Wherein I rant about the NHL-CHL "No AHL for you!" agreement

The player development potential of the
AHL is retarded by a private
agreement between the NHL and the CHL

I'm working on a piece (two now, actually) regarding the ascendancy of Ryan Johansen to the big leagues, and this little tidbit clearly will influence what and how I write my material.

At the same time, I want the Johansen posts to be about him and his place in the Blue Jackets, so I'll segregate this information in a separate post and link to it later.  (Apologies for the bad form of re-posting four entire paragraphs worth of information, but this is meaty stuff that takes a little while to sort out.)

There's a good bit of confusion about the rules surrounding junior players because they're not in the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, something everyone can access. The rules are in a private agreement between the NHL and CHL (Canadian Hockey League, made up of the QMJHL, OHL and WHL). A lot of people think the AHL has a rule that someone has to be 20 to play there. Common misconception. It's not a rule made by the AHL. If it were up to them, they would take everyone over 18. Officially that's the AHL's policy in fact. 

Blue Jackets Fan Fest, from the perspective of a CannonFest organizer

The Columbus Blue Jackets today announced "Fan Fest," which is free to the public and will take place on September 9 from 4-9PM at Nationwide Arena.  More info from the announcement:

FanFest will feature over 20 players in attendance signing autographs and interacting with fans, open skating and other on-ice activities, question & answer panels, street hockey, kids' activities, food and drink specials, music and more. Players scheduled to appear include Rick Nash and newly acquired players Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski. 

The event will also offer fans the first chance to buy 2011-12 single game tickets available exclusively at the event...

A few thoughts on what I've seen/read:

1) The idea of giving fans all these incentives to come down and get excited about the upcoming season right on the cusp of training camp is a fantastic marketing move.  It's philosophically right in line with what we've been doing at CannonFest for the past two years.

Figures Don't Lie, but Liars Figure - The Defense

Fedor Tyutin at practice last year

Owwwooooooooooo!  Good Golly Miss Molly!  What was that!!??  Oh yeah.  The dog days of summer.  When hockey news is slow, slower, and slowest.

Contrary to popular belief, that was not me in the dentist chair this morning.  The girl knows how to ply her numbing agents.  Nonetheless, I decided to stay home with my numb face, and later aching jaw.  So since I wasn't at work, and needed something to do, I figured I should start crunching some numbers.  

Since the addition of Jeff Carter seems a sure fire boost to the offense, I decided to take a hard look at the defense.  With only four players returning from last year, this unit is getting a big overhaul.  The burning question is, did it get any better??  With that degree of change, how would one tell?

Fighting, Tragedy, and Passion

With the recent death of another hockey player, those who love the game of hockey are thinking deep thoughts.  We love the passion of the game.  We root for the underdog who has scrapped and clawed his way into the game with pure toughness.  We are appalled that this may end up in mutilation of the player.  This is not what we want.

As Columbus Blue Jackets fans, we are all too familiar with the underdog role.  As an organization, we struggle to try to rise above that, and often don't do well when other teams refuse to treat us as an underdog (something we have earned at times over the years, see Hitchcock, Ken).  I love Jody Shelly.  The thought that the niche he has carved out in hockey means he may end up like Derek Boogaard frightens me.

But I am not against fighting.  So I think it is time to change some rules to increase protection of the players.  The trick is to do it so that you preserve what is good in the game.

The Grand Army: DBJ's 2011-2012 season preview

Perhaps the most harrowing moment for yours truly at CannonFest was the question, "When does this year's 'Time to Step Up' series start?"  Without question, that series was the most grueling experience I've had with this blog.  "Time to Step Up" makes the CannonFest marketing barrage feel like a cold glass of lemonade enjoyed from the perch of a tall rocker on a warm summer night.  I'm telling you, "Time to Step Up" was downright painful at times.  Seriously, YOU try finding enough to write about Tomas Kana...and 30-odd other players, coaches and personnel staff.

