OFFICIAL Columbus Blue Jackets Thread

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BLUE JACKETS
Playing in NHL worth wait to aging rookie Norrena

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Aaron Portzline
COLUMBUS DISPATCH

</IMG> M . SPENCER GREEN ASSOCIATED PRESS Fredrik Norrena, left, struggled early in camp, but the Blue Jackets like what they?ve seen lately from their 32-year-old rookie goalie.


In a back corner of the Blue Jackets? dressing room sits goaltender Fredrik Norrena, slumped into his locker and in no hurry to shed his heavy pads or sweatsoaked sweater.
Norrena has waited a long time for these days. What?s the rush?
"Playing in the NHL ? it?s all I ever wanted to do," Norrena said. "It?s new territory, a new world. And that?s exciting to me. I?ve waited a long time for this. Now I just want to cherish it."
Norrena will turn 33 next month, making him the NHL?s oldest rookie this season, which begins for the Blue Jackets on Friday when they play host to the Vancouver Canucks in Nationwide Arena.
Over the weekend, the Blue Jackets sent Ty Conklin to minor-league Syracuse, clearing the path for Norrena to be Pascal Leclaire?s backup.
"I?m still here," Norrena said after the Blue Jackets made their final roster cuts. "That?s a relief."
Norrena could have taken a shot at the NHL years ago, but the long-term contracts he signed in his native Finland (1992-2002) and Sweden (2002-06) were too lucrative to walk away from for a less than 50-50 chance to make the Tampa Bay Lightning out of training camp.
"It was the security," Norrena said. "I have a family to think about, and they have to come first."
Norrena?s situation changed when the Lightning, faced with losing his rights, signed Norrena to a one-year contract this past May.
A few weeks later, they traded him to the Blue Jackets as part of the deal that sent goaltender Marc Denis to the Lightning for left winger Fredrik Modin.
"If Tampa hadn?t signed him, we would have," Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean said. "Turns out we got him anyway."
Norrena didn?t dominate in training camp. His preseason debut was an 8-1 loss to Nashville when Norrena let in four goals on the first four shots.
It should be noted, however, that he has been very good since, and Blue Jackets coaches say they like what they see.
"I?d say Freddy is an unconventional butterfly goalie," goaltending coach Clint Malarchuk said. "Basically what that means is, he?ll stop the puck by whatever means necessary.
"There?s no textbook on him, really. He?s got really fast feet. To beat him low is pretty hard."
Norrena isn?t sure when he?ll make his regular-season debut. The Jackets are committed to Leclaire, and the schedule doesn?t get too compacted until the middle of November.
"Pascal has played great," Norrena said. "My job is to help him and push him, to help the team and be ready when I get a chance to play.
"I?ve been around a long time. I?ve been in a lot of different situations. I can handle the (infrequent playing time), for sure."
Norrena called home when he found out he had made the Blue Jackets. Plans are in the works, he said, to bring his wife and children to Columbus later this season.
"I like it here," Norrena said. "It?s very clean, very peaceful.
"I would like for my family to be here, to see it, to see me play in the NHL."
Norrena has no doubts how that will go. For now, he?s a No. 2 goaltender with No. 1 confidence.
"The last five years, I?ve watched (Calgary Flames goaltender) Miikka Kiprusoff come over and do very well," Norrena said. "I?ve seen Kari Lehtonen (in Atlanta) and Antero Niittymaki (in Philadelphia) play well over here.
"Now, I think it?s my turn."
aportzline@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BLUE JACKETS NOTEBOOK
?Average? camp drops Brule to fourth line

