CBJ Center Post

The Columbus Dispatch posted an article with all of the centers for the Blue Jackets. We have 10 men fighting for 4 positions. Also, End of the Bench has a Spotlight On: Centers.

1. Sergei Fedorov

It's a contract year; coaches hope to get him plugged in competitively.

2. Michael Peca

A shut-down center who will chew up lots of minutes and kill lots of penalties.

3. Dan Fritsche

Figures to get a shot on the No. 1 line during camp, but could fit as a winger, too.

4. Jiri Novotny

Could be set for a third-line job between Jason Chimera and Fritsche.

5. Manny Malhotra

Shows flashes but needs to throw his arms around a "checking center" role.

6. Gilbert Brule

He'll get a shot high in the lineup, but he could be destined for Syracuse.

7. Derick Brassard

Faces huge odds to make the club as a rookie, but he'll get a look.

8. Zenon Konopka

A fourth-line disturber in the Slapshot mold; brings it every night.

9. Kris Beech

Trying to reclaim his once-promising career; seems destined for Syracuse.

10. Geoff Platt

Life is not easy for undrafted free agents, but Platt's energy will get him a look.

The Jackets also posted an article on our Centers. Hitchcock apparently has the four centers penciled in. Top line will be Michael Peca, Sergei Fedorov, Manny Malhotra, and Jiri Novotny.

But here's the wrinkle. Early on in camp, the Blue Jackets will give Dan Fritsche, Gilbert Brule and Derick Brassard a look on one of the top two lines, likely letting them each play two of the first four exhibition games in such a role.

"We want to see if we can be dynamic offensively," Hitchcock said. "That's why we're going to experiment.

"Style is not as relevant as is the fact that we want players who are committed on both ends of the rink. We want players to compete hard."

If a young gun makes it, Fedorov can slide to the second line, between left winger Fredrik Modin and right winger Nikolai Zherdev, and Peca can give the Jackets a dynamic third line with Jason Chimera on his left and possibly Fritsche on his right.

I don't know who is going to be on the top line but, I know that Hitchcock will make the right decision. The lines and defensive pairings will be in tact coming out of training camp.

"I want to play the final two or three exhibition games knowing what we're going to do (with the lineup)," Hitchcock said.

I know this there are 39 days until the regular season and it can't come soon enough.

GO JACKETS!!

Foote and Fedorov will be back.

The Dispatch reported today that Adam Foote and Sergei Fedorov WILL be back with the Jackets this coming season.

"They're going to be back, both of them," general manager Scott Howson said. "They're world-class players who have had great careers and, we think, still have a lot to offer our club."

So there you have it. I no longer have to worry about seeing Fedorov's name on the buy out list.

Also, I was unable to make it to Columbus for the Developmental Camp but Sarah was able to head up there and took some great pictures and observations.

Another thing I want to talk about that was brought up yesterday over at End of the Bench and also at Army of the Ohio was the fact that there will be a new Captain for the CBJ soon. Now, the candidates that have been brought up are of course Rick Nash and David Vyborny. My vote personally goes for Vyborny because he is the original Jacket. He is the one Jacket who gives you what you expect him to give you. Nash, is the face of the franchise, he is a leader, but he is still young and sometimes I can see the laziness as he skates around...I personally don't want to see that in the Captain. In one of the comments I read they mentioned Modin, I think that would be a great choice as well. Michael also brought up Dan Fritsche I haven't quite decided what I think about that. So anyone else have any other thoughts on who will be wearing the C on these lovely Jerseys?

Meet Sergei Fedorov!!

Meet Sergei Fedorov, one of our "over-priced" veterans. Fedorov is entering into his third season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sergei Fedorov was born on December 13, 1969 in Pskov, Soviet Union. Fedorov spent 1986-1990 playing for CSKA Moscow in Russia; in 169 games with them he had 41 goals and 33 assists and 87 penalty minutes. In the 1989 NHL Entry Draft Fedorov was chosen in round 4 by the Detroit Red Wings 74th overall.
In 1990 he began his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings. He played 13 season with the Wings. In the 1993-94 season Fedorov won the Hart, Selke, and the Pearson award and also finished second in scoring behind The Great One. In the 1995-1996 season he won the Selke again. Fedorov was on the Red Wings for all three of the Stanley Cups (97,98,&02). In 2003 Fedorov signed with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and played 80 games with them. Then there was the lockout Fedorov did not play. He returned to the Ducks in 2005 only to be traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets...and he has been with us ever since.
A lot of people give the Jackets crap for taking Fedorov's salary and for not buying him out. I won't lie his salary is BIG. But, I for one absolutely love having him on my team. He can play basically any position well. He may not be putting up the big numbers but his presence is worth a lot. Fedorov has played 1128 regular season NHL games tallying 461 goals, 644 assists (1105 points) and 751 penalty minutes. Fedorov has also played in 162 playoff games, and has 50 goals 113 assists (163 points) and 113 penalty minutes.

