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?

Hey Captain Jacket

We're in a fight...when you say stuff like this

"I’d be lying to you, and I think you all are aware, we love Colorado. … We wish we’d never left, but we did, it’s unfortunate, but, it’s a business — and one day, you never know…."

I don't like it...consider this your notice Mr. Foote.

5 Questions from Jibblescribbits

Jibblescribbits recently sent me an e-mail asking about the Jackets UFA's and some other questions...thought I would post em up just to see what you guys think of the answers. He is doing it for all the teams in the League...so if you're interested go to his blog :)

1)There is only one UFA that I could see the Avs having any possible interest in from the Blue Jackets 4, and that would be Berard. You mentioned in your blog you thought he was injury prone and blind, I am taking it you wouldn't recommend signing him...at what price would he be worth it? And when healthy can he still play well?

*Berard had back surgery and since he came back he's not playing well. Back in the day he was an offensive d-man. I do not recommend signing him at all. What price would he be worth honestly not a lot maybe $600,000. No more. He really is blind in one eye...I'm not kidding.

2)Since there's not a lot to relate to the Avs here, I'll just ask you about the Jackets. Eyeballing it for next season it looks like you guys will be able to sign one decent FA, What do you need? Defense, or forward? Goalie? Who are you eyeballing for FA?

*Honestly we need a lot a top line center, 2 top 4 d-men, and a goalie wouldn't hurt. My guess is that we will go for a blue liner. I wouldn't mind us getting Hannan or Preissing...but to be honest it's really hard for me to think about who we should get when we don't have a GM and I have no idea what style he wants.

3) (NOTE: asked before the hiring of Howson) The big story in Columbus isn't on the ice, but management that they cleaned house (finally) and are hiring new management. You have been profiling potential GMs on your site... who do you want them to hire? and who do you think they'll hire? (and why?)

*Well, if that Bryan Murray stuff was true I would say him, but since it's not I think I would like them to hire Dave King. He was our first coach and knows the organization and is a very smart hockey man. Who do I think they will hire? Scott Howson, the Assistant General Manager for the Edmonton Oilers. Only because he is a salary cap expert. Next season we will have 2 of our most paid players become UFA's and he will have a lot of room to work....so that's my best guess.

4) What happened to Rick Nash. He was great one season, and seems to have disappeared, making a brief cameo in the world championships. Is it just an off season, or is he regressing? What about other potential goal scorers like Zhederev, Modin and Vyborny? shouldn't they at least be scoring more goals.

*Rick Nash...he is a great player. At times he can be very lazy. This year with Hitch as his coach he is becoming a well rounded player. Playing on the power play and the penalty kill. Hitch developed Modano the same way. He is injury prone and so he hasn't played as many games as we would like him to. But, mark my word he is not regressing he is progressing very nicely. Vyborny is our best player...he makes great decisions on the ice...and is an amazing play maker. Zherdev is a big cancer on our team, he is lazy, has no work ethic and is selfish. I honestly think he doesn't want to succeed with our team...because Hitch doesn't put up with his crap. Modin, has the potential to score more goals if he had more to work with...who knows what line combinations we will have next year. *honestly this past year was awful with injures and a new coach we didn't really have a lot of flow*

5) Every Avs fan has a soft spot for Adam Foote. He is now Columbus captain, and deservedly so. How do you feel about him? He gets kinda lost there, does he still play well, or is the new NHL showing his weaknesses?

*Adam Foote I absolutely adore him. I love his style I love the way he acts on the bench cheering guys on. I love when he is injured in the press box watching the game. I think he plays well, and still plays his gritty style. You can tell that he is getting older but I still enjoy watching him play and besides how can you not love Foote?

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!!

Meet my Captain

Not only is Adam Foote our Captain, but, he is also probably my favorite skater on the Jackets. This coming season Adam will be entering into his third year with the franchise. On December 6, 2005 Foote became the fourth Captain in club history.

Adam Foote was born July 10, 1971 in Toronto, ONT. He spent his junior career playing for the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, where he spent three seasons. He registered 37 goals 125 assists in 186 games played, and 412 penalty minutes. Adam was drafted in 1989 by the Quebec Nordiques, in the second round, 22nd overall.

Adam Foote played four seasons with the Quebec Nordiques when they moved to Colorado and became the Colorado Avalanche he then spent nine seasons with them. Adam Foote has TWO Stanley Cup rings...one from the 1995-1996 and one from the 2000-2001. Adam Foote holds the most penalty in the regular season with 262 and the most penalty minutes in the playoffs with 266.

