Dallas’ Brad Richards cut the deficit to one only 21 seconds later, but it was too little, too late as the Blue Jackets held on for the 2-1 victory.

The win was the first for interim head coach Claude Noel, who toke over after the firing of Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday.

Steve Mason made 22 saves to grab the win.

Columbus captain Rick Nash played in his 500^th game, and assisted on Umberger’s goal.

Dallas did not commit any penalties, but was not able to capitalize on any of the three Columbus committed.

The Blue Jackets continue the home stand against Buffalo on Saturday night, and then are off until a Wednesday night affair with Dany Heatley and the San Jose Sharks.

The San Jose loss came in the middle of what has turned into a five game point streak for Columbus, their longest of the season.

This is the midweek report.

Last Three:

San Jose:
After a hard fought overtime win over Washington, the Blue Jackets returned home to face Dany Heatley and the San Jose Sharks.

The game marked the first game back for Columbus defenseman Jan Hejda, after missing three weeks with a sprained knee. However, Columbus was without regulars Derick Brassard, Mike Commodore, and Kristian Huselius, who were all out with minor injuries.

As usual, the Blue Jackets allowed the first goal of the game, a wrist shot from Joe Thornton, his fourth of the year.

But with less than one minute remaining in period number one, Jason Chimera scored his fourth goal of the year and tied the game at one.

In the second, the two teams traded power play goals from Dany Heatley and Rick Nash, both their 10th of the year.

In the shootout, Nikita Filatov, Anton Stralman, and Rick Nash were all denied by San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, while San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle put one past Columbus goaltender Steve Mason, handing the Sharks the 3-2 shootout victory.

Atlanta:
Raffi Torres recorded his second two-goal performance in three games in the 4-3 win over Atlanta last Thursday night.

Jakub Voracek and Derick Brassard both scored first period goals while Columbus goaltender Mathieu Garon made 32 of 35 saves for the win.

Torres, who now has eight goals on the season, scored only 12 during all of last year and recorded only one multi-goal game.

In all, Atlanta outshot Columbus 35-21.

Carolina:
After falling down 1-0, and being held scoreless through two periods, the Blue Jackets came out firing to start the third period.

Courtesy of Nikita Filatov, Jared Boll, and Rick Nash, Columbus scored three goals in the first 3:31 of the third period to take a commanding 3-1 lead.

Filatov scored his second goal of the year just 50 seconds into the period on a wrist shot assisted by Derek Dorsett and Derek MacKenzie.

Jared Boll added his first goal of the season just two minutes later on what may have been the goal of the night in the National Hockey League.

Seconds later, captain Rick Nash tallied his 11th goal of the campaign to reach the Jackets’ three goal total. Nash’s goal came unassisted.

The loss stretched Carolina’s winless streak to 12 games, the longest in franchise history.

Columbus goaltender Steve Mason made 20 of 22 saves, and also recorded an assist on the Boll goal.

Carolina goaltender Cam Ward left the game at the 7:35 mark of the first period after being cut by a skate. Ward was treated at a Columbus hospital and was not able to travel back with the team.

The Youth:

Columbus forwards Derick Brassard and Jakub Voracek combined for a pair of goals and a pair of assists in the 4-3 win at Atlanta.

Nikita Filatov tallied his second goal of the year in the win over Carolina while Jared Boll scored his first.

Power Play Watch:

Columbus was 1-1 on the PP against the Sharks, 0-2 at the Thrashers, and 0-3 against the Hurricanes.

This brings the season total to 14-63, or about 22.2 percent, which is good enough for ninth in the NHL, a slight drop from where it was a week ago.

This is one area the Blue Jackets have seen vast improvement after ranking last in the NHL on the PP for much of last season.

The Kill:

The Blue Jackets killed off one of two penalties against San Jose, six of eight verses Atlanta, and five of five against Carolina.

With the new totals, The Blue Jacket rank 18th in the NHL on the kill, and the season total runs to 58-73, or 79.4 percent, similar to what it was a week ago.

Columbus continues to take too many penalties. In the game against Atlanta, the Blue Jackets took seven straight penalties, on which they allowed two goals that kept the Thrashers in the game.

It is hard on a penalty-killing unit when they are asked to kill that many penalties in one game.

Central Race:

The Blue Jackets and Blackhawks sit in a tie for first place atop the central division with 20 points apiece.

Detroit, with only 15 games played compared to 16 for every other team in the division, sits in second with 17 total points.

St. Louis and Nashville have 16, and 15 points, respectively.

Columbus continues to lead in goals per game average with 3.18. However, the Blue Jackets also have the worst goals against average in the division with an average of 3.37 goals allowed per game.

Injury Report:
According to the Blue Jackets’ official website:

Winger Fredrik Modin remains on the injured reserve with a knee injury and is expected to be out for four to six weeks.

