Did I ever mention how much I hate playing 10:30pm games? Well, here we go…

Pre-game thought: keeping Umberger with Brass and Voracek is a bit interesting to me instead of bumping Umberger up to the top line with Nash and Vermette.

The good thing about being one of the two games on tonight is that there are a lot of people watching… who am I kidding

1st Period

19:22 Hey remember when Rob Scuderi tried to kill Chimmer? That was fun

19:12 Nice skating ref

17:50 The backcheck seems to be doing its job right now, good to see

15:50 I HATE to see Mason leave the net to handle the puck

15:28 Mike Commodore is looking to “get some” tonight

15:28 “Bad Romance” on the organ…. AWESOME

14:11 Tyutin caught out of position… Wayne Simmonds is really fast

Kings 1 Jackets 0

11:07 Jackets going on the kill after somebody mauled Dustin Brown who was literally streaking towards the net (get it? if not do a google image search haha)

11:07 and guess who’s in the box for the CBJ? If you said Fedor Tyutin you win the cash prize

9:06 Decent penalty kill

8:17 Typical FSO, cut to commercial when a scrum develops, thanks, I don’t really care what happens after the whistle anyway

7:52 Davidge will mention Miami University at any opportunity, no matter how little it has to do with what’s actually going on

6:55 good to see Jake going to the net

6:36 Here we go….

Kings 2 Jackets 0

Barring a major wake-up, at least we won’t blow ANOTHER 3rd period lead

6:36 Nash in for a Double-minor… that I have no idea where it came from… typically our best PK-er too

Kings 3 Jackets 0

Kings 4 Jackets 0

Fire Hitch… oh wait

3:34 Porty may finally get his wish: GOON HOCKEY!!!

3:34 Blunden is tossed for a “checking from behind” penalty and the Kings get a 5 minute all you can score power play

End of the 1st, 4-0 Kings, if I was really tired and had to work a normal day tomorrow, I’d go to bed, but I’m not

2nd Period

Hitchcock would come out red and breathing hard after that mess

19:33 Garon makes a save… real exciting I know, but worth marking down

17:19 Davidge starting to blame the officials… CBJ on the kill… again

15:39 Modin scores on his old team, good for him I guess

Kings 5 Jackets 0

2:06 I’ve been working on this for the last half hour:

Intermission report: talking to opposing players. FSO is either trying to piss us off, or our players refused to be further embarrassed.

3rd Period

18:51 Rimer points out that the CBJ “top line” is Murray-Vermette-Dorsett LOL

16:37 CBJ get a power play… wait for the shorty

14:37 CBJ fail on the first power play, and get another going right after

12:37 CBJ fail on their 2nd power play of the night, not even threatening

11:14 At least Garon seems to be trying

5:10 A whole lot of nothing going on right now for the CBJ

1:49 Dustin Brown and Fedor Tyutin slide into Garon…. net comes off, boring

Final Score Kings 6 Blue Jackets 0

BARFFFFFF

The pain and suffering of the 2009-10 season will be over in less than 5 weeks and the depleted Blue Jackets stumble into their favorite house of horrors.

10:30pm EST, Fox Sports Ohio, High Definition

If you think the Blue Jackets have struggled in Nashville, check out their record in San Jose, and other teams failure rates across the NHL since 2000, courtesy of Elias Sports Bureau via Tom Reed:

Blue Jackets at San Jose 1-14-2 (.118)
Blue Jackets at Colorado 3-14-1 (.194)
Coyotes at Vancouver 3-13-1 (.206)
Panthers at Carolina 4-20-4; (.214)
Ducks at Detroit 2-12-4; (.222)
Canadians at New Jersey 3-13-2 (.222)
Flames at Anaheim 1-11-6 (.222)

Combined with a super late start on a Saturday night I’ll set the over-under of CBJ fans tuning in at 5,000. Hopefully the Jackets will surprise all of us tonight and reach down deep to find the will and effort against an outstanding opponent.

Puck Previews:

NHL.com

Yahoo! Sports

GO JACKETS!!!

With the trade deadline coming and going, the Blue Jackets traded away the biggest 1st round draft pick bust in their short history; Alex Picard. I don’t know Alex, but I’m sure he’s a good human being but he never panned out for the Blue Jackets as a great player they needed and expected.

