We know all eyes will be on the Nashs, Brassards, Voraceks, Masons at camp but here are 5 players vying for a roster spot with the big boys to keep you eyes on heading into the Jackets 9th training camp:

1. #28 Nikita Filatov
Age: 19
Position: Forward
Years pro: 2
2008-2009 stats: 8-4-0-4 (NHL); 39-16-16-32 (AHL)

Why?
I know.. obvious right? I can’t start off any list of players looking to make this year’s team without addressing Nikita.

The former #6 overall pick from the 2008 NHL draft was the #1 ranked prospect not playing in the NHL by The Hockey News last season. Although this kid is a lock for the big squad all eyes will be on him to see how he performs in his 2nd NHL camp (remember he was hurt a lot during last year’s camp) and to see just where he fits into the Columbus lineup.

…and there is that KHL thing which will ultimately end up being a non-issue.

2. #47 Jonathan Sigalet
Age: 23
Position: Defense
Years pro: 5
2008-2009 stats: 19-5-6-11 (AHL)

Why?
Sigalet got off to a very nice start in Syracuse last season racking up 11 points in 16 games before suffering a season ending injury.

With the #7 spot on defense currently up for grabs Sigalet possesses an offensive acumen that could elevate him to the top of the callup charts when/if a Columbus regular goes down. Being a 5th year pro it will be interesting to see if he can separate himself from the callup pack in his second season in the Blue Jackets organization knowing full well there is a window of opportunity here for a player with his skill set that he must seize.

3. #44 Grant Clitsome
Age: 24
Position: Defense
Years pro: 2
2008-2009 stats: 73-4-15-19 (AHL)

The guy is the very definition of a long shot (9th round pick in the ‘04 draft) to make it to the NHL. After spending 4 seasons refining his game in the NCAA D1 ranks for Clarkson of the ECAC and putting in the work at prospect camps Clitsome earned himself a 2-way contract. Last year he spent his first season as a pro with Syracuse experiencing the typical ups/downs most first year pros experience while collecting a respectable 19 points in 73 games.

Clitsome is a guy I’ve been impressed with every time I’ve seen him. The part of his game that stands out to me the most is his poise with the puck — the guy never seems to panic or make a bad play.

It will be interesting to see if he can continue to improve and climb that player development arch in his 2nd year as a pro. If he does he could find himself right in that mix for that 7th d-man position or on the short list of callups.

4. #21 Alexandre Picard
Age: 23
Position: Forward
Years pro: 5
2008-2009 stats: 15-0-1-1 (NHL) 49-22-10-32 (AHL)

Why?
This guy is like Sylvestor Stallone and just won’t go away.

If you recall Picard turned in a solid camp last season as he looked to fill the role as a 4th line agitator. In fact he made the team out of camp but numbers on the wings eventually caught up to him and after he passed through waivers he was re-assigned to Syracuse.

That wasn’t even the story of his year though.. the story was the torrid goal scoring streak this guy went on the final few weeks of the season where he notched the majority of his 22 goals. That streak opened a lot of eyes and after 4 years of trying to find the game that made his so successful in junior Picard seemed to finally find it at the AHL level.

The question now is can he translate that to the NHL level? What is working against him yet again are the numbers on the wings. What is working against the Jackets is that if he does continue to perform and they can’t make room the chances of him clearing waivers this time are significantly less.

He will never live up to this 8th overall draft pick status but I look for Picard to make a strong case to make this team again. I like the idea of him playing on a line w/ Boll and/or Dorsett and really being a pain in the ass to play against with some ability to puts pucks in nets.

5. #12 Mike Blunden
Age: 22
Position: Forward
Years pro: 5
2008-2009 stats: 76-12-19-31 (AHL)

Why?
Word around the camp fire is that the Jackets will try converting a wing to a center to fill that 4th line center void. A name that has been mentioned is Mike Blunden.

Blunden was acquired last season for Adam Pineault. It was a “change of scenery” deal as both former 2nd round picks seemed to have leveled out in their development archs.

This camp will be my first chance to see Blunden play and I, like lots of scouts and mgmt types I’m sure, am intrigued by this guy’s 6-3 size. He is said to have the tools to be a pro in this league.