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




Blue Jackets rookie Gilbert Brule, expected at the start of training camp to center the No. 2 forward line, has instead been dropped to the fourth line for Friday?s season opener against the Vancouver Canucks.
Brule, 19, acknowledged that he didn?t have a great training camp.
"Average," he said. "I could have done better.
"I haven?t been able to find the net. They gave me a chance to play with some of the big guys, and for whatever reason it didn?t click. So they moved me down to get my confidence back."
Brule, the Jackets? No. 1 draft pick in 2005, played in five exhibition games, mostly between wingers Fredrik Modin and Anson Carter, but had no goals, no assists, 10 shots on goal and 10 penalty minutes.
Coach Gerard Gallant said he spoke with Brule over the weekend.
"I just said to him, ?Gilbert, it doesn?t mean we?re not happy with you, it just means that some of the other guys have played better,? " Gallant said. "I told him at the start of camp that we wanted him to focus on his defensive zone coverage, and he?s done a real good job of that, he really has. It?s just that the rest of his game hasn?t quite been there."
Gallant didn?t stop there.
"Gilbert is a playmaker and a scorer," he said. "And I told him that it?s going to happen for him. I know it is. It?s just a matter of time. If he sticks with it and keeps playing hard, it?s going to happen."
Brule has been mentioned as a candidate for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL?s top rookie.
In last year?s training camp, he was the Blue Jackets? best player, earning an opening night spot on the roster.
"It?s been the opposite this year," Brule said. "But I?ll work through this. I?m going to contribute everything I can to this team."
Taking Brule?s spot between Modin and Carter will be 21-year-old Geoff Platt, an undrafted free agent who last fall played well enough during rookie camp and training camp to earn a contract with the Blue Jackets.
In four exhibition games this year, Platt led the Blue Jackets with four goals, three assists and a plus-5 rating.
Carter still hurting

Right winger Carter plans to play in the opener, but he won?t be pain-free.
The foot inflammation ? plantar fasciitis ? that flared last week is only slightly better, he said.
"It?s still sore," Carter said. "I?ll just try to grind it out and deal with it."
Carter has tried all sorts of remedies, including tinkering with the insoles of his skates to relieve pressure on his foot. Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the tissue that connects the heel to the base of the toes.
"The only option is to skate on my hands," Carter said.
Carter had 33 goals with the Canucks last season, but Vancouver showed no interest in resigning him this past summer. He sat on the market until the Blue Jackets signed him on the eve of training camp.
No hard feelings, Carter insisted, although the Vancouver media will no doubt fan the flames.
"It?ll be more hype than anything," Carter said. "If you?re in the league long enough, you get used to playing against former teams and former teammates.
"I?ll be really excited because it?s my first game with the Blue Jackets, my first game in Nationwide Arena."
The Blue Jackets are Carter?s seventh NHL club in 10 seasons.
Slap shots

Defenseman Bryan Berard will see a back specialist today at the Cleveland Clinic. He?ll miss this weekend?s games ? and maybe quite a bit more ? until the source of his recurring pain is determined. It could be scar tissue, in which case Berard might be facing more surgery. ? The Blue Jackets appear to be targeting Friday as Nikolai Zherdev?s arrival date from Russia, but a safer bet might be Saturday. He?s questionable for the opener.
aportzline@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets assistant has a tough assignment
Agnew?s task is to devise a successful power play

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

</IMG>


Gary Agnew, after 10 years in the Ontario Hockey League and six in the AHL, has made it to the big leagues, and his assimilation will be swift. The Blue Jackets? new assistant coach is in charge of the power play, which will directly impact the team?s prospects ? especially early in the season.
"In the first month, you?re going to see more (penalties) being called, just like last year," Blue Jackets captain Adam Foote said. "I think there will be a quicker adjustment, and then there will be a falloff, for sure. But the importance of special teams will still be there, right on through the playoffs. No question."
There is room for improvement on power plays. The Blue Jackets converted on 14.2 percent of their man-advantages and ranked 28 th last season. Only Gary Agnew three other teams had fewer than the Jackets? 64 power-play goals.
The Blue Jackets open their 2006-07 season with a game against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night in Nationwide Arena. They?ll be without two of their key men on the power play, top-line center Sergei Fedorov (shoulder) and quarterback Bryan Berard (back). And they?ll have a new guy, Agnew, drawing X?s and O?s.
"I?m just glad to be here," Agnew said. "I just want to help any way I can, support the players, support the staff, do what I can."
Agnew, 46, played Canadian college hockey and in the AHL and the old IHL. In the real world, he was happy as a sales rep for a paper company (think: office products). Then, in the mid-1980s, he figured he?d take one good shot at something else, something he always wanted to do. He climbed the ladder in the Canadian juniors and assembled a solid record as a coach and general manager in the OHL.
"I enjoyed sales, but I enjoyed coaching, too," Agnew said. "I figured I?d go with my first passion and see how it worked out. I wanted to be a university coach, needed a master?s, went out and got it ? and by the time I did, I was establishing myself in London."
When the Blue Jackets were formed, he was seen as a rising star, and he was tapped for the job in Syracuse. He went on to become the winningest and longest-serving coach in Crunch history. Now, he has an NHL power play to deal with ? in consultation with Gerard Gallant and assistant Gord Murphy ? and he?s taking a pragmatic approach to the challenge.
Asked whether he had a favored strategy, or a philosophy, Agnew said, "I?m not sure there?s that much to it. We?ve got five guys, they?ve got four. See your strengths and use them to the best of your ability. A lot of times, it?s reading and reacting to what the other team is doing. Take what they give you, because they?re going to give you something."
Gallant?s mind works the same way.
"There are so many different penalty kills out there, you?re going to have to adjust to it," Gallant said. "In the second half of the season, when we did well on the power play, it was because we had the talent and the guys were reading off one another."
The Blue Jackets had the worst power play in the league at the end of the first half. Their PP ranked 19 th in the second half. Agnew, who has the reputation for a sharp mind, has something to build upon as he begins the next phase of his career.
marace@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BLUE JACKETS NOTEBOOK
Fedorov is proving to be a fast healer
Svitov close to getting OK for full contact