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!!

CBJ News

Well my friend Michael Arace over at his blog just wrote a great one talking about The Jackets and their future. You can view the blog here. A few things he talks about I kind of want to give my opinion on.

Fedorov moving back to center. Well that's great. But let's face the facts. His numbers were better when he was a defensemen. I actually took the time and figured it out. Now, being the Fedorov that I am I don't care where he goes. But, as a Blue Jackets fan I honestly would rather see him on the blue line. So, with Fedorov moving back to center, that leaves us needing another top line center. In the UFA market this coming July 1st there is going to be a bunch of them...the one's I think we should get...Scottie Gomez. He is an amazing playmaker and I think would do wonders for our team. Some other good centers that could potentially be available are Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. I don't care for either of these players because I hate Buffalo so I don't care if we get them or not. But, if we do have to get one I would choose Drury...I think he is a better playmaker than Briere.

He also talks about the fact that the new GM may not be willing to spend money on getting the correct players because right now they're losing money, the fan base is dwindling, and well we need some direction. So, I don't know that the new GM will spend the money on another $6 million dollar center. But, we have other needs that we do need two Top 4 Defensemen. I don't know what they are going to do. But, we need help on the blue line and if we have to wait on the center that would be fine and I could deal with that if we could get a defensemen or two.


Anyway, that's all I really have. Hopefully, our new GM will do something great for our team. I'm not asking for a Stanley Cup, I'm just asking for a playoff spot, because damn it I want to wave a towel around my heat and say Let's Go Jackets!! So, hopefully that day will come soon.

Good Evening!

So I have been slacking on the posts however tonight I will ve liveblogging the Sharks and Wings game tonight...so tell your friends. Right, now I'm watching the Sens and Devils game. Can I tell you how much I want Scott Gomez on my team?! Thankfully he will be a UFA on July 1st so let's hope we get him...or some top line center...because I think that we're going to keeps Fedorov on defense...but I don't really know. It's all up to Hitch. Still no word on a new GM. I will keep you posted.

OK, so for the much awaited Draft post. *This isn't going to be much really!* I live about an hour and a half from Columbus where the draft is taking place. So, I am coming up Thursday after work and getting a hotel kind of out of town that way I don't have to deal with staying in town and I think it's cheaper. But, I mean whatever. I am hoping to hang out with some fellow bloggers so if you're going let me know and we will get together for dinner or something. i am not sure how the draft works. So maybe someone should explain it to me but uhm...I will have my car up there. Anyway. that's all keep a look out for the liveblog tonight!

Red Wings vs Jackets

Alright, I have been to a ton of hockey games. But, never really experienced what I experienced yesterday. The crowd was a pretty big mixture of Red Wings and Blue Jackets fans...which made for an interesting game. I think the thing that sticks out the most to me with this is the Red Wings fan trying to boo Sergei Fedorov in OUR building. I mean seriously who does that? It's rude not only to the player but to us Blue Jackets fans in attendance. To counteract the booing we starting cheering for him. Everytime he touched the puck I was screaming for him to go! As everybody...well anybody who reads my blog knows I love Fedorov and think he is one of the best hockey players in the league. Notice I didn't say scorers but I said a hockey player. One who can see the ice...and make the plays. Anyway, the game was rough for us Jackets fans, because until about a minute left in the 3rd period we were getting shut out. I personally am not a fan of those...so I was getting discouraged but I kept on cheering my boys on...and finally Mr. Rick Nash...put one in the back of the net.

Now, I usually don't have a problem with Red Wings fans...because let's face it...I usually am one...except when they are playing the Jackets. With 2 minutes left some idiot threw an octopus onto OUR ice...in OUR arena. That made me really upset...this is the our house...this is where WE play. Do NOT bring your traditions or your damn octopus into it. I don't care what the score is...we wouldn't do it there and you shouldn't do it here. Anyway...I'm proud of my boys...in the first period they played great. I was especially impressed with Brule...he was one of the only one's I saw crashing the net most of the game. And, he was getting a little frisky with one of the Wings. At the very end of the game...Manny and the guy who was pushin on Brule were having some words back and fourth...I wanted so bad for Manny to drop the gloves but I knew that it would solve nothing.

