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.

What's this feeling?

I don't even know. The more this sinks in, the more excited I am to get Scott Howson in the building and get things going. The press conference is expected to start at 1 p.m. Once he enters the building he is got a lot to do. The draft, dealing with our UFA's and RFA's, Free Agent Signings, and Portzline even threw out the idea of buying out Fedorov and Foote.

I'll start with talking about the Fedorov and Foote buying out option. I love Fedorov, always have, and always will, but my love for him doesn't change the fact that he is not worth the money. However, when it comes to Adam Foote, I have no problem keeping him. Adam Foote is our Captain and I highly doubt that they will buy him out. But, then again, I had never even thought of buying these guys out as an option.

Then, there is the Draft, it's a week from today. He's going to check out what our Scout's are thinking then he is going to figure out what he wants to do. By the way, expect my Draft Post up Sunday night, it will take me a bit to do and I have quite the weekend ahead of me.

RFA's and UFA's while I don't expect any of our UFA's to be back. I am pretty sure Howson will at least consider bringing back Eriksson. He will have to make qualifying offers to our RFA's by July 1st.

Then there is his front office. I am expecting an entire house cleaning. We need better scouts. Howson has been given the reigns to do whatever he sees fit in the front office which is a great thing.

Then he has to deal with the always lovely, Nikolai Zherdev. While, I can see his potential I think he does more harm that good so I am hoping that a trade does take place at some point soon.

No matter what you have thought about the Jackets in the past...look out for us now. We have a new General Manager. Fans have hope. We have arguably the best coach in the NHL. And, we WILL be better come this October. So, Welcome to the Columbus Blue Jackets Scott Howson!!

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.