Guess who's back?!

Oh it's me. Ok, so I am back after a bit of hiatus from the blog world. Work kept me extremely busy, but, I woke up early because, I feel like I'm slacking if I don't post. So, here's what has happened since I last posted.

The Blue Jackets have signed center, Derek MacKenzie and defenseman, Dan Smith, to a one-year, two-way NHL-AHL contracts. Both of these guys are likely meant for the Crunch.

"Derek and Dan are good veteran players who can help out at the NHL level," Howson said. "How much they'll play in Columbus is up to them."

The Columbus Dispatch reported on Wednesday that the Jackets have have struck deals with four of our restricted free agents. Steven Goertzen, Curtis Glencross, Joakim Lindstrom, and Andrew Murray all received two-way contracts. Can I tell you how thrilled I am about this? I love these guys! Especially Glencross, he's one of my Cincinnati Mighty Ducks boys...and he will always have a spot in my heart.

"All of these guys have a chance to play in the NHL," general manager Scott Howson said. "They'll come to training camp with an opportunity to compete for a job."

The schedules were released yesterday. We will be opening up the season at home on October 5 versus the Stanley Cup Champions the Ducks. If you look at the schedule you will notice it is significantly better than last year having my boys play only 12 times back to back. Also, the pre-season schedule was released.

September 16 Predators at Blue Jackets 5:oo PM
September 18 Blackhawks at Blue Jackets 7:00 PM
September 19 Blue Jackets at Blackhawks 5:00 PM
September 21 Blue Jackets at Sabres 7:00 PM
September 23 Sabres at Blue Jackets 5:00 PM
September 27 Hurricanes at Blue Jackets 7:00 PM
September 28 Blue Jackets at Hurricanes 7:00 PM
September 29 Blue Jackets at Predators 8:00 PM

Hmm, what else has happened since I have left? Crosby got a raise...no comment. Sheldon Souray still has not signed with a team....yawn. Rangers enjoy throwing money to anyone. And that's really about it. Sorry I was away for a bit.

Buh-Bye Smiley

Well, Scott Howson has decided Aaron Johnson is not in the mix for us Jackets. I am a little upset about it. We decided not to make him a qualifying offer. The Dispatch spoke to Howson about it saying, "It was a tough decision but (Johnson) was going to get a one-way contract in an arbitration hearing, and we just weren't comfortable with that decision. We like the player. That's not the issue, we weren't willing to sign a one-(way) contract at this time." (A one-(way) contract means he will get the same amount of money in the minors as he would in the NHL.) It's not that I am upset that Johnson is leaving, but you do get attached to these guys but when I think about what he did in the time he was here...he didn't do a lot. So, I am sure that Howson and Hitch chose the right thing. Svitov, Murray, Glencross, Tollefsen, Lindstrom, and Goertzen were all given qualifying offers. I'm not going to lie seeing Howson make a decision like this is really setting him apart from MacLean in a good way. And, I am confident that he made the correct decision. Now, I'm just wondering about Erikkson. Mr. Howson plans to offer long term contracts to Svitov, and Tollefsen which I think is great. Those 2 are great players especially Tollefsen who I even noticed developing over the course of the season.
I am pretty happy that we qualified Glencross too. I absolutely love that guy and it takes me back to the days when I was first falling in love with hockey. So I love seeing him down on the ice. Anyway, I'm proud of our organization and what they have done so far.

RFA's and UFA's for the CBJ

Restricted Free Agents

• Alexander Svitov ~ $800,000.00 Center he is a great two-way center. He seems to be a little lazy and hangs out with Zherdev quite a bit. TSN says he "needs to cut down on the number of bad penalties he takes." I would say I would have to agree with that.
  
• Jaroslav Balastik ~ $525,000.00 Left/Right Wing he only played 8 games this year but from what I saw I was impressed. TSN has his potential as a third line winger. I would have to agree with that.
  
• Joakim Lindstrom ~ $700,000.00 Left/Right Winger needs to put on some weight before he will be successful in the league. Having met the kid...I won't lie he is pretty small but is pretty impressive to watch...he has lots of potential.
• Curtis Glencross ~ $665,000.00 Left Winger I have a thing for him. Watching him since his days as a Cincinnati Mighty Duck...he continues to progress and improve. He has a lot of potential and hopefully will be up with the Jackets soon.
• Steven Goertzen ~ $450,0000.00 Right Winger to be honest I haven't seen him as much as I would like to...or maybe I have and I just haven't noticed. Either way, I don't see him making it up to the big league for a permanent job anytime soon.
• Ole-Kristian Tollefsen ~ $526,000.00 D-man We'd be stupid to get rid of him. Aside from him being one of the nicest players ever...he is also pretty talented. He is a defensive defenseman and is a ton of fun to watch play. He doesn't take crap from anyone and is willing to stick up for his team.
• Aaron Johnson ~ $450,000.00 D-man great player but he still needs some work to play up in the big leagues. But, I like to think he has a lot of potential.

Unrestricted Free Agents

• Brian Boucher ~ $475,000.00 Goalie I seriously doubt we will be re-signing him. He was picked up off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks and although he played decently for us, he's not what we need. Although, I won't lie, I like him a lot better than Leclaire.
• Derrick Walser ~ $450,000.00 D-man I don't think I can say anything about him...I have never seen him play. Anybody got anything on him?
• Anders Eriksson ~ $600,000 D-man I have already made my opinion on him pretty clear...we need to re-sign him...he leads our team in +/- and is a great defenseman. It would be a bad decision not to re-sign him...he is cheap...and we need the help on the blue line.
• Bryan Berard ~ $2,500,000.00 D-man See ya buddy! Has to many injuries, is blind out of an eye...and Hitch doesn't like him. Yeah, you're done.
  

My take on the call ups...

I mean seriously...Zenon Konopka is one of my favorites...alongside of Curtis Glencross. Both of these guys are great players. They played in Cincinnati and so I have watched them for about 3 years now. Anyway, I am hoping that they do make the team next year. After being acquired from Anaheim, Konopka played in 6 games with CBJ, and registered 20 penalty minutes. In the AHL he is a +20...he is such a smart player. Glencross is also a great player with a ton of potential. Now, as for guys like Geoff Platt, Alexandre Picard, and Marc Methot, Methot has played really well considering the circumstances we are under. Losing Adam Foote hurt us pretty badly but he has done a great job and has played really smart hockey. Platt and Picard are great players with a TON of potential but as far as my picks for next years team...Glencross, Konopka, and Methot...maybe Platt he plays really hard when he is out there.

Alright, so this was posted on HLOG but I wanted to post it here as well.