Long story made short, "Time to Step Up" isn't going to happen this year - at least from me.  Gallos, you're welcome to knock yourself out.  Other CBJ bloggers, go for it.  But not DBJ.

Blog redesign

Something I've wanted to do for some time but have been waylaid by other matters (school, graduation, vacation, family time, CannonFest, etc.) has been a blog redesign.  While the Warhol-esque graphics were fun - and that lime green icon sure grabbed eyes on a Twitter page! - let's face it: It was time for a change.  Since switching from the Mad Men characters and style to the Warhol look, did the Columbus Blue Jackets win even a single playoff game?  No.

But hope springs eternal, and the influx of talent this offseason has led me to double down and try again.  So we're going with a more weathered look this time, more in tune with the Civil War roots that the team has embraced.  I intend to replace the header graphic at some point, but that's a bit more involved than I have time for tonight.  (However, Blogger's new design tools made this redesign remarkably easy to pull off in a couple of hours. Kudos to our internet overlords at Google for that small blessing...)

I hope you like what you see, and let me know if something looks REALLY off so I can fix it.  I'm especially interested in whether the expanded width of the template still fits horizontally in people's screens.  Outside of those technical fixes, expect to see this look at least through the 2011-2012 season.  If we don't win a stinkin' playoff game this year, maybe I'll change it again...

"Act like you've been there before"

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One of the lines I so hate to hear out of an announcer - or a fan, for that matter - is "Act like you've been there before."  This line, of course, comes immediately following a score by a player.

Make it so

The post-CannonFest afterglow has rightfully focused largely on the two Tom "Skraut" Larrow Columbus Blue Jackets fan videos (which I embedded in my CannonFest 2011 recap post).  This makes sense, as the videos themselves are really, really well done.  They also serve as a quasi-tangible "takeaway" from the day in that those who attended can share the video links with those who weren't there to see it in person...and those who didn't make it are afforded a taste of the excitement.

Now word is out from Ryan Holtmann at the Blue Jackets that the team is, well, I'll let you see what he said:

We're looking into the licensing with the NHL, but at the very least we are planning to put [the videos] on BlueJackets.com.

This is fantastic news, and for all the right reasons:

1. The videos are labors of love from a Blue Jackets fan.  Look at the little promo graphic to the right and check out the stats for the amount of footage reviewed to assemble the pieces.  These two videos represented a TON of effort.  The Blue Jackets didn't commission this work.  They didn't ask for it.  Tom simply did it because he believes in the Blue Jackets and loves hockey.

CannonFest 2011: Coming of age

It's hard to describe the feeling, but bear with me as I try.

The CBJ's Todd Sharrock speaks to CBJ bloggers
just before CannonFest kicks off.

It's about 1:45PM.  Columbus Blue Jackets Vice President of Public Relations Todd Sharrock (with able support from Manager of Communications Ryan Holtmann and Executive Vice President of Business Operations Larry Hoepfner) has been holding court for about 30-40 minutes with CBJ bloggers.  He clues us in on a few things that the team has in the hopper for those of us who find joy in writing about the CBJ, listens to some of the thoughts that we offer, and wraps up.

Now, I'm standing in the corner, basking in the neon glow of the CBJ beer sign that Greg May rustled up for a marquee raffle item.  From my vantage point, I can't see the main entrance to the bar area at Buffalo Wild Wings.  So as we disperse, I finally get the opportunity to peek around the corner.

The room is already full.  15 minutes before the "advertised" CannonFest start time.

Photo courtesy of Chuck at The Cannon Report

My jaw drops.

"What IS CannonFest?" - A primer

Considering "only" 100 people made it out to last year's CannonFest, there has been an undercurrent of "What IS this thing?" rumbling throughout the social media spaces.  As a public service, the Dark Blue Jacket thus offers this compilation of pictures (and words) to better explain the concept in the hopes that readers far and wide recognize what a good time CannonFest is and rework their Sunday schedules in order to attend...

OVERVIEW