Alright, now I have all the respect in the world for goalies...I will always appreciate a great goal tender and will always cheer for them when they have good games...even when they are against my team. BUT last night Hasek during the singing of OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM didn't take off his helmet. Why? I don't know...but it made me mad. Then, he had a really good game...and got named 2nd star...and didn't skate. When you are one of these elite goal tenders...you have fans no matter where you go...so you probably should skate when you are named a star. Martin Brodeur does...and for that I'm very thankful.

Anyway, I suppose that is all for now. I'm at work and suppose I better get back to it. I am hoping to finish my Leaf post sometime soon...which brings me to another thing. WEAR A LEAFS JERSEY AT A LEAFS GAME!!!! not a Detroit and Columbus game...and not a Columbus and Dallas game...I mean seriously. Sheesh.

Oh my beloved Jackets

You know for not being in the playoffs we sure are playing some good hockey. Well maybe not good hockey but we're on a three game winning streak. The first win came against the Chicago Blackhawks. The score was 5-2. Then we had an amazing SO victory over the Detroit Red Wings...which was a little bitter sweet to me because, I started off a Red Wings fan...and still have a soft spot in my heart for all things Red Wings. Then tonight we had a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blue's. I'm not gonna lie I only watched the Red Wings game. Not because I don't love my team but because well to be honest I had things to do. Anyway the win over the Red Wings made me feel good. Not because we won, and not because Norrena won in a shootout, but because of who got the game winner, Sergei Fedorov. All the time people are complaining because oh his salary, oh he's old and whatever but you know what I'm going to stick up for him. This season his time on ice average is 19:33...but in the past 5 games his average is 22:27 that's three more minutes. And, he is a +1 and for the season he is a -6. Alright, so here I go on my little rant. The man is a CENTER and then we had some of our defensemen go down and what does Hitch decide to do...he continues Scottie Bowman's experiment with moving Fedorov to a dman. You show me someone else in the NHL who can play both those positions and do it as well as Sergie Fedorov...I don't think you can. I always talk about complete players...well maybe not on here but I do trust me haha. I love Fedorov and am thrilled that he is on my team. Anyway at the Joe when we beat the Wings he was getting booed and you know I feel bad for him. Big deal he left your team get over it. Everyone needs a change. Anyway I love my team reguardless so I guess my rant is over. Also, sorry if this was all over the place but I am watching the Canucks vs Avs game...so yeah better go...goodnight all. OH, also check out Michael's podcast for the CBJ here.

Jackets win!!

Well we won in OT...and Geoff Platt got his first career goal. I love these guys. Alright, I'm going to sleep...goodnight!! David Vyborny got the game winner in OT. I promise I will write more tomorrow....