In the 2004 Entry Draft the Blue Jackets held the 4th overall pick and pickings looked pretty slim as the first round featured very few impactful NHL-ers. For whatever reason, the Blue Jackets traded down with Carolina to the 8th pick. (***If anyone can find what this trade entailed I’m very curious***). Here’s a look at the first round of the draft:

1. Alexander Ovechkin LW – Washington Capitals

2. Evgeni Malkin C – Pittsburgh Penguins

3. Cam Barker D – Chicago Blackhawks

4. Andrew Ladd LW – Carolina Hurricanes*** (originally the Blue Jackets pick)

5. Blake Wheeler RW – Phoenix Coyotes

6. Al Montoya G – New York Rangers

7. Rostislav Olesz C – Florida Panthers

8. Alexandre Picard LW – Columbus Blue Jackets

9. Ladislav Smid D – Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (hahaha)

10. Boris Valabik D – Atlanta Thrashers

11. Lauri Tukonen RW – Los Angeles Kings

12. AJ Thelen D – Minnesota Wild

13. Drew Stafford RW – Buffalo Sabres

14. Devan Dubnyk G – Edmonton Oilers

15. Alexander Radulov RW – Nashville Predators

16. Petteri Nokelainen C – New York Islanders

17. Marek Schwarz G – St. Louis Blues

18. Kyle Chipchura C – Montreal Canadians

19. Lauri Korpikoski C – New York Rangers

20. Travis Zajac C – New Jersey Devils

21. Wojtek Wolski LW – Colorado Avalanche

22. Lukas Kaspar RW – San Jose Sharks

23. Andrej Meszaros D – Ottawa Senators

24. Kris Chucko LW – Calgary Flames

25. Rob Schremp C – Edmonton Oilers

26. Cory Schneider G – Vancouver Canucks

27. Jeff Schultz D – Washington Capitals

28. Mark Fistric D – Dallas Stars

29. Mike Green D – Washington Capitals

30. Andy Rogers D – Tampa Bay Lightning

The highlighted players are current NHL players who are consistently part of their current team (not necessarily the team that drafted them). A caveat here: drafting 18-year-old boys is not an easy job even for scouts who have done it for years on end, regardless of the team and year, mistakes happen from time to time. What I’m looking to show here is what continues to hold the CBJ from making the step to Perennial Playoff Contender, and eventually to maybe even a Cup Contender. Take a look at CBJ picks from throughout the entire draft:

2nd Round: Adam Pineault – Last seen: currently with Pardubice HC/Czech

2nd Round: Kyle Wharton – Last seen: 08-09 with Syracuse Crunch/AHL

3rd Round: Daniel Lacosta – Last seen: currently with Syracuse Crunch/AHL

3rd Round: Andrey Plekhanov – Last seen: currently with Moscow Dynamo/KHL

5th Round: Petr Pohl – Last seen: currently with SaiPa Lappeenranta/FNL

6th Round: Rob Page – Last seen: 08-09 with Trenton Devils/ECHL

6th Round: Lennart Petrell – Last seen: currently with HIFK Helsinki/FNL

7th Round: Justin Vienneau – Last seen: 06-07 season with Rouyn-Noranda Huskies/QMJHL

8th Round: Brian McGuirk – Last seen: Currently with Kalamazoo Wings/ECHL

8th Round: Matt Greer – Last seen: 08-09 Minnesota-Duluth/NCAA

9th Round: Grant Clitsome – Last seen: Currently with Syracuse Crunch/AHL

Nothing much coming from this draft class. We have only recently been able to see 9th rounder Grant Clitsome for the first time. Clitsome played four years with Clarkson University before joining the Crunch. Only time will tell what we can expect from Clitsome, or even if he will be qualified at season’s end as he is a pending RFA.

While no one will forget the two massive wins that Dan Lacosta helped back-stop the Blue Jackets to during the run to the playoffs last season, it is more and more apparent that he is not going to be a factor in the long-term plans of the franchise. His “talent analysis” from Hockey’s Future doesn’t sound good:

At 6’3, LaCosta is a tall goalie. He relies on his positioning to make the save, and needs some work with rebound control and must give up fewer bad goals. Controlling rebounds has been a problem for him, and he also needs to improve his lateral movement and ability to recover after going down to stop shots. Mentally, LaCosta will need to develop significantly.

His playing time in Syracuse has seen a dip this season, only 25 games played versus Lalande’s 41 so far. In the previous season Lacosta played 45 games. Obviously the Blue Jackets are trying to see what they have coming in the way of goaltending prospects, who in my opinion are fighting to replace Garon as the back-up goalie in a couple years.

