OFFICIAL Columbus Blue Jackets Thread

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BLUE JACKETS NOTEBOOK
Brule won?t be sent to juniors
MacLean tells rookie center to look for permanent residence
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

NEAL C . LAURON DISPATCH Rookie center Gilbert Brule, foreground, won?t have to worry about being sent to the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League the next time he hits the ice for the Blue Jackets.


It?s official: Rookie center Gilbert Brule will stay with the Blue Jackets this season instead of returning to his junior club.
"I told him to get a place in Columbus," president and general manager Doug MacLean said. "I wanted him to have his mind clear, to not have to worry about it.
"We sat him down last week and told him he should go get a permanent place to live instead of living out of a hotel, and for a kid in his position, those are the words you want to hear."
Brule had been living in an apartment on a month-to-month lease.
The possibility of going back to the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League was looming, with rumors swirling in rumor-happy Vancouver.
"It helps a little, in my mind, to know I?m going to be here," Brule said. "But I still have to play well. I know that."
Brule, 19, is too young to be sent to the Blue Jackets? minorleague affiliate in Syracuse.
In eight games this season, Brule has one goal, six penalty minutes, a minus-5 rating and nine shots on goal, mostly playing on the Blue Jackets? No. 4 forward line.
Breakout !

The Blue Jackets spent considerable time in practice yesterday working on their breakout play, the first pass out of the zone, typically made from defensemen to forwards.
"Everybody is frustrated right now," defenseman Anders Eriksson said, referring to the team?s offensive slump ? seven goals in the past six games, resulting in five losses.
"It not just the forwards," Eriksson said. "We (defensemen) have to do a better job of getting pucks through to the net so the guys up front can get rebound chances.
"We have to do a better job of giving them the puck in the neutral zone in a way that they can use their speed. It?s on all of us to do more, to get the job done."
Slap shots

Defenseman Duvie Westcott missed practice because of a slight groin pull. Coach Gerard Gallant said Westcott will be in the lineup when the Blue Jackets play host to Colorado on Wednesday. ? The lines used in practice were: Rick Nash, Sergei Fedorov and David Vyborny; Fredrik Modin, Alexander Svitov and Nikolai Zherdev; Jason Chimera, Manny Malhotra and Dan Fritsche; Jody Shelley, Gilbert Brule and Anson Carter. Winger Jaroslav Balastik subbed for Shelley and Carter at times on the fourth line.
aportzline@dispatch.com

[jimotis4heisman]

balastik has been put on waivers. it will be interesting to see if he clears and goes down to cuse or if he gets picked up...

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

NHL
Jackets debunk offensive funk
Players insist it?s just matter of time before someone gets on a roll
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG>


