OFFICIAL Columbus Blue Jackets Thread

[jimotis4heisman]

few notes from the dougie call in show today

berard will be back.
he has been imprssed with pascal (join the club) he thinks he has potential to be a top young goaltender in the league
teams moving towards carrying so specialist (balastik)
doesnt expect cbj to spend full cap amount (about 45mil for nextyear)
doesnt expect anothe considerable beer hike (haha)
says longest contract is 2 years (umm unless rick "the franchise" nash isnt counted i guess)


thats the 30 second roundup of the hourlong show...

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

4/13/06

MacLean likes Blue Jackets’ position for upcoming draft

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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The Blue Jackets sit in 26 th place on the NHL ladder. If they maintain that position — and they will, barring radical shifts in the last week of the regular season — they will have the last chance at moving up to No. 1 in the draft lottery.
Yes, it’s that time of year in burgs such as Pittsburgh. The worst teams in the league are looking to cash in on the draft lottery. You can win if you don’t play (well).
The five worst teams in the league, beginning with the worst, are the Pittsburgh Penguins (53 points), the St. Louis Blues (56), the Chicago Blackhawks (61), the Washington Capitals (64) and the Blue Jackets (68). Each has four games remaining. The sixth-worst team, the Boston Bruins (74), has two games remaining.
The draft lottery, to be held at the NHL office in New York on April 20, will determine the order at the top of the draft. If form holds in the standings, the Penguins will have a 25 percent chance to win the lottery, the Blues an 18.8 percent chance, the Blackhawks a 14.2 percent chance, the Capitals a 10.7 percent chance and the Jackets an 8.1 percent chance.
Those five are the only teams that can win the No. 1 selection. Nonplayoff qualifiers ranked 6 to 14 can win the lottery but may not move up more than four spots in the draft order.
No team can move down more than one position.
So the Blue Jackets’ situation is as follows:
They can win the No. 1 pick with a long-shot lottery victory, or they’ll be drafting No. 5 overall. There is also a slight chance that a team with a slightly better record will win the lottery, which would bump the Jackets to No. 6 overall.
Again, that’s if current form holds, which is likely.
The Blue Jackets’ amateur scouting staff is finishing its seasonal evaluations in advance of the draft, to be held June 24 in Vancouver, British Columbia. As president and general manager Doug Mac-Lean sat in the stands and watched practice earlier this week in Nationwide Arena, he talked about how two scouts were getting a last look at a Czech prospect. Then, he got a call from his Western scout, who wanted to compare notes on the top six.
"We think it’s a strong draft at the top end," MacLean said. "It’s similar to the draft last year at the top end, the exception being there’s not a Sidney Crosby at the top. We feel pretty comfortable going all the way down to the 12 range."
A year ago, Phil Kessel, a freshman center at the University of Minnesota, was locked in as the sure No. 1 pick in 2006. That has changed. Kessel is now among a mix of four prospects at the very top end. Also included in the mix are defenseman Erik Johnson (U.S. Development Program), center Jonathan Toews (University of North Dakota) and center Jordan Staal (Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League).
Making late bids to crack the top five are center Derick Brassard (Drummondville of the Quebec junior league), right winger Kyle Oksopo (Des Moines of the United States Hockey League) and Niklas Backstrom (of Sweden Brynas). It was Backstrom whom the Jackets’ scouts were looking at this week.
The way MacLean sees things, Kessel hasn’t plummeted — his competition has risen.
"This happens every year unless there’s a Crosby or an (Alexander) Ovechkin," MacLean said. "It’s a situation where other kids took steps, but Kessel is still a very good prospect. I don’t think he has dropped off. I know one thing: Not many people would be disappointed to get him. In fact, I’d be surprised if he gets out of the top three."
Scouts are currently cottoning to Johnson, the American defenseman who is 6 feet 4 and 222 pounds. Toews, the North Dakota scorer, has been on the radar for years. Staal, a top power forward in the OHL, has a genetic makeup akin to his brothers — Erik, a standout for the Carolina Hurricanes, and Marc, a defenseman who was the 12 th overall pick by the New York Rangers in the 2005 draft. (There’s a chance the best of the Staals may be Jared, 15, who’ll be draft eligible in two years).
It can be said, generally, that these players are separated by mere preference. MacLean and his Western scout, for example, still aren’t in agreement on a top six. The staff will make final organizational decisions later, probably on the eve of the draft. In any case, MacLean likes where the Blue Jackets sit, no matter where they end up.
"We like a lot of guys in our range," he said. "Are any of them capable of playing next year? Yes. I can’t tell you which, but I think there are two or three there that can."
marace@dispatch.com

