Welcome back to Jason Chimera - One of the Good Guys

Former Blue Jacket Jason Chimera is back in town
tonight with the Washington Capitals

Tonight's New Year's Eve game against the Washington Capitals signals the return of forward Jason Chimera to Nationwide Arena.  Chimmer was not just a strong character guy on the ice but also walked the walk in the community.

Most Columbus Blue Jackets fans know the story of Ryan Salmons, a local teen who valiantly fought cancer until his passing at age 19 in 2009 (retrospective video).  They know that Scott Howson signed Salmons to a genuine NHL contract for a day in an impressive show of support for the young man.

What fans might not know is that the friendships developed between the Salmons family, Malhotra and Chimera last to this day.  Both players regularly check in with the family and, to quote Ryan's father Brad, "They have become family!"  Same goes for Howson, who makes a point of including Brad at Blue Jackets Foundation events like Black Tie Blue Jackets and the annual Foundation golf outing.

2011: The Blue Jackets' Annus Horribilis

Even Her Majesty would agree that 2011 stunk for the CBJ. Annus horribilis is a Latin phrase meaning "horrible year", or alternatively, "year of horrors". It alludes to annus mirabilis meaning "year of wonders". Although cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as being in use as early as 1985, Elizabeth II brought the phrase to prominence, in a speech to the Guildhall on 24 November 1992, marking the 40th anniversary of her Accession, in which she described the closing of the year as an "annus horribilis." 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an Annus Horribilis. (Wikipedia entry)

First off, please accept my apologies.  The end of the year got away from me.  Family in town, a quick Christmas trip out of town and helping create Christmas for a two-and-a-half year old saw things just move faster than I could handle.  I've been able to write the game recaps (well, the ones that my compadres didn't write) and occasional commentary posts, but the whole strategic approach to designing an end of the year blog post or two - well, it didn't happen.  Thus, I've been working on this post - concept to execution - for only a day or so.

Having a strict deadline (like the dawn of the new year) sometime forces one to scrap a detailed commentary and focus on the crux of the issue.  It sure did in my case!  In trying to encapsulate the year, I threw everything else aside and focused on that which is most important for a professional sports team - the wins and losses.

DBJ's 5 Thoughts on Game 37: Dallas

Columbus 4 - Dallas 1
10-22-5, 5th in Central Division, 15th in Western Conference

The Columbus Blue Jackets traveled down to Big D and beat the host Dallas Stars, 4-1, in regulation.

1. MILESTONES - It was the end of a six-game losing streak.  It was the first road win in regulation in the 2011-12 season. And it was the CBJ's 10th win of the season.  So a bunch of monkeys fell off the team's back.  Let's not raise the Cup yet, but it is nice to not have those hanging over the team.

The 800 Pound Gorilla in the Room

What is the role of a minority owner?

Had a good laugh at a couple of knuckleheads sitting at their keyboard the other day.  One of the blogs with a more national readership had noted that the CBJ were having a less than stellar year (I can't find the link, incompetence is my only excuse).  And these guys got on the comments and said essentially "blow the whole thing up, and the next city who gets them will have something to build from".  Which for someone who is sitting in front of a search engine is a pretty stunning admission of ignorance and laziness.  In this article, the Columbus Business Journal notes that the last step in the agreement to purchase Nationwide Arena, approval by the Franklin County Commissioners, was achieved, and the whole deal is moving forward.  Bad news to the knuckleheads who want to issue their opinions on the CBJ without doing any work.  There isn't going to be any next city.  This is our problem to deal with and we have to find our way out of this mess.

One thing I keep forgetting as part of this whole picture of a disastrous season and the apparent apathy by management and ownership towards changes to attempt to rectify the disaster; that is the role of the new minority owner.

I'm not saying...I'm just saying

I caught this gem from the CBC's Elliotte Friedman, who offers "30 thoughts" every week:

12. Had a really interesting conversation with a player last week. He was saying his (struggling) team needed an identity. Then, he went on to list some teams that did have one. "You know that Boston is going to pound you and make you pay physically. You know that Chicago is going to dare you to try and skate with them. You know that Vancouver is going to try to get you to take penalties and make you pay on the penalty kill. And you know that Detroit is going to turn the other cheek while winning all of the one-on-one battles." Then, he added, "We need to be more like the Red Wings."

Does that conversation sound familiar? (And my link doesn't account for the consistent rumble on the topic coming out of the Dispatch or, to a lesser degree, some of the other Blue Jackets fan blogs.)

The "A List"

Another week, another A-List. And, yes, let's suffice to say that this past week was a little...rough. So here's some things to be somewhat happy about.

1. Jeff Carter's Hat Trick. For one 20 minute period versus Nashville, we reveled in some glorious hockey - and the star of that period was Jeff Carter. I'll say it - whenever a player has a hat trick, we should celebrate it.

2. The Holidays. Aside from the obvious time with family and focusing on hopefully the important things, we got a little break from the sturm and drang of this season of CBJ hockey and come Monday, we were ready for more.