The rest of the 2004 Entry Draft included some notable players:

Round 2: Dave Bolland (Chicago), David Booth (Florida), Brandon Dubinsky (New York Rangers), Alex Goligoski (Pittsburgh)

Round 3: Brandon Prust (Calgary), Andrej Sekera (Buffalo), Thomas Greiss (San Jose), Johan Franzen (Detroit), Dustin Boyd (Calgary

Round 4: Tyler Kennedy (Pittsburgh), Kevin Porter (Phoenix), Ryan Callahan (New York Rangers)

Round 5: Kris Versteeg (Boston), Roman Wick (Ottawa)

Round 6: Adam Pardy (Calgary), Aaron Boogaard (Minnesota), Mike Santorelli (Nashville), Roman Polak (St. Louis)

Round 7: Chad Kolarik (Phoenix), Troy Brouwer (Chicago), Matt Hunwick (Boston), Chris Campoli (New York Islanders)

Round 8: Brandon Yip (Colorado), Pekka Rinne (Nashville)

Round 9: Mark Streit (New York Islanders)

I would eventually like to spend time “analyzing” the Blue Jackets past draft classes, but it can be a very subjective topic to discuss mostly because of the underlying question, “What determines success?” Being able to contribute to the “parent club”, or being traded for necessary assets would in my mind be considered a good pick that did its job. On the flip side, never playing for the parent club, not being signed at all, or never coming from overseas should be looked at as a failure.

I have no frame of reference for how this compares to other NHL clubs draft classes from the same year, but the departure of Picard after little to no contributions to the Blue Jackets spurred me to try to take a deeper look into the failure of this specific class for the franchise.

Stats and information courtesy of Hockey’s Future, the Internet Hockey Database, and BlueJackets.com

As expected the Blue Jackets were active today during the NHL’s final day and made some tough but necessary moves:

CBJ send Raffi Torres to Buffalo for Dman Nathan Paetsch and a 2010 2nd Round Pick

This move was surely painful, but had to be made. Raffi was not going to sign with the Blue Jackets at a price where Howson felt comfortable, and fans have to realize that Torres is not much more than a 3rd line “plus” type of player. This is not a knock on him at all, but the Blue Jackets can pay someone far less to do a similar job. Plus they need to conserve cash for shoring up the blue line and upcoming extensions of Voracek and Mason.

CBJ send Milan Jurcina to Washington for a conditional 2010 6th Round Pick

I’ll leave the explanation for this to Tom Reed:

Jurcina was diagnosed with a sports hernia after returning from the Olympics. It will require surgery to correct. He could miss at least a month. The injury was a very costly one for the Jackets, who otherwise might have received third- and fourth-round offers. Howson said he was talking to seven or eight clubs about Jurcina last weekend before the Jackets learned of the injury.

Jurcina was thrilled to be headed back to the Capitals, who had a busy trade deadline. The defenseman and forward Chris Clark were traded to the Jackets for Jason Chimera on Dec. 28. Jurcina played in just 17 games for the Jackets, but had a strong showing in the Olympic representing Slovakia.

“It’s almost like a woke up from a dream,” Jurcina said. “I’m going back to Washington, where I have a lot of friends and have a chance to win the Stanley Cup.”

Tough to see him go, but a necessary move to help obtain players necessary to win next year.

CBJ send Fredrik Modin to Los Angeles for a conditional 2010 7th Round Pick

Frankly shocked we could get ANYTHING for “Fragile Freddy”

CBJ send Mathieu Roy to Florida for Center Matt Rust

A bit surprised to see Roy on the move with as well as he performed in Columbus this season. A move in anticipation of building up the blue line and we get another needed center, here is some analysis of Rust’s abilities:

Rust plays a strong, gritty two-way game. He is quick, reads the play well, and demonstrates solid offensive upside.  Traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2010 NHL trade deadline.

He plays for Michigan… boo, but like all players, he deserves a chance to prove himself

CBJ send Alex Picard to Phoenix for Forward Chad Kolarik

No major loss here as the worst draft pick in the brief history of the CBJ is now a member of the Coyotes. Picard brings back Kolarik (also of the University of Michigan):

Kolarik is a great skater with speed and quickness. He can create chances on his own and has ability to finish strong. He becomes more effective the stronger he plays. He has soft hands and is a good puckhandler. He is a very determined player. Even though he is a offensive juggernaut, Kolarik needs to focus on his defensive presence.

If there is time tomorrow, I’ll take a look at the epic fail that was the 2004 NHL Entry Draft for the Blue Jackets.