[jimotis4heisman]

An agent for Alexander Svitov contacted MacLean this week to get a feel for whether a contract could be worked out for the big centerman.

"Alex would very much like to come back," MacLean said. "Can we work out a financial arrangement? That would be the question."

Svitov, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2001 draft, came to Columbus as part of the deal that sent Darryl Sydor to the Tampa Bay Lightning two years ago. So far, there has been little return for the Blue Jackets. Svitov hasn’t come close to fulfilling his promise.

Svitov played in Syracuse during the lockout. This season, Svitov elected to remain in his hometown of Omsk, where he plays for Avangard of the Russian Elite League. Svitov partly based the decision on the fact that he had a newborn son. Although Svitov hasn’t exactly scored at a feverish pace, he has been a contributor for one of the best teams in Russia.

Avangard recently defeated Metallurg-Magnitogorsk — a team coached by Dave King, formerly of the Blue Jackets, and featuring Evgeni Malkin, a prized Pittsburgh Penguins property — in the semifinals of the Elite League playoffs.

you guys always ask about svitov heres a lil piece

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BLUE JACKETS 4 | BLUES 1

Jackets, Blues stoke fire

Solid goaltending, scoring atop fighting, hitting spice Columbus-St. Louis matchup

Friday, April 14, 2006

Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH PHOTOS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Sergei Fedorov of the Jackets concentrates on the puck before a faceoff against the Blues. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


An epic season series came to an end last night when the St. Louis Blues, out of the playoffs for the first time since the Carter Administration, and Blue Jackets, No. 1 in fan stadium experience, met for the eighth and final time in 2005-06.
Kidding aside, the 16,262 on hand in Nationwide Arena left wishing for another one of these games. There were open-ice hits, retaliatory fights, pretty goals and fine netminding. There was a tinge of an angry rivalry. Afterward, each side had hard words for the other.
Not bad for Game 79.
The Jackets got goals from four players and drew away to a 4-1 victory. Sergei Fedorov had a goal and an assist. Afterward, he had an ice pack taped to his chest. Mark Hartigan had a goal, his sixth in eight games. Manny Malhotra had a goal, his sixth in 10 games. And young defenseman Aaron Johnson had a goal, his first since he potted one against the Blues on Nov. 26. Goaltender Pascal Leclaire made 26 saves.
Sturdy winger Jamal Mayers was the player of the game for the Blues. He had their goal, laid out Fedorov and fought Duvie Westcott and Jason Chimera.
The hit was something. Fedorov thought it was late. It woke up everyone in the building midway through the second period.
"It was late," Fedorov said. "I was disappointed when I saw the replay. I usually see everything, and I don’t how this guy got there. It was just a late hit. Players do that because, I don’t know, they’ve got nothing better to do."
Fedorov fed a past to Rick Nash on the left wing, and in a heartbeat Mayers came out of nowhere and put a shoulder to Fedorov’s chest. Fedorov was leveled. Mayers was jumped by Westcott.
At that point the Blue Jackets, who had a quiet 2-1 lead, came out of a slumber. Westcott received 29 minutes in penalties for accosting Mayers. Westcott got two for instigating, two more for instigating with a visor, five for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct, a 10-minute instigator and a game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down. Mayers got five minutes for fighting.
A little more than two minutes later, Blues defenseman Matt Walker lined up Nash and both parties wound up on the ice. Nash got up first. Walker needed smelling salts when he got to the bench.
"They were clean hits," Blues coach Mike Kitchen said. "Then they go out and put (Jody) Shelley on the ice all the time. Give me a break. On the power play? I don’t know what that was trying to prove there."
Shelley was cool with the situation. The game got chippy and he was in his element.
"You don’t want to see guys like Fedorov and Nash get knocked on their (rears)," Shelley said. "But you react to that. It’s good to get hit. It’s good for guys to step up and get into the game. It just shows you what kind of guy Duvie is. He didn’t care who it was, tough guy or whatever, he was going to get in there."
And there was some hockey. Fedorov’s goal, with the man advantage early in the second period, was a cranker from the top of the right circle that erased painful memories of an awful power play in the first period.
"I shot that with anger, to tell you the truth," he said. "I didn’t think it was going in."
In the third period, Fedorov nicely set up Johnson by touching a pass through the middle on a three-on-two rush.
"My last goal was versus St. Louis," Johnson said. "I almost forgot all about that one. I like this St. Louis team, now that I think of it."
The Blue Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak. They won for the seventh time in 10 games. The Blues have one victory in their past 15 games. Next season, they’ll meet again.
marace@dispatch.com

