how much stock I place in the award.  First, it doesn't have the grand-daddy of NHL blogs, Yahoo!'s Puck Daddy.  Not having the preeminent blog in the field on the list seems somewhat odd.  (But, to their credit, the list of 40 blogs that they DO offer awards is pretty strong - even includes The Hockey Writers, another great source of Columbus Blue Jackets information and analysis.)  Second, the award itself is sponsored by onlineschools.org - and the award button's code has some "free advertising" that I so delicately removed.  Lastly, the group offering the award, "Awarding The Web," seems kinda loose in structure.  But they suggest for the NHL blog award that there was a panel of five judges, and that some level of scrutiny took place.  Go figure.

Perhaps the nicest thing to come of this was the kind mentions on Twitter from many CBJ-fan friends and blogging colleagues about the blog.  Like most bloggers, I pretty much toil in obscurity.  (A rare post will grab the attention of the public, but that's not an everyday occurrence.)  So the possibly undeserved praise still is nice to receive.  Thanks, everyone!

Casinos and intensity and Howson, oh my!

Another reasonably quick "in-between posts" post to summarize a few of the pertinent points of Columbus Blue Jackets discussion over the last few days - as I try to wrap up the summer quarter of school early.  Apologies for no graphics, but time's a-wastin'...

CASINO TAXES

First off, BusinessFirst of Columbus asked the question "Can casino tax windfall save Blue Jackets?" on July 16.    The Dispatch offered a story the same day.  Fast actors, those guys.  (I first broached the idea back on November 5, and Jeff Little offered his insights on the same on February 19.  Just sayin'.)  To be fair to our newsprint-coated media friends, though, they actually got CBJ president Mike Priest on record saying that the casino tax revenue idea sounded like a decent idea to him.  Jeff and my pieces were much more speculative.

By the way, this is by no means a done deal.  The Facebook group for Casino-Free Columbus (to which I proudly belong, to be clear) is pretty honked off about the whole matter.  Not like the group wanted a casino around to begin with, granted.  Personally, I suppose that using the tax revenue to support the Arena District is less odious than a lot of other possibilities.  In this case, we're preserving a unique cultural/commercial area that makes Columbus unique and distinct in this ever-homogenizing country.

[7/24/10 UPDATE: Field of Schemes has its say, and it's rather predictable.]

PASS THE 5-HOUR ENERGY, PLEASE!

The Dispatch's Tom Reed wrote a downright fantastic article hitting on what I have seen as the crux of the problem facing the Blue Jackets last year - the lack of demonstrable intensity and fire in the belly on the roster.  (Side note: Tom's the perfect guy to offer this piece as the summertime occasional Columbus Crew reporter is familiar with Red Bull.)