Mike Commodore will sit out the second game of the season as well. It is just a precautionary move. Commodore has been hampered with a slight groin pull and coaches don’t want to risk it this early in the season. Commodore also missed a couple days in training camp sidelined with the flu. Look for him to be ready to play Thursday.

Tonight’s game is the home opener for the Canucks. Vancouver is 0-2 on the season falling in Calgary 5-3 last Thursday and were shutout 3-0 by the Avalanche on Saturday. However, don’t be misled by their record. The Canucks have out shot their opponents 77 to 50 in those two games. The ‘Nucks haven’t been capitalizing on their chances, and that something coach Alain Vigneault will have emphasized to his players. Vancouver will be ready and looking to redeem themselves in front of the home fans.

Dan Fritsche today signed a minor league contract with Blue Jackets AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch. Fritsche was released from a tryout agreement with the Atlanta Thrashers last week and has been unable to find an NHL home. There’s still a long road for the Parma, Ohio native, who would need to sign a separate deal with the big club to play in any NHL games.

The Blue Jackets originally selected Fritsche in the 2nd round, 46th overall in the 2003 draft. He was traded to the New York Rangers along with Nikolai Zherdev, the Jackets first pick in the 2003 draft, for Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman. Good move for Scott Howson. Tyutin is the only player from that deal still in the NHL. The Rangers walked away from Zherdev after his arbitration ruling. He’s plying his trade with the Atlant Moscow in the KHL. Backman is an unrestricted free agent after he was cut from a tryout with the Florida Panthers.

As you can see a lot has happened so who better to talk about what has happened and maybe even what could happen than one of the men in the center of it all. Assistant General Manager Chris MacFarland will join the Fire The Cannon podcast and lend his insight of all the inner workings of the front office of the Blue Jackets. MacFarland has been on the show before and is a great interview and very engaging.

Also, Bart Logan, fellow FireTheCannon.com writer, will co-host with myself on the hour long show. This should be a good one that you won’t want to miss. Also, feel free to fire off questions to my email or, even better, call into the show on Wednesday night at 7pm ET.

Fire The Cannon!

Eric Smith
JacketsBuzz@yahoo.com
On Twitter at http://twitter.com/BlueJacketsBuzz

Rome signed a 1 year contract with Vancouver early on the first day worth $550,000.

Some of the free agents you knew were going to have to wait and see how it all unfolds with the likes of Wade Dubielewicz, Jiri Novotny, Christian Backman and Chris Gratton.

Manny Malhotra has to be feeling the sting as he is still sitting along the wall waiting for someone to ask him to dance. Malhotra has come under the misguiding of his agent and what his true worth is. This is common and now he is going to have to up root his family. If the reports are true that he was demanding 5 years and $10 million from the Blue Jackets, he could be waiting a long time if he has dug his heels into these numbers.

Not many roll players get 5 year contracts. Most are 2 or 3 years. Somebody might pay Manny the $2 million per year if they really need a great face off guy and decent checking line center but I can’t see anyone giving him that kind of money over 5 years.

Jason Williams probably knew he would sit on the sidelines for a little bit and wait for the dust to settle. Somebody is going to want this guy for sure. Big right handed shot, can play center if needed even though he is better suited on the wing and has pretty decent wheels. I still would love to see him on the Blue Jackets but there just isn’t any room at wing and the money he would want probably wouldn’t allow him to be a 4th line center that would be used as a power play specialist. He did make it known that he wanted to stay in Columbus.

Ole-Kristian Tollefsen has been long rumored in trade talks last year and even the year before. There is a market for him as the hard hitting defenseman is a commodity for teams that are looking for a little nasty in their blue line. Tolly has always given the Blue Jackets everything he had even playing with a broken neck for awhile. He is all heart and he will always shoot you straight. I know I will miss him in the locker room as you always got a great quote from OKT and never had to guess what he was thinking.

Most of these guys are going to have to wait late into the summer to see where they will play and some will end up playing in Europe or in the KHL. The only thing I know is that none of them will be pulling on the Union Blue sweater most likely.

Fire The Cannon!

Eric Smith
JacketsBuzz@yahoo.com

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