Dispatch

4/14/06

COMMENTARY

Does Gallant deserve to stay? The numbers don’t lie

Friday, April 14, 2006


BOB HUNTER

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Blue Jackets coach Gerard Gallant says he’s a better coach this season, and the team’s record got better when Rick Nash, right, returned from early injuries. </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Doug MacLean and a certain sports columnist who prides himself on his knowledge of sixth-grade math recently engaged in a good-natured debate about a win-loss statistic that appeared in a column.
The Blue Jackets president and general manager said the numbers for his team (then 24-22-3 since Nov. 26) the columnist used were wrong, that since Dec. 17 his team was (at the time) 23-15-2. The sixth-grade math genius-/columnist said the date he used was not Dec. 17, but Nov. 26, when the team broke a six-game losing streak and started winning. MacLean said the important date was when Rick Nash returned from injury. Of course, he didn’t say the record of the team from that date was actually 23-18-3; the record MacLean gave conveniently started after the first four games Nash played (0-3-1), on Dec. 26.
At that point, it was mutually agreed that statistics can be used pretty much to say whatever you want them to say, and the conversation presumably turned to something more interesting.
The point is, it’s probably better to forget all of that "records since" garbage and focus on one naked, numberless thought:
The Blue Jackets are a lot better than they used to be, and because they’ve been better for a long enough period to indicate it’s probably no fluke, it’s a point worth acknowledging.
MacLean did that last week by saying coach Gerard Gallant and his assistants would be invited back next season to continue the progress, and it’s hard to quibble with that. While the season as a whole has been disappointing, there is no debating that the absence of Nash had a lot do with those early failures. Before the season MacLean did talk about reaching the playoffs, but given where the Blue Jackets were the previous (2003-04) season — 25-45-8-4 — that probably wasn’t a realistic goal. If you forgive Gallant that woeful 5-18 start mostly without Nash, the Jackets have done about as well as could be expected.
Nash will be the first to acknowledge that the team’s start wasn’t Gallant’s fault, even though the coach was an early target of critics.
"It’s unfortunate," Nash said. "Probably 95 percent of the time it’s not the coach’s fault, but he’s the one who always gets the blame and he’s the one who usually loses his job. It’s just the nature of the sport, of every sport. It’s never the players, it’s the coach.
"Gerard is a great guy, he’s a great coach and he has taken a lot of heat for us. We owe him a lot."
The past month illustrates why it doesn’t pay to make snap judgments with any pro franchise. The Jackets won two games, lost five, won six and then lost the previous three before beating St. Louis last night.
And that doesn’t tell the whole story. Two recent losses demonstrated not how bad the Jackets are, but how far they have come. By rallying from three goals down in Detroit, only to end up with a shootout loss, and scoring two goals in the last two minutes before losing to Dallas 3-2, the Jackets showed that they have made tremendous progress under Gallant in recent months.
Gallant says he is a much better coach than he was when he got the job. It only makes sense.
"I think I was like a young player," Gallant said. "You get to know the league, you get to know the teams and your surroundings, and I think our team has gotten a lot better. It has definitely helped me. I’ve got, what, 110 games’ experience or something like that? It’s not like I’m an old coach, but there’s no doubt it’s more natural on the bench and dealing with the players. I’m not saying I think I’m a good coach, but I’m definitely getting better. If I wasn’t, there would be something wrong."
There is nothing wrong. Gallant has grown into the job. The players like and respect him, and there’s much to be said for staying the course when things seem to be getting so much better.
If there’s not a significant improvement in the record next season, there will be plenty of directions to point those fingers.
Assigning blame then won’t even require a course in sixthgrade math.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch
.
bhunter@dispatch.com

