Ludicrous speed

We interrupt the offseason frenzy in Columbus Blue Jackets Nation for a brief housekeeping message...

Blogger just wrapped up the month of June - I think that it's on Greenwich Mean Time or something - and I am surprised stunned floored to report that June 2011 was the highest traffic month on the blog by a country mile.  With 17,544 page views, the Dark Blue Jacket blog crushed the previous best month ever, January 2011, by nearly 1,500 pageviews.

What makes this even more jaw-dropping to me is that the Columbus Blue Jackets didn't play a single game in the month of May.  In fact, they haven't played a game since April 10...yet June ends up being our biggest ever.

More credit than he would admit goes to my writing partner in crime, Gallos, who covered for me as I struggled through my final quarter of my Masters program (April, May and the front half of June) and finally graduated.  Not only did Gallos keep the home fires burning while I was functionally AWOL, I've noted that Gallos' posts are the ones that consistently garner the most reader comments and feedback.  More power to my man - Thank you, Gallos!

Lastly, thanks to all of you.  I'm glad you like the blog, or at least consider it worth scanning before going back to doing whatever it is you do.  Keep reading, keep letting Gallos and me know your thoughts, and - like the two of us - look forward to a great 2011-2012 season for the Columbus Blue Jackets!

Carry The Flag!

The free agency "sneak preview sale" hits Columbus

Tell me you've never seen one of these sales before, and that it doesn't
feel like the dance that Scott Howson is doing with James Wisniewski.

After Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson traded a 2012 7th-round draft pick to Montreal for the rights to defenseman James Wisniewski (turns into a 5th-rounder if Wiz signs with Columbus), we now have learned that Wiz and his agent came down to Columbus to meet with Howson and check out both the team and the town.

This whole process is somewhat odd - the trading of picks for the right to talk with a guy who's going to be an unrestricted free agent in a matter of days.  Good for Howson for keeping the downside low in case this doesn't work out.

Stepping back, though, doesn't this feel like the "preview sales" that you get emails for every now and then?  The ones where the store says, "50% off sale from Friday through Sunday, 'preview sale pricing' for our most special customers on Thursday"?  Well, it does to me...and it feels like Howson bought his way into the preview sale with Wiz.

A message to CBJ fans from Scott Howson

(OK, so it's not a real message.  But still, everyone take a deep breath...this offseason has a long way to go!)

On free agency

The objects of most every defense-desperate GM's eyes,
both Kevin Bieksa and Christian Ehrhoff appear to be out of
the NHL free agency derby before the July 1 opening day.

I'll admit it - when it comes to this offseason "hot stove" activity like the draft and free agency, I'm largely a passive guy.

In the case of the draft, it's for two reasons: 1) I've never seen 99% of those kids play, so I don't know who's REALLY any good (at least in my estimation). 2) I just can't muster the necessary enthusiasm for kids that I won't see on NHL ice for - what? - 3 years, if at all.

Free agency is a similar beast to me.  The National Hockey League is so big, with such a huge schedule, that there's no way a guy who's only followed the sport closely for roughly 3-4 years can judge other teams' talent with any accuracy.

Oh yeah, then there's the whole "lock 'em up before free agency opens" thing, which takes players that fans drool over for months off the table before the free agency signing period starts.  So why spike the blood pressure for guys your team won't have a chance to get (outside of trades, granted)?

Room at the Inn - Carter and Nash a Good Fit on the Top Line

Rick Nash 

Our colleague at Light the Lamp has suggested there may not be room for Rick Nash and Jeff Carter on the same line, in a post during early euphoria on the Carter acquisition.  I highly value LTL's opinion, but it often conflicts with my own opinion.  That folks, is where perspective comes from.

Rick Nash has been going it alone, lo these many years.  From my perspective, one of the problems with our team last year was a lack of shooters.  Everyone seemed content to make a pretty pass to Nash.  Then they would lean on their sticks, and watch to see if Nash could turn it into a goal, 1 on 3.  The amazing thing was that sometimes he did.