Forward Kristian Huselius has missed the last three games with an upper body injury.

Andrew Murray also remains on the IR with shoulder issues.

Up Next:

Columbus face division foe Detroit at home on Wednesday night for the first time since the Red Wings swept Columbus out of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The game will be the 1,000th NHL game for Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock.

Detroit is 7-5-3 on the season and currently sits in third place in the central division.

On Friday night, the Blue Jackets will welcome Scott Niedermayer and the Anaheim Ducks into Nationwide Arena where they will face off for the second time of the year.

Columbus won the previous match 6-4 in Anaheim.

So far, the off-season has been brutal. Other than a couple days in late June and early July, things have been pretty quiet around the league. Significant news has been few and far between, and the same few rumors about Zubov, Kaberle, and Heatley all ran their course and and eventually fizzled.

It’s been a long four months, but fear not Jackets fans, hockey is on the way.

The turn from summer to autumn means two things in Columbus Ohio: college football, and Blue Jackets hockey. So as the first pre-season game nears, here is your update on all things CBJ.

It has been reported that Antoine Vermette is interested in re-upping with the Jackets and talks between the two sides have begun. The talented winger is coming off a year in which he tallied 13 points in only 17 games with the club. Negotiations are said to be in the primary stages.

Word from Russia is that rookie phenom Nikita Filatov has been training along side IIyl Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers and former Blue Jacket, now KHLer Nik Zherdev. Filatov is preparing to make his debut as a full time Blue Jacket in 2009 after a productive few games in ‘08. The human highlight reel will be fighting for a spot along one of the top lines once training camp begins in a couple weeks.

Rick Nash practiced along side Sidney Crosby and Jerome Iginla on the first line for Team Canada on Monday. The other four lines looked like this:

Brenden Morrow-Mike Richards-Dany Heatley

Eric Staal-Joe Thornton-Corey Perry
Milan Lucic-Vincent Lecavalier-Jeff Carter

Simon Gagne-Jonathan Toews-Martin St. Louis

Steve Mason is one of five goalies invited to Team Canada’s training camp in Calgary looking to earn one of three spots on the final roster. However, the 21 year old is up against some steep competition in veterans Roberto Luongo, Martin Brodeur, Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Ward.

Mason led Team Canada to a gold medal at the world junior championships in 2008.

Jacket’s coach Ken Hitchkock is also in Calgary as an assistant coach under head coach Mike Babcock.

R.J. Umberger is also still in the mix for a spot on an Olympic roster. After being snubbed off the original list of 34 orientation camp invitees, Umberger, along with 40 others, is under consideration for a roster spot on Team USA pending an Olympic sanctioned drug test. A player’s performance in the first three months of the season will weigh heavily in the selection process said Team USA General Manager Brian Burke.

On Tuesday the Blue Jackets confirmed their new ECHL affiliate, the Gwinnett Gladiators. “We are very excited to add Gwinnett as our ECHL partner for this upcoming season,” Blue Jackets Assistant General Manager Chris MacFarland said in a release on Tuesday.

The Gladiators, located in Duluth Georgia, are also affiliated with the Atlanta Thrashers, which is common at this level. Columbus affiliated with the Dayton Bombers from 2000-2007, but are now with their forth team in four years since ‘07 after switching to the Elmira Jackals in 2007-08 and the Johnstown Chiefs last season.
The Columbus Chamber has commissioned a study of how to make the Blue Jackets economically viable after the team announced it had lost $80 million over the past seven years, reported the Columbus Dispatch.

The study will be conducted by former Ohio State professor of finance Steven Buser, and could be completed by early fall.

The intent of the study is to list other practical options to help the team make it back into the black.

Single game tickets go on sale Thursday September 3rd at 10pm.

It’s been a long summer, but hang in there Jackets fans, because training camp is only 17 days away.

They always seem to have some sort of problem with personnel and or players. See Daigle, Yashin and now Heatley. Moving on it has been one coaching staff after the next. Maybe Dany has seen through this and wants to be apart of a stable organization that doesn’t fire their coaches every 45 games.

In the time that Howson has been here, he has basically done everything correct. He has completely turned this organization around and created a buzz. We made the playoffs, we have some of the most young & exciting talent in the league. Not to mention they are all one entry level deals that are cap friendly. (Filatov,Brassard,Voracek,Russell) We also have Goulebef & Moore on the way.

So let’s consider these Dany Heatley rumors. If the media did not make him out to be a bad guy and didn’t ask to be traded out of Ottawa, would you want him on your team? Do you think Heatley could play for a coach that is as well respected in Ken Hitchcock? I think he would do great in a system under Hitch; Heatley had his best year when Murray was behind the bench.