Me going on about stuff...yup

Well with my beloved Jackets not playing until tomorrow…I don’t have a lot to say. Tomorrow night we’re playing the LA Kings and I think we should do alright against them. Because, well let’s face it they suck….and not only do they suck…they suck worse than us…so that’s always a good sign. The Jackets really need this win tomorrow night. We’re trying to get some consistency going at the end of the season. Even though we’re out of the playoffs we still need it and will take our role as ‘spoiler’ very seriously. I am already excited for next season. I don’t know if a lot of people know the history of Ken Hitchcock but when he took over for Dallas (the season before they won the cup) they were just like us. Had no consistency and their star player all he could do was shoot. Then the next year they went off to win the cup. Now, I am by no means saying that we’re going to win the cup next year. But, I do think that with Hitch’s experience and with the boys that we have…we have some serious potential. In all reality we should have been there this year but that’s beside the point. Anyway, that’s all just that I am excited.
This week the Jackets don’t have a very busy schedule tomorrow night they are taking on the LA Kings at home. Then on Friday night the Dallas Stars are in town and I will be attending that game. I just hope that the boys can pull off this win…and I hope Adam Foote is in…but it is highly unlikely. I am very pumped to see some of our Farm boys in though. It’s always nice to see how they are playing and get hope that they’ll be ready for the big dogs this coming season. Anyway on after Friday night playing Dallas we head down to Nashville for the last game with our enemy divisional rival…whom I hate with a passion. A little note on Nashville Forsberg was out their past 2 games. He was out when they played the Ducks and I’m pretty sure he is out tonight when they played Detroit…but don’t quote me on that. I will have to look. They are saying he has an “Upper Body Injury.” Quite descriptive eh? Anyway, you never want players to get hurt or to be out of the line up. But, since it is Nashville this does give me quite a bit of pleasure.
I don’t think that I ever talked about the game against the Coyotes. But, I watched it and couldn’t believe how pissed off Gretzky got. I mean gosh…he was an angry man…he frightened me quite a bit. They Jackets would have one that game with probably a shut out had it not been for all of the penalties they were taking. We had our newly acquired back up goalie that we plucked off waivers in net and he was playing against his old team. And, well he played pretty well…considering going into the game he only had 1 win under his belt. And, after the game he now has TWO! Oddly enough he holds the NHL record for most consecutive shut outs so that’s pretty impressive. Maybe we can tap into that a little bit. I am still hoping that Leclaire leaves. I am not impressed with this guy at all and now with him being out for the season…I don’t know it just seems pretty ridiculous to keep him. I realize that we have him under contract for next season but I am pretty sure someone would take him. Hell I’d be willing to give up a draft pick to anyone who would take him off our hands so we can get a decent goalie. There is no doubt in my mind that Norrena will be our number 1 goalie next year. Unless something crazy stupid happens.
I’m not sure if anyone reads “The Hockey News” but I was checking out this issue and they rank the GM’s and not surprisingly Doug MacLean comes in 29. I know we get high draft picks and what not…so why can’t we win?! It’s for sure not because of the talent we have. We have some extremely talented guys. Rick Nash got the Rocket award in his 2nd year in the NHL. If that doesn’t scream talent I don’t know what does. I try not to give the players themselves a hard time because I do feel they are doing the best that they can do…but at some point the GM does have to step up. Anyway here’s what The Hockey News says about it:
“Doug MacLean can’t be faulted for sitting by and fiddling while his organization burns, but his aggressive moves have done more to hurt than help. The Blue Jackets have been plagued by a failure to capitalize on high draft picks and a number of curious personnel moves. They’ve picked in the top eight in every draft and will do so again this June, but have a dismal record getting NHL-caliber talent beyond the first round. Taking on Sergei Fedorov’s salary seemed like a bad idea at the time – and even worse now.”

Now here’s what I say about that…I agree whole heartedly with most of that, however…I like Fedorov. I don’t care what anyone says. The guy can play. Yes he does get paid a lot and I don’t know if I like him of who he is now or who he was. But, I have always been a Fedorov fan and will continue to do so. I love all of our veteran guys really. Foote, Modin, they are all wonderful and most nights come out there with more heart than our young guys (including Nash and Vyborny.) Anyway, I don’t know hopefully this year we do well in the draft with Hitch on our side. I suppose that is all for my ranting on that stuff.

WE WIN IN A SHOOTOUT!!!