Carter is a shooter.  And that will take huge pressure off of Nash, and I think allow him to create.  But what if LTL is right?  What if there is not enough puck to go around?

Perhaps we should look at the numbers, eh?

On professionalism and Jeff Carter

With new star center Jeff Carter is still licking his psychological wounds on the Jersey shore, the Columbus Blue Jackets apparently have dispatched team president Mike Priest (Oops.  Guess it's team owner John McConnell.), general manager Scott Howson and head coach Scott Arniel (or is it Rick Nash?) to track him down and make that elusive "first contact" with our newest Blue Jacket.  Whatever it takes in this star-driven world, I suppose.  [UPDATE: I now understand that it was Howson, Arniel and Nash who were on the jet.  Which makes the above cartoon that much less funny.  Ah well.]

DBJ's 2011 CBJ draft recap

The sun has set on another National Hockey League draft, and I again find myself having a hard time getting jazzed about 18-year-olds that we won't see in Columbus for three to four years.  That being said, the Blue Jackets were busy...meaning that it's time to review and comment.  After brief review and fleeting consideration, we have two larger themes to discuss.

Taking Out the Trash...AGAIN

Yup, the Howson Sanitation Co. rides again.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that this graphic would get
so much use in just two years.

Our intrepid General Manager appears to have had a big change of heart regarding his prospects, trading two of his four first round picks away.  Out goes the happy-go-lucky yet maddeningly plateaued Jakub Voracek and the perpetual KHL flight risk, Nikita Filatov, both expensive early first-round picks.  That means that only defenseman John Moore (of the -18 plus/minus in Springfield last season...ugh) and junior-level megastar Ryan Johansen are still in the CBJ organization as Howson first rounders.

Are Voracek and Filatov BAD hockey players?  Hell no.  They just couldn't display enough on-ice skill and performance to overcome the perceived (and, in Filly's case, demonstrated) flaws in both their games and heads.  Voracek was hell on wheels between the goal lines, but he wasn't filling out his game to the point that scoring chances consistently became goals.  Filatov couldn't/wouldn't play the physical style that the CBJ and NHL demand - and when he tried, he got clobbered.

Filatov Irrelevant for the Future of the CBJ

Matt Calvert with RJ Umberger at practice

Nikita Filatov has magical skill.  I remember watching him in practice once near the end of training camp last year, taking passes out near the blue line, and calmly inserting one timers into the top corner of the net.  Unbelievable.  But you never seemed to see that skill come out in a game situation, except the night long ago when he scored his hat trick.

At the end of the day, Filtov was done in by the work ethic and competitive desire of Matt Calvert.  There is only so much room on an NHL team for an undersized skill player.  When you have to choose between one who evidences hustle and desire at every turn, and one who views the NHL as an entitlement, you are nearly always going to choose the former, all other things equal.  But, things weren't equal.  Matt Calvert played better at the NHL level, as is evidenced by their comparative stats from last year.

Introducing the "Blue Jackets Pucks and Stuff" blog

The Nikita Filatov-signed
puck that started all of this

Building on a highly entertaining afternoon of Twitter-related reminiscing over obscure ex-Columbus Blue Jackets who signed memorabilia for us, I've started a new weblog, Blue Jackets Pucks and Stuff.  If you've got a photo of a puck, jersey or gloves and want to share with the world, email me at darkbluejacket [at] sbcglobal [dot] net and I'll post on the new blog.  Background stories are encouraged and will be posted as well.

So go ahead, grab your camera phones and get those pucks, sweaters and gloves immortalized in digital glory!  All in good fun!

Is this a good time to talk about my man crush on Bieksa?

I am on record in this space as seeing Kevin Bieksa as one of the D-men available in free agency that could affect our LOFT tiers.  If we got ONE free agent who would positively affect our team, I think it would be this guy.  Free Agency, here we come!