Edmonton had a deal that would of sent Cogliano, Penner & Smid going to Ottawa for Heater. Cogliano is a great up and coming player in this league and is lights out fast. Penner has never really panned out in Edmonton and is a player that Ottawa was most likely forced to take on due to Heatley’s contract. Even still Penner is not that bad of a player if he gets back into shape and plays like he did in Anahiem. Smid is a big bodied defensemen that plays a solid defensive game, still young and has the potential to play in a teams top 6.

Now if I were Howson he can use that deal as a basis to work off of. It’s safe to assume that Brassard will not be going anywhere as he is penciled in as the team’s top center next season. There is the possibility of Filatov moving but the Sens would have to take back some players with bigger contracts. They may even have to toss in a player with Heatley.

Is Filatov going to be better then Cogliano? I know I would rather Filatov on my team, easily.

Now moving on to Edmonton‘s Penner makes 4.25 a season, Huseluis makes 4.75. Once again who would you rather have? I’d pay slightly more for a player that can actually skate in Huseluis. Sorry Edmonton but looks like we can build an attractive offer and maybe downgrade on Filatov to say one of Mayorov, Legein and Picard.  The kicker if a trade does happen Howson is going to make sure the Modin and his 3.5 million dollars is sent packing.

If Ottawa would rather improve their blue line we could consider moving Russell, Methot or Goulebef. Ottawa has been after Russell for quite sometime now and this may be their shot at him.

If I am Howson you tell Murray you can have either Filatov or Russell, Brassard is a no. We lack depth down the middle. From there you can pencil Modin into any trade by default for cap purposes.

My proposed deals would be something like this

Filatov, Modin, Torres for Heatley

Torres is relatively young and can be replaced via free agency with someone cheaper. Filatov is the real deal and the backbone of this trade.

Russell, Huseluis, Modin for Heatley

I would not want to give up much more in a deal and remember there are still over 200 free agents out there that can help fill roles. Now is an opportune time to try and swing a deal of this nature. It is the offseason and Howson will explore all options that can improve his team. Giving Hitchcock the options of Heatley & Nash upfront would be deadly. As we know Howson is one of the smartest GM’s in the league, if he can land a 50 goal scorer and not sacrifice too much of the future I believe he makes that trade. Who knows what will happen, we all thought Heatley would be an Oiler by now anyways. Gotta love the off season…

]]> http://firethecannon.com/columbus-rumored-to-be-in-on-heatley-36399.html/feed/ 6 http://firethecannon.com/sunday-stirrup-36285.html http://firethecannon.com/sunday-stirrup-36285.html#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:13:23 +0000 Devon Kunkel http://firethecannon.com/?p=285 The Stanly Cup has finally been awarded, Congratulations Detroit on their valiant effort and to Pittsburgh on their first cup since 92. Fleury came up with the save of his career in the dieing seconds of play and that is rightfully deserved. Fleury has came a long way since his disaster for Team Canada at the World Jr’s many years ago  Right now we sit only 12 days away from the draft and things are starting to peculate.  

Early last week we discussed Columbus going after a top line center to play with Nash. The two names we talked about at great length were Spezza and Marleau. We can  cross Spezza off our list with Dany Heatley’s trade request. Late last week, Ottawa‘s Team 1200 Radio was speculating on a Nash for Heatley deal. HAHA, Ottawa would dream for an offer of this magnitude. Nash plays a solid 2 way game, doesn’t shy away from hitting and can score. He is everything you want in your franchise player, Heatley on the other hand only seems to apply himself in the offensive end or when he has the puck on his stick. The General Manager of Ottawa is in a tough position with Heatley being owed a 4 Million dollar bonus on July 1st. 

With Heatley upset in Ottawa it now decreases our chances at acquiring Marleau. If your San Jose would you want a package of Huseluis, picks and prospect for Marleau or try and create your own package to land Heatley to play long side Thortnon? 

If you haven’t read Aaron Portzline latest article at the Dispatch you should check it out.

The Blue Jackets – with the right tinkering – can remain a playoff-caliber club for many seasons to come. They are in better shape now than every before, with a wave of young talent ready to take over and a slew of bold, responsible veterans in the dressing room to show the way.

Everyone out there believes this team will remain a playoff-caliber club with the amount of young talent on the way. By adding a mobile puck moving defensemen through the draft would do wonders for this franchise for many years to come. 

CBJ fans do not have to worry about the current arena disaster and the amount of cash the teams is rumored to be loosing. If you look at back the last couple of years the likes of Ottawa, Buffalo and Pittsburgh have all seen their fair share of financial difficulties and are now thriving/winning Cups in their respective cities.  The NHL wants to keep hockey in Columbus and this is a market that I believe can support.

And hey what ever happen to Jamie Pusher?