Adam Foote has played in 923 NHL games. He has 64 goals and 204 assists and 1300 penalty minutes. The reason why I like Adam is for his grit and not take crap from anyone style. He will stand up for his teammates. On TSN they have his assets as "Plays an outstanding defensive game and is very consistent. Is excellent in the dressing room and always leads by example. Often sets the physical tone." They have his flaws as "His gung-ho style leads to long-term injuries. Isn't a great puck-handler. Will no longer factor into the power play mix." I agree with most of that except the fact that he will no longer factor into the power play mix. He has quite a hard shot...which is good for getting pucks to the net...so there TSN. Anyway, he's my Captain and my favorite skating Jacket.

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.

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

For my momma

Here mom...this should make you happy! And, well me too...haha

So close yet so far..

So Ken Hitchcock coached his 800th NHL game tonight. I just can’t even express how happy I am to have this man as the Blue Jackets coach. Next year is our year I’m just sure of it. The first period Adam Foote and Jordin Tootoo had a bit of a tussle. But, Foote being a very large and strong man was able to simply pin Tootoo against the boards. Nashville ended up getting a goal on the power play. Paul Kariya scored on the power play. Ty Conklin is in net for the Jackets. Everyone is pretty aware that I love Ty Conklin. He is a good goal tender and I think he deserves to stay up. Anyway, Foote took another penalty a roughing penalty…but I’m pretty sure that Erat just kind of fell and Foote didn’t do anything. I like what Adam Foote said during the intermission interview…he said Nashville likes to win games in the first 10 minutes of a game, that’s totally true. I have seen these guys play I can’t even tell you how many times and they like making an impression. But then Foote said, “We played better than they did in the first period, and they had more power play opportunities.” I’m so happy he’s our captain…what would I do without him. Marc Methot is playing his first NHL game. He seems to be doing a pretty good job…and he’s a cute little guy. I am hoping the reason he is up is because Berard will be out.

Going into the second period we were down 1-0. But entering the second we were on a power play. We ended up scoring a power play goal to make it 1-1. Modin got the goal. Dumont got the go ahead goal about a minute after we scored the tiebreaker. Let’s hope that Columbus gets things back on track. Well Fiddler just made it 3-1. I think Johnson is having a bad night because both of these goals can be blamed on him…well I don’t want to say blamed but he could have cleared the zone. Nash really is becoming a great two-way player. Last night he got his first short-handed goal, which is pretty impressive. Dan Fritsche got hurt he has a lacerated wrist they didn’t announce the severity of it but he won’t be back for the rest of the game.

Going into this period we are 3-1…lets hope the Jackets can get something going. And we got a goal from an unlikely source. Shelley got his first goal of the season!! I’m so proud. Our rough and tough guy got it. Lets just hope we can get another one. Tootoo just hit the crap out of Zherdev. I hate Tootoo he pisses me off every single time he steps out on the ice. He is such a dirty player and he claims he’s not. I would love to know where he heard that one. Let’s hope the Jackets can get this going and beat the Preds because it’s something we have yet to do. And Hainsey ties it up it’s now 3 all. It’s starting to look up for the Jackets. We really are a good hockey team. I love these guys…I know our playoff hopes are shot but we still are playing pretty well. I just hope that we can get a regulation win against these Preds. Brule had a great shot on goal heading down right at the net. Raced down even got tripped up a bit and took a shot when he was mid air.

And we are heading into over time. We do pretty well on 4-4 I think. So let’s see how we do. Well we out played them pretty much the entire game and that didn’t change during over time. It was still tied so we’re going into a shootout. I hate shootouts…they make me so nervous. I hope Conks stays with it. Well we lost in a shootout and I am sad. We deserved the win…and I’m not just saying that. Oh and random fact Tootoo took a number at the end of the game. How funny is that?! What a punk.

Why the Preds, Peter...why?!

Anyone who knows me...or who reads this blog knows how much I hate the Preds. So it shouldn't come as a shock to you that I'm not a fan of this trade one bit. Granted that yes in future years it will help the Flyers...and having Forsberg on their line up will help the Preds. I really feel bad for the Flyers team as a whole though. They lost their captain...pretty much the heart and soul of their team. (I say that because the Flyers have yet to win a game without Peter Forsberg in the line up) I feel bad for the fans. I heard a trade rumor that Adam Foote could leave Columbus and I was just heartbroken. The guy on the ice that wears the C wears it for a reason. He is the leader. Congrats to Nashville on the trade...however I think they gave up too much...Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent, a FIRST round draft pick, and a third round draft pick. Seems like a little much for a rental player...who you have no guarantee that the man is playing at his full potential. They are throwing it all in there. If they don't get it this year, Nashville will have to start rebuilding I think....and who wants to do that?! Anyway, its late...I gotta go to bed...night all.

Spector's Opinion