3. Steve Mason. In Tuesday's game vs. Calgary, Mason delivered a quiet, yet consistent, effort for 65 minutes. He had quite a few quality saves when the defense let him down and, I took the opportunity to watch him in isolation during a couple of Calgary possessions. He seemed more calm and controlled in net. Nice to see.

4. Ryan Johansen. the JOHAN (and yes, we asked him, he prefers "Johan" to "RyJo") is showing some signs of progression once again. Two goals against Nashville, and some quite aggressive play against Calgary made him someone to stand out while watching games. Watching him play - and knowing his age - gives me hope for the CBJ and that keeps me from going completely postal at times.

5. The Fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets. You all made the list AGAIN. But legitimately so. We don't even have 10 wins, but almost 17,000 (seventeen thousand!) of us showed up Tuesday in potentially poor weather to cheer on our team. Regardless of how you got your tickets, you thought it a good use of time to show up. DH and I had the opportunity to sit next to a great fan from SEATTLE, who, for his Christmas present to his ENTIRE family, bought them Blue Jackets tickets. And good ones at that. The guy also drives up to Vancouver whenever the CBJ are there to support the team. That's dedication my friends. And it deserves mention.

New Year's lies ahead...I dare to hope we can clear the 10 win bar by January 1. Those New Year's Eve games have always been fun, and I hope this year is as well and that it brings us a win!

Glass Bangers,12/28/11

STATE OF THE BLUE JACKETS SURVEY

I was thinking of putting this on a separate post, but it's more like an announcement for a new means of continuing dialogue between fans.  That, and I'm going to keep this survey up on the right-hand column for a while...at least until the All-Star Game or perhaps when changes are made that render the survey moot.

State of the Blue Jackets
Note that you, my dear readers, are permitted to add "Yes/No" questions to the survey.  I make this observation with the caveat that I intend to utilize editorial discretion to delete questions as I (and I alone) deem fit.  So keep your additional questions germane to the state of the team, and keep them clean.  

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WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?

Recently, HockeyBuzz's Eric Smith posted a link to the video of the introductory press conference for Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel with the acompanying Tweet: "Remember this when hopes & confidence was high?"

Heady times, indeed.  In fact, Smith's comment conjured in my mind what I consider to be the high water mark for the Arniel coaching tenure - the first-ever road trip sweep of Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose in October 2010.  Remember this nugget from the Dispatch guys at Puck Rakers (no longer available on their site, so I rely on HFBoards for the quote):

When Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel learned it was the first-ever regulation win in San Jose -- from video coordinato Dan Singleton, who's been in place from Day 1 -- Arniel deadpanned: "What have you guys been doing for 10 years?"

Now you know, coach.

DBJ's 5 Thoughts on Game 36: Calgary

Calgary 2 - Columbus 1 (shootout)
9-22-5, 5th in Central Division, 15th in Western Conference

The Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Calgary Flames tonight at Nationwide Arena and now have two more shots to get 10 victories before the end of the calendar year after losing to Calgary, 2-1, in the shootout.

1. THE ARENA DISTRICT IS AWESOME - Thanks to an unexpected free ticket windfall from Mrs. DBJ's employer, the Dark Blue Jacket family took in an enjoyable evening in the Arena District.  A pregame bowl of spaghetti (Dark Blue Toddler's favorite restaurant food) at Buca Di Beppo, then off to Nationwide Arena for the game.  Mrs. DBJ walked over from work to meet us at the restaurant, we had a great family dinner, walked maybe 40 yards across the plaza and then took in an NHL hockey game.  On a Tuesday night.  In Columbus, Ohio.  How cool is that?

DBJ's 5 Thoughts on Game 35: Chicago

Chicago 4 - Columbus 1
9-22-4, 5th in Central Division, 15th in Western Conference

The National Hockey League returned from Christmas break on Monday night, and the Columbus Blue Jackets picked up right where they left off.  The CBJ lost, 4-1 in regulation to Chicago at the United Center.

1. With 22 points in 35 games, the Blue Jackets are trending toward 52 points over 82 games.  That will be the lowest in the NHL since the 2000-2001 season, when the New York Islanders posted a 52-point season.  That's right, the worst team in 11 years.  By comparison, the Blackhawks have 50 points already this season.

Glass Bangers, 12/26/11

I'm back from Christmas travel, not so rested but remarkably ready to dive back into the remainder of this Columbus Blue Jackets season.  It's funny - even with things as lousy as they've been, I've missed hockey over the past couple of days.

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HOPE FROM UP NORTH

Perhaps the most CBJ-germane thing to come from the holiday break was the weekend's National Football League action.  Specifically, the Detroit Lions qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1999.  Think about it: A team whose unofficial motto is "Nothing since 1957...but we're working on it" can't even sniff the postseason for a longer period of time than the CBJ have been in existence, and they made it back to the promised land.

Of course, I've long since been pushed away from rabid Lions fanhood by the inept Matt Millen and have since found hockey, which really is a more interesting sport to follow on a number of fronts.  I still carry a soft spot for the Leos, though, and am very happy for the team and its fans.  If time permits, I'd love to explore the lessons that the Blue Jackets could learn from the Lions vis a vis turning a franchise around.  Because if anyone knew how to lose in the 2000's, it was the Detroit Lions.