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




There is encouraging news on the injury front for the Blue Jackets, who will open their season Friday night against the Vancouver Canucks in Nationwide Arena.
Top-line center Sergei Fedorov, who suffered a sprained left shoulder during the team?s second exhibition game in September, is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation. It was thought that Fedorov might miss as much as the first three weeks of the season, but he has been skating for five days and is eyeing a quicker turnaround.
"I knew always I?d be a little earlier," Fedorov said before a solo skate yesterday morning. "But the proper question is about my being healthy. The shoulder feels good (but needs strengthening). We?ll have a better idea in five days."
Center Alexander Svitov was not wearing a yellow (no-hit) jersey at practice yesterday. Svitov, who suffered a shoulder injury during an exhibition game last week, is making good progress and will soon be cleared for full contact.
Defenseman Bryan Berard visited Cleveland Clinic yesterday for a second opinion on his back. Berard had arthroscopic surgery last summer and seemed fit at the start of training camp but happened upon a bout of stiffness. He and the team want to tread carefully.
"He didn?t feel good at all over the weekend," coach Gerard Gallant said, "but the last couple of days he said he felt a lot better. Hopefully, this was just a setback, and now he?s on his way back. But he?s still not skating yet."
The Blue Jackets made their last roster cut of camp when they reassigned winger Alexandre Picard to Syracuse.
Fedorov, Svitov and Berard will begin the season on injured reserve. Winger Nikolai Zherdev, still working through visa issues in Russia, is a roster exemption until he gets to Columbus, which could be as soon as today and as late as next week.
The Blue Jackets yesterday practiced with two goaltenders, 12 forwards (not counting Svitov) and seven defensemen, one of whom, Rostislav Klesla, must serve a two-game suspension at the start of the season.
Depth at center

Mark Hartigan, 28, and Geoff Platt, 21, will be the top two centers when the Jackets face off against the Canucks.
Hartigan had nine goals and spent time among the Jackets? top scorers last season. He will step in for Fedorov.
"Playing with Rick Nash and David Vyborny, I just can?t get too cute," Hartigan said. "They?re so good, I?ll let them handle that stuff. I?ve just got to get them the puck when they?re open, shoot it when they get it to me and play well in my own end."
Platt had 30 goals for Syracuse last season. He earned a major role by outshining Gilbert Brule during training camp.
"I?m looking forward to making that phone call home, to say I?m on the roster for opening night," Platt said. "This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity ? the first NHL opening night in your career."
marace@dispatch.com

[jimotis4heisman]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...e=gallo/061005

anyone see an obvious glare in hockeys for dummies? look at your (or my fav team) should have been hockey by dummies

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by jimotis4heisman

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...e=gallo/061005

anyone see an obvious glare in hockeys for dummies? look at your (or my fav team) should have been hockey by dummies

Wow. What an......I can't.....Jeebus. That's frickin' awful.

On another note, I was more than a bit surprised to see Pic headed back to Syracuse. I thought he had a very good pre-season.