True dat

This Tweet, from Kevin Allen at USA Today, struck a chord:

Yup.  And it's the same in every town, for pretty much every sport.  If you win, people want to be a part of the experience. If you don't win, eventually they find other stuff to entertain them.

What does Michael Chaput tell me about Scott Howson?

I don't place a lot of weight on the Blue Jackets prospect development system, and that's for a couple of reasons: 1) I only have so much time in the day and don't believe that I could analyze and provide coherent commentary at the level I expect of myself (If prospect coverage interests you, go check out Twitter's @cbjprospects.); 2) Considering the size of the 23-man (max) roster at the NHL level, there are way too many misses (as opposed to hits) to interest me.  Which speaks volumes to my lack of interest in the NHL draft, something I'll be discussing more on DBJ Plus in the not-too-distant future.

I'm interested in the wins and losses in Columbus, the Stanley Cup playoffs in Columbus...not so much the CHL major junior playoff fortunes of the, say, Shawinigan Cataractes.  Yet, strangely, I'm being drawn into the recent Memorial Cup championship of that very team to further discuss the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In the closing hours before the 2011 NHL trade deadline, the Columbus Blue Jackets traded forward Tom Sestito to the Philadelphia Flyers for forwards Michael Chaput and Greg Moore.  The following video is of Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson addressing the media at the conclusion of the trade deadline - and while the majority of the press conference revolved around the Rusty Klesla trade to Phoenix for Scottie Upshall and Sami Lepisto, he does touch on Moore...and especially Chaput...at roughly the 7:35 mark:

After admitting that the CBJ coveted yet missed out on the kid in the draft (picking Ryan Johansen, Dalton Smith and the now-released [!] Petr Straka ahead of him), Howson said, "Chaput was the key to the deal." He then thumbnailed Chaput's performance in Lewiston, Maine.  All in all, a pretty good overview of a young player who was still had a year left in the CHL.

(Digression: Unlike me, I think it wise that Howson be conversant in all aspects of the prospect development chain.  It's an important component of his job, especially when the NHL club isn't performing well.)

Glass Bangers: Memorial Day Weekend

Derek Dorsett - Practicing Hard and Earning a New Contract

Rangers and the Devil Wrenches (Mrs. Gallos nickname for the Devils) square off tonight in Game 6.  Should be compelling hockey.  Its been a somewhat active week in Columbus Blue Jackets land.  But first ...

The Dark Blue Jacket wants to take this moment to acknowledge the sacrifice of American Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen as well as their families in their never ending task of protecting our country.  We salute you!

Spc. Levi Hoover, please know I always keep you in my head and my heart.  Your Dad says the fishing is good where you are.  I pray it is so.

So anyway, I'm at work the other day, sitting in a boat in the middle of a lake (I have cool work!) and I get a text from my buddy Paul.  It says, Methot and Second to Edmonton for the First.  And I am thinking holy frijole!  I'm in the middle of a lake, and Howson makes a move!  So I quickly text him to see if it is speculation, or actually happened.  Whew!  It turns out he was bouncing it off me to see what I thought.  I love this kind of stuff in the off season.

My thoughts on that?  (Pauses for a moment to think of a way to say this that is acceptable in case grandma reads the blog) Pull vacuum on an unspecified, but implied to be derogatory, object Edmonton!!  That's your problem!

And here's why ...

Mark your calendars

DBJ Plus: Our story thus far

It's been a couple of weeks since we launched Dark Blue Jacket Plus at FoxSportsOhio.com, and I figured that enough time has passed and enough material has accumulated to offer up a little recap.

Just so the readers know, the DBJ Plus posts are not recycled material from this blog.  This is all-new content that is intended to complement the work that my friends and I are doing here at DBJ.  That's not to say that someday I won't cross-post something particularly compelling or interesting...but I haven't done so yet, and it won't happen often (if ever).

Long story short: Click the links in the blue faux-ice block at the top if you want to see the rest of what I'm up to.

That being said, let's look at what's gone down over at the online home of the television broadcast partner of the Columbus Blue Jackets...

DBJ's plea to the CBJ ticket office

I'll be good this year, I promise.  Nothing like last year.

All I ask is that the Columbus Blue Jackets ticket office give their partial season ticket package holders at least 24 hours before the "select-a-seat" event to peruse the different combinations of quarter- or half-season packages.  It is inconvenient (impossible?) to consider a handful of scheduling options as you walk in the door for the "Select A Seat" event when you're more focused on trying to identify the seats in which you want to watch your Blue Jackets hockey.