The Blue Jackets have allowed 26 goals in nine games, an average of 2.89 per game, which ranked them 15 th in the NHL as of yesterday. Defensively, they are adequate.
The Blue Jackets have scored 19 goals, or 2.11 per game, the third-worst average in the league. And that is why they?ve won just three games and have fewer points than any other team in the league, save Phoenix.
The Blue Jackets are either a poor offensive team or they?re in a funk.
They say they?re in a funk. They say: With the likes of Rick Nash, Fredrik Modin, Sergei Fedorov, Nikolai Zherdev and David Vyborny, it?s only a matter of time before someone gets hot.
Anders Eriksson, their sage defenseman, offered a constipated condiment metaphor.
"It?s going to come," he said. "We know it?s going to happen for us eventually. We just have to get through this tough stretch. It?s going to be like a ketchup effect. It doesn?t come out for a long, long time, and then it all comes out at once. The most important part is to keep our composure and don?t get frustrated. It?s going to come sooner or later. It has to."
Anticipation.
Danny Gare, the Blue Jackets? television analyst, scored 50 goals in a season for the Buffalo Sabres and finished his playing career with 354 goals. He also had slumps.
"The key is, always go back to what you do best," Gare said. "If you?re a shooter, shoot. If you?re a physical player, hit somebody. Go back to what got you into the league."
Artists must paint and plumbers must plumb.
"That?s right," Gare said. "The other thing is, you?ve got to get ugly, you?ve got to outwork (the opponents). Sometimes, when things aren?t going well, you?ve just got to dig a little deeper."
Coach Gerard Gallant had a 39-goal season with the Detroit Red Wings and finished his playing career with 211 goals. He also had slumps.
"When I think back to slumps, what I did was I just put it in my head I?ve got to work harder," Gallant said. "That?s what I always said to myself, work harder. It may not come the next day, or the day after, but something good is going to happen. I?ve always believed that about hard work."
Fedorov, who has nary a point in three games since returning from a shoulder injury, has had one 50-goal season and two 100-point seasons in his career.
"You have to bump up your own stats before you can talk about anyone else," Fedorov said. "So I can only speak for myself, personally. When you?re in a slump, you look at your overall performance. I try to practice harder, stay on the ice longer, shoot a lot. I try to refocus, and it?s a lot of shooting, basically. Every space you make for yourself, you take it to the net. Do you know what I?m saying? Most of the things you do, you affiliate with the net. And you play more aggressively. You play on the edge."
Take your space to the net. There?s some depth to that answer.
Fedorov was among a contingent of Blue Jackets who lingered on the ice for shooting and tip drills after practice yesterday. Their aim is clear. They want to generate more shots. They?re averaging 24.4 shots, the lowest rate in the league. By comparison, their opponent tonight, the Colorado Avalanche, is averaging 11 more shots and is a goalplus per game better than the Blue Jackets.
"I?m trying to do the same things to make sure I get chances," Modin said. "Some games, you don?t get a whole lot of offense, and in other games you get a ton. If I?m not getting chances, that?s when I say I?ve got to look at things a little differently. I look at my shifts and see the number of times I can do something to create scoring chances. The more chances you can create, the greater the possibility the puck is going to go in the net."
Modin had 31 goals last season for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Nash had 31 goals in just 54 games for the Blue Jackets. He tied for the league lead in goals in 2003-04, when he had 41. Yesterday, he worked overtime at practice.
"You?re looking for any good thing to happen," Nash said. "Some guys on our team would take a puck off any place on their body to score right now. You find that?s how momentum kind of swings when these slumps happen."
Left winger Jason Chimera said, "I?d take one off my head right now."
marace@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Balastik?s status wavers on waivers
If he?s unclaimed, future is uncertain in Columbus
Wednesday, November 01, 2006

By Michael Arace THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



Blue Jackets winger Jaroslav Balastik was placed on waivers yesterday.
Sometime today, it will be known whether Balastik, 26, cleared waivers or was claimed by another team.
Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean said that if Balastik clears, the team will have a decision to make.
Balastik will either be kept in Columbus or farmed to Syracuse. There?s also a chance he?ll return to Europe; he was a prolific scorer for Ziln of the Czech Elite League before he decided to give the NHL a shot.
Balastik, 6 feet 2 and 205 pounds, has one goal and is minus-3 in six games with the Blue Jackets.
As a rookie last season, he had 12 goals and 22 points in 66 games. He also converted 6 of 9 shootout attempts, which ranked him first on the Blue Jackets and fifth in the NHL.
He started the season as a fourthliner/shootout specialist. He has been the 13 th forward of late. What, me worry?
Goaltender Pascal Leclaire isn?t one to worry about the offense.
"I don?t even think about it," Leclaire said. "I don?t go into games saying, ?I?ve got to be sharp because the team?s not scoring.? I always think we have a chance to win."
Leclaire has a solid 2.66 goals-against average heading into tonight?s game against the Colorado Avalanche in Nationwide Arena.
"I still think Rick Nash is going to score 50 goals," Leclaire said. "Look at the guys we have. Sergei Fedorov, Anson Carter ? these guys have been scoring goals since I was watching them on TV."
The Blue Jackets have the worst goals-for total (19) and the second-best goals-against total (26) in the Western Conference. Disa and data
Defenseman Duvie Westcott (groin) was back on the ice and practicing yesterday. . . . The workout was dominated by shooting drills. No shock there. . . . Television analyst Danny Gare is in the process of selling his house in Buffalo. He?s fortunate in that he didn?t incur much damage from the recent storm that dropped 2 feet of snow. "I had some water in the basement, but that was the worst of it," he said. "It was like a war zone up there. I was really lucky."
marace@dispatch.com

[jimotis4heisman]

balastik has cleared waivers, while he end up in cuse?

[ScriptOhio]

I'm still on the bandwagon. I bought "cheap" tickets on eBay for the game tonight. They are actually pretty good seats (section 203 row C). I guess the only good thing about the Jackets playing so bad is that you can get "cheap" tickets. Anyone think they will turn it around tonight and actually play up to their potential for 60 minutes?