Goodbyes are never easy…

The Jackets squandered leads of 2-0 and 3-2 to lose to the Vancouver Canucks for the 3rd time this season. For large stretches the Canucks dominated play but the Jackets were able to keep hold of the lead until Grant Clitsome committed one of the worst turnovers of the season allowing the Canucks to tie the game just over 5 before the final horn.

We all know the rest, but lets hit on a few troubling trends I noticed (again) last night:

• Steve Mason continues to make questionable decisions with the puck: There were at least 2 occasions where Mason had no business playing the puck, yet he tried to. Mason either doesn’t learn from his mistakes or refuses to trust his defense. It has become a bit of an epidemic especially against the Canucks it seems. On two of the 4 Vancouver goals, Mason was also WAY out of position. He would over-play the puck, and end up facing a shot in awkward position and not set himself up for the best chance of successfully stopping the shot.
• Rick Nash is still streaky: There was one specific instance when I remember seeing the captain somewhat asserting himself, but that’s it. For those saying “he just played 7 extra games” or “give him a break he just helped Canada win gold” etc., look at the play of Rick Nash versus that of Ryan Kesler. There is no questioning the skill level of Rick Nash, but there is a certain noticeable lack of motivation and grit on a consistent basis. It is frustrating to no end to see the captain not always setting the example not only of energy but also of skill and desire on display.

The trade deadline has passed, and many things have changed, look for a post on that soon…

Let me get it out of my system: “LUUUUUUUUUUU”. Thank God tonight’s game is not expected to feature my *favorite* Canuck Roberto “Pedestrian-Save” Luongo who helped lead Canada to a gold medal on Sunday evening. I thought Detroit fans were annoying with the constant “Oz-zie Oz-zie” during last year’s playoffs, but man, Vancouver fans, and Canadians in general have reached a level of stupid-fanhood when it comes to the seemingly incessant cheers for Lu.

7:00pm EST, Fox Sports Ohio, High Definition

NHL play resumes in earnest tonight, and this should be the final goodbye for fans to many CBJ upcoming free agents, most notably Raffi Torres who will almost certainly be on his way out of Columbus sometimes in the next 24 hours.

Frankly, I don’t know what to expect out of either team tonight as both had a large portion of their rosters participating in Vancouver. Here are the morning lines from Tom Reed:

Huselius-Vermette-Nash
Torres-Brassard-Voracek
Modin-Pahlsson-Umberger
Clark-Dorsett-Boll

Russell-Clitsome
Tyutin-Stralman
Hejda-Methot

Mason

Nothing too exciting except for the debut of Grant Clitsome, owner of the greatest last name in history. Supposedly Jurcina is actually injured and will sit out tonight, and of course Mike Commodore is still nursing a bruised ego after his far-below-expectations performances this season. If Torres, Modin, and Jurcina are indeed all on the move in the next day, it will alleviate the glut of wingers and should allow guys like Alex Picard, Mike Blunden, and maybe even Tom Sestito to show what they’ve got for 15+ games.

Puck Previews from around the internet:

• NHL.com: Canucks’ Road Trip Resumes
• Yahoo! Sports
• The Dispatch

Finally:

Good news guys, we’re still not eliminated! If the Blue Jackets go on a run of 17-2-0 reaching 94 points, they have a 75% chance at assuring themselves a spot in the top 8! Don’t stop believing… I guess.

GO JACKETS!!!!

The Blue Jackets will be back on the ice tomorrow night after the two-week long Olympic break. There was a little hockey game yesterday afternoon in Vancouver and according to Puck the Media, 1 of every 3 Americans watched the game!

What a great day for hockey all around North America. USA versus Canada was as big as any Stanley Cup Final, probably bigger, to hockey fans, and something maybe even more to those who only watch hockey every 4 years during the Winter Olympics. It is a pity we have to wait 4 more years to experience the grandeur of the Olympic games again, but I have my doubts that it will feel the same after the special run that Team USA put together.

I have been vocal and obvious about this throughout the tournament, but it is a heinous crime to not root for your home country. I completely admit, I was not very into rooting for Team USA when the rosters were announced, especially with the likes of Ryan Kesler, Brian Rafalski, and Ryan Malone on the team and most notably RJ Umberger getting the cold shoulder by Burke and company. But from the first puck drop to the final painful shot in the Gold medal game, I cheered those boys on and gained new respect for many players on the team. No, there weren’t any Blue Jackets playing for the Red, White, and Blue, but they were the team selected to represent the greatest country in the world, our very own! Players like Rick Nash or Milan Jurcina or Jan Hejda are without a doubt beacons of light in the hockey community and in Columbus, but willingly played for their respective countries, all for a chance to win Gold.