[jimotis4heisman]

Ducks picked Jackets' pocket

Beauchemin clearly the best of the Fedorov deal


here's an old saw that tells us the team getting the best player in a deal usually comes out ahead. Case in point: the Nov. 15 trade that sent Sergei Fedorov from Anaheim to Columbus in exchange for center Tyler Wright and defenseman Francois Beauchemin.
The deal looked perfectly lopsided in favor of Columbus at the time, at least in terms of talent. Fedorov would provide them with the No. 1 center they desperately needed for Rick Nash, and a role model for young Russian Nikolai Zherdev.
In exchange, all the Jackets had to give up were a couple of spare parts while taking on Fedorov's rather hefty $6 million salary, which really was all that cash-strapped Anaheim was looking for out of the deal anyway.
Although both sides were happy with their end, the thought of what Fedorov could bring to that young, rudderless offense made it easy to imagine the ref raising the arm of Columbus GM Doug MacLean and shouting, "Winner!"
But as sometimes happens, the taker became the takee.
The moody Fedorov -- he of the three Stanley Cups, two Selkes and 1994 Hart Trophy -- has barely displayed a pulse since joining the Blue Jackets. If you saw Jaromir Jagr in Washington, you know exactly how little Fedorov has brought to the team.
There are several ways to measure a player's impact on a team, but going by the numbers, Fedorov has been a washout. He has only four goals in 18 games since the Olympic break despite averaging a hefty 20 minutes of ice a night. He's netted just two power-play markers all season -- the same number as offensively challenged blueliner Adam Foote -- and has only one game-winner to his credit.
Meanwhile, Beauchemin has emerged as a key contributor in the Ducks' late-season run.
An unrestricted free agent last summer, Beauchemin was signed by the Jackets but played sparingly in the early going. Full marks to Ducks assistant GM Bob Murray, who recognized something in the rookie and demanded that Beauchemin be part of the deal.
Since arriving in Anaheim, Beauchemin has become a fixture on the team's first unit alongside Norris candidate Scott Niedermayer. While $6 million man Fedorov has exploded for 10 goals, 38 points and a minus-6 rating, the $500,000 Beauchemin has chipped in with 8-27-35 and is a plus-5. He's averaging 23 minutes a game -- second on the team behind only Niedermayer -- and has four power play goals and three game-winners.
Although Wright, the third piece of the puzzle, is no longer with them, the playoff-bound Ducks are pretty pleased with their end of the bargain. But why wouldn't they be? After all, they got the best player in the deal.

totally disagree with the article, what feds has brought goes way beyone +/- and i dont even know how you quantify his role on young nik

but from the article above did anyone else notice this....

The Blue Jackets president and general manager said the numbers for his team (then 24-22-3 since Nov. 26) the columnist used were wrong, that since Dec. 17 his team was (at the time) 23-15-2. The sixth-grade math genius-/columnist said the date he used was not Dec. 17, but Nov. 26, when the team broke a six-game losing streak and started winning. MacLean said the important date was when Rick Nash returned from injury. Of course, he didn’t say the record of the team from that date was actually 23-18-3; the record MacLean gave conveniently started after the first four games Nash played (0-3-1), on Dec. 26.