Surely the NHL can give the Blue Jackets time to put packages together and promote them (web, email...I don't care) to package holders.  And really, is 24 hours advance preview too much to ask?

Otherwise, the team might as well just scrap the fixed partial season packages altogether and just flex plan everything...because, speaking from experience, I found the fixed packages being handed to me when walking in the door were so much wasted paper.

There, I'm done.  Nothing more on the matter until the seats are picked...that is, unless the team sends out info in advance.  (I'll be happy to thank them publicly for the courtesy.)

The long, hot summer

I read with great interest the fan reaction to the Columbus Blue Jackets' hiring of Todd Richards as "permanent" head coach.  (Not that it matters for this piece, but my piece at DBJ+ shows that I don't mind the hire.)

Seems like, from what I've read, there are a few aspects to the hire:

1. Was Todd Richards the right guy?  Other candidates surely were available; in fact, CBJ GM Scott Howson said in the Richards presser that 8-10 potential candidates called the team to express interest.  Then, there's the question of whether other coaching shoes were still to drop (like the Oilers' release of Tom Renney today).  Lastly, there's the whole question of whether keeping the coach is truly indicative of heightened expectations.
2. Should the formal interview process have been skipped?  Howson revealed that while the 8-10 people contacted the team, they did not conduct any interviews.  Does Richards' 18-21-2 record deserve a fast track to the job without even cursory interviews of other candidates?  Is the current CBJ management so secure in their decision-making when it comes to coaching hires, and does their track record warrant such confidence?
3. Why is Scott Howson still around?  I've gone over Howson at length, but the fact that he ran the press conference opens all the slow-healing wounds of a healthy contingent of the CBJ fanbase.  
4. What was Craig Patrick doing there?  Putting aside his odd performance at the presser, there's the real question of why his presence was required in the first place.  Is Howson in charge, or isn't he?  Does Patrick's presence undermine Howson's legitimacy?

Прощай и спасибо, Сергей

Fedorov as a Blue Jacket
(from The JacketsBlog)

I'm a couple days late on this one, but it appears that former Blue Jackets forward Sergei Fedorov will be retiring from playing hockey to take over as general manager of the KHL's CSKA Moscow squad.

CSKA Moscow is the present-day incarnation of the classic Soviet Red Army team, which Fedorov played for before coming to the NHL and the Detroit "Red Army" Wings of the 1990's.

On a personal note, the presence of Fedorov on the roster got this former Red Wings fan into the Nationwide Arena seats.  That begat my CBJ fanhood, which got me into blogging about the team...and so on and so on.  So blame Fedorov for what you read here.

Seriously, congratulations to a sure-fire Hockey Hall of Famer on his great playing career.  Best of luck with CSKA Moscow!

DBJ's 5 Thoughts on the Todd Richards Hire

Todd Richards at his first practice as Head Coach in 2012

By now, most of you are aware that the Columbus Blue Jackets  hired Todd Richards to be the Head Coach moving forward into the 2012-13 season.  The first domino in a long off season has fallen.

On a personal level, I think I like this move.  There were things I saw out of the players down the stretch were unlike things I have seen from prior CBJ teams when playing out the string.  This was a team that did not even know how to pass to itself early in the year, and they finished with solid, strong, fundamentally sound hockey.  Which is a good segue to our 5 thoughts:

1.) It's like Deja vu all over again (Y. Berra) -
The choice of hiring an interim coach after a mid season coaching change has been a matter for Blue Jackets senior management 3 times, involving Gerard Gallant, Claude Noel, and Todd Richards.  Gallant and Richards moved on as head coach after the process, and Noel lost out to Arniel (and Boucher).  I think the way things turned out with Gerard had a big influence on the decision not to hire Noel.  Gerard was hired as interim after Doug MacLean stepped out from behind the bench, and the CBJ finished the season reasonably well.  MacLean gave him the full time job in the off season, and intertwined around the lockout, Gallant lead the team to the best record to date in franchise history.  After a poor start, which actually looks pretty good against this year's steaming hot mess, Gallant was let go.  I think CBJ senior management felt that it would be repeating history to hire Noel.

Richards comes into the job with a much stronger resume.

NBA in Columbus? Fine with me.

Word out of the Dispatch this AM suggests that Mayor Michael Coleman has sent a letter of interest to the National Basketball Association that promotes Nationwide Arena as a potential home for an NBA team.

Good for Coleman.