As good friend @seventyeight pointed out earlier in the Tourney:

Who cares how many Americans are on the Jackets? Some people have some national pride, not NASHional pride.

My resent for those deciding to cheer for a Blue Jacket, and not their country, is very strong. Do I have a problem with Nash? Absolutely not… except for the absolute lack of energy he can sometimes play with, but that’s not the point. Rick is the captain of our team we all love, but there is very little that could and should come between a fan and their country.

Alas, Nash got his Gold and the country that “owns hockey” was taken to the brink by a bunch of nobody’s, by comparison. My voice was gone today at work after screaming so much after Parise’s game tying goal with seconds remaining, few experiences have brought the level of euphoria and depression that were achieved yesterday… God I love hockey.

News and notes:

• More from Steve Lepore’s Puck the Media, Columbus, Ohio ranked as the #8 overall market yesterday for the USA/Canada gold medal game 22.3 rating and 37 share (37% of people in Columbus watched the game). Very cool to see.
• Raffi Torres has been rumored to be heading to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston primarily although everybody’s favorite hockey blogger, Eklund, says the New York Islanders. Puck-rakers
• Either way, enjoy tomorrow’s probably final game with UFA’s Milan Jurcina, Raffi Torres, and Fredrik Modin, and unfortunately probably someone nobody expects… as long as it makes the team better in the long run.

Tonight, 7:30pm, MSNBC

It may not be for the Gold, but Team USA takes on Canada in the final game of pool play today in what is considered by many the greatest rivalry in international hockey.

This song is all you need: (NSFW)

U-S-A-ALL-THE-WAY!!!

Biggest Difference Pre and Post Hitch so far – Always an uptick in energy from the players, a different voice causes players to respond, more “push-back”, cites Sunday’s Chicago game being up 2-0, down 4-2, tying it up to reach a shootout

Trade Freeze – discusses that paying a player for 2 weeks who is just sitting there is a little weird, but he expects more action after the Olympic break, says we have players receiving interest but will have to wait to see what pans out, throws a twist in for post-Olympic break

Pressure – continued review of where the team stands, acknowledgement that it will be very difficult to make a playoff push, points are an issue, but the amount of teams between 14 and 8 are the real problem

Plans during the Olympic Break - going to junior and college games to watch prospects and looking at players who will be available in the upcoming draft

Jody Shelley – thought about trading for Jody, involved in the talks but timing wasn’t going to allow it to work, hopes that Jody will earn himself a new contract with New York

Draft Philosophy, best available or certain type/position – 1st pick always go with best player, huge gap at center in the organization that Doug tried to fill with Fedorov (how’d that work out?)

Playing career - most the players don’t know about it, played with Toledo Golddiggers, Bernie Nicholls said he’d break records with Kingston

Olympics – Talked to Nash about working with Hitch again, definitely made for awkward timing, wished good luck to Rick (and others)

Stress of this season – He looked for glimmers of hope as the losses mounted, Hitch was a huge part of getting to the playoffs last year, didn’t see improvement after many chances

Interesting thoughts and words from the GM.

Go Jackets! Go America!

Another opponent coming in on a back-to-back after winning last night in Chicago in a shootout. Interestingly enough, the ‘Hawks have had 3 of their last 4 games go to the skills competition, and have also won 3 straight.

5:00pm EST, Fox Sports Ohio, High Definitino

Winning 4 of the last 6 the Jackets come in on a bit of a hot streak, but looked somewhat lost on Friday night after giving up 3 straight goals to the road-weary Canucks and losing 4-3. The Canucks are a very good team with a great defense… same with the Blackhawks.

The biggest overall differences between the two opponents comes in team speed and skill. The last time the Jackets met the Blackhawks it was a thriller of a Saturday afternoon game where the Jackets relinquished a lead in the 3rd period, losing 6-5.

It is expected that Mathieu Garon will get his first start under IHC Claude Noel today. Hopefully he can continue to perform the way he has all season long when called upon to take a start instead of Steve Mason. If memory serves correctly, he has been very good after not playing a few games, but has struggled when playing multiple games in a row himself.

After today we all face a 15-day Olympic Break without any Blue Jacket hockey. Luckily this isn’t like the summer Olympics where there is no hockey to speak of, but Nationwide Arena will not play host to the Jackets for some time.

Mark your calendars because Team USA takes the ice for the first time on Tuesday at 3:00pm against Switzerland.

GO JACKETS!!!

GO USA!!!