So I decided since I just got my Center Ice thing that I would live blog the Columbus game…like I normally do but I wanted to watch it with the Dallas point of view. I am curious to see what is different. Also, if you are thinking about getting Center Ice but don’t know if you should or not…I have had it for a day and I LOVE it!!! You get every game out there. Me, living where I do, am really thankful for it. Is it bad that I’m already annoyed with the Stars coverage? Man I hope the Jackets crush them. What an obnoxious team with obnoxious colors. I wanna know which goalie is starting and I am anxious to see if they play Smith in the playoffs, because as we know Turco is a bit of a choke artist in the playoffs. Alright I changed my mind, I have on my Columbus guys. I just can’t stand to not hear the usual guys callin the game. Oh man, Foote just took a weird hit…and he is going to the dressing room. It’s Mike Modano’s fault!!! Grrr. I hate seeing Adam like that. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen is back…that helps a little bit. Oh man Glencross, Konopka, and Shelley are all in the line up tonight. That’s a scary line…a hard-hitting line also. Why is it that I love hard hitters? I don’t know why. Oh well. Columbus took the first penalty Nash took it…darn him. We were able to kill it off…thank goodness. Since Leclaire is out for the season (WHY CAN’T HE GO AWAY?!) Norrena who will be out number one goalie whom I love so dearly is in…and backing him up is Brian Boucher. So Adam Foote is having his foot x-rayed. I am sad. If Foote isn’t in for the game that I’m at next week I will be so sad. He is my mom’s favorite. Heck yeah, Manny Malhotra just scored the first goal of the game. When we score first we are 17-2-4 I think is what they said. So, that’s a good sign. Malhotra was tripped up and no penalty was called. I am really shocked at how quiet the Stars arena is. I watched the Kings vs Ducks game last night and it was loud in there. Where are the Stars fans at?! There may not be a lot of Jackets fans but we are at least vocal…or maybe I am bias. The Jackets outshot the Stars 10-7. And, the score is 1-0 Jackets. To be honest, I wasn’t going to watch this game because I’m going to the game on the 9th and I didn’t really want to see what it was going to look like…but I figure why not. May as well. Why is the NHL sponsoring this movie 300? It kinda scares me and I think it’s so weird.
GOAL: Malhotra (CBJ)
ASSISTS: Chimera, Brule
SCORE: Columbus – 1
Dallas - 0
Sergei Fedorov just scored. I wasn’t really paying much attention. I get so distracted with youtube. Tollefsen roughed up somebody after the whistle…I’m not really sure who. But man I love Tollefsen. The way he plays. He plays with a ton of heart and is very very entertaining. Columbus is going to take a penalty. Vyborny took it for hooking. Norrena is playing excellent tonight. But, with a 2-0 lead…they always say is the most dangerous lead in the league. Which I was right…with Dallas on the powerplay they scored. And, now right after that Mike Modano scored to make it 2-2. Man I hate that. Hopefully Hitch gets the boys together…he called a time out. Why is Modano not the captain of the Stars? That doesn’t make sense to me. He seems to be the leader. The Jackets tend to get all out of sorts when the team they are playing score like that. This is starting to becoming quite the game. It just keeps going back and fourth which I love especially when both teams are playing so hard. Dallas because they want to catch up to Anaheim and Columbus because we have our young guys up…they are trying to prove themselves and not doing too bad of a job. The future of the Jackets I think is looking quite bright. Next year is our year…I know I keep saying that but it’s the truth!! HAHA they just showed Turco mic’d up from the All Star game. That was hilarious. ‘Can you guys go celebrate somewhere else?’ Classic. Turco seems to have quite the personality. Foote has a high ankle sprain they just said. I am sad. Hopefully, he will be back soon. It seems like Columbus is the place for injuries. These refs aren’t very good. I have seen quite a few very obvious penalties and they just aren’t seeing them.
GOAL: Fedorov (CBJ)
ASSISTS: Methot, Modin
GOAL: Sydor (DAL)
ASSISTS: Ribeiro, Robidas
GOAL: Modano (DAL)
ASSISTS: Jokinen, Sydor
SCORE: Columbus – 2
Dallas - 2
Ya know trying to avoid a hockey game score when you’re watching a hockey game is hard as hell. I’m trying to avoid the Jersey game because I am recording it. Now I am watching an interview in Laraque. I like him. I like his style. He is a tough guy. How much do I love center ice? I love it…I keep flippin through all the games in the NHL…quite exciting. These Stars keep knocking down Nash. It’s starting to piss me off. The refs are clearly blind or mentally retarded…and know nothing. We can’t get a power play to save our life! We just took another one. I hate these refs! And, YES, I am being bitter. I know that we did have those penalties but it’s like the refs are choosing not to see the penalties that the Stars are doing. Stars should have had another penalty. Again we were able to kill off that penalty and limit them to only 2 shots on goal. Alright finally we are getting on the power play…hopefully we can make it effective. The last few minutes of this 3rd period is pretty aggressive. These refs are killing me…there have been at least 2 hits from behind this period and both of them were not called. That does not thrill me. That could hurt our boys…and we already have enough guys injured. It’s looking like this game is going to go into over time. It always makes me nervous when we go to over time…because that means that we have a chance of going into a shootout.
SCORE: Columbus – 2
Dallas - 2
Alright, here we go time for 5 minutes of 4 on 4 hockey. Nothing really has happened so far…but there is still 3:30 left. Modano just took a shot and Norrena made a great save. Zherdev had a breakaway and it went just wide of the net. 2 minutes left in OT…no other real scoring chances. Haha my mom just said, “Come on guys just score so you don’t have to go to the shoot out…you never win in the shoot out.” Maybe she’s not as clueless about hockey as I thought haha. This is just getting brutal…I want to win this game so bad. I get so emotion in over time games. I don’t know why. AHH!! It’s going into a shootout…and I hate it.
SCORE: Columbus – 2
Dallas - 2
SHOOTOUT!!!! Let’s see who is gonna come out.
Chimera - SCORE HOLLA!! Zubov - STICK SAVE!!
Konopka - MISSED THE NET!! Modano – WENT WIDE!! Klesla - Didn’t get to shoot… Jokinen - SAVE!!
SCORE COLUMBUS – 3
Dallas - 2

Well everyone…we went against the odds and WON!! That’s right we won in a shootout. Due in part to Ken Hitchcock’s wonderful idea of having a shootout competition yesterday. I LOVE HITCH!!! I am pumped!
My three stars of the game:
1. Fredrik Norrena WOOO!!! Atta boy
2. Jason Chimera
3. Sergei Fedorov