He’ll get a nice opportunity to strut his stuff and even if he doesn’t make the team out of camp it’s a tremendous chance to add his name to the short list.

*********************************

There are certainly some other names to keep eyes on like Matt Calvert whom I love but think no matter how he performs is still a year away from turning pro.

Nick Holden is a guy that would have made my top 5 if he wouldn’t have been stricken with mono weeks before camp.

Mathieu Roy is a veteran brought in for added defensive depth but he’s more of a bruising defensive player – his window opens up if injuries to our defending guys pile up.

Brent Regner will be a 1st year pro who absolutely lit up the WHL as a defensemen with 67 points in 70 games last season. He’ll be a guy I’ll watch but think he’ll spend at least a year with Syracuse before making a push.

Of course we can’t forget about the lessons learned from last season in terms of goaltending. Even though we look as solid as we ever have between the pipes with Mason and Garon the fact is we are just one injury away from seeing Dan LaCosta or Kevin Lalande. For that reason alone it’s worth watching which of the two has the better camp.

Fire away - who will you be watching closely at camp this year?

-LTL

En ce premier lundi de février, Alexandre Picard des Blue Jackets de Columbus (pas celui des Senateurs) a vu son nom placé sur la liste de ballotage.

Picard, ailier gauche de 6′2″, 206 livres, 1er choix de Columbus en 2004, serait très certainement à sa place dans l’alignement du Canadien avec les blessures à Lang et Latendresse.

Avouons qu’il ne pourrait pas faire pire que bien d’autres.

Via Sportsnet:

Mason, who didn’t even get his first start until Nov. 5 when he beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-4, has been nothing short of spectacular since that game. Through January 13, Mason is 16-9-1 and leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.80), save percentage (.936) and shutouts (six). Folks in Columbus (not exactly a hockey hotbed) have even begun calling the Oakville, ON-native Stonewall Mason.

Apparently I didn’t get the memo but hey, I’m flexible. Its certainly better than Stevie “Franchise”… of which Ronny “Franchise” Francis was tagged that many moons and Whalers ago.

Plus the “Stonewall” name has civil war connections - albiet a Confederate one.

Lovin the pub though.

Speaking of hockey hotbeds… ESPN (not really) is sending out some CBJ love which an entry titled We’re eating our words about Columbus …

What the last month has also taught Hitchcock is that, regardless who is in his lineup, the Jackets have finally become a team after searching for an identity over the first two months of the season.

“I think what’s happened here is a really good lesson for me and for everybody else,” said Hitchcock. “Accountability takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. We made a lot of good changes over the summer for our team moving forward. But just because you add a bunch of guys to the locker room doesn’t mean you’re a team. I think what’s happened is the grind of the schedule and the adversity we’ve gone through has helped make us more cohesive. Our team is starting to realize we can win games if we just become the sum of parts.”

The one person Hitchcock didn’t mention in all of this was the coach. We’ll take care of that. Once again proving he is indeed one of the elite coaches in this league, Hitchcock has found a way to squeeze juice out of a rock over the last month. If the Jackets somehow make the playoffs, he should be considered for the Jack Adams Award.

You aren’t the only one eating some of your words ESPN.. save some table space for me.

..and if Hitch gets this squad into the playoffs he better be in that Jack Adams discussion. The way this team has held things together and thrived over the past couple of weeks with all these injuries really is something special and Hitch has been a big part of that.

Derek MacKenzie has been sent down to make room for Raffi Torres.

I really like MacKenzie as a depth guy.. I love the energy he brings every shift. I hope he eventually stick with a club somewhere but for now its nice having him as an option.

As for Raffi hopefully this is the moment where he finally gets over the hump with his injuries. We’ve seen some flashes of what he can bring to this squad over the 14 games he’s played but those injuries keep getting in the way. No doubt his rugged style will compliment this lineup.

So the question now is who is next?

If Rick Nash and Andrew Murray come of the IR which could come as early as today the Jackets are going to need to clear out some roster space.

Guys on the bubble would be: Alex Picard, Craig MacDonald & Nikita Filatov

If Rick Nash is back I think Filatov is sent down. Filatov is a top 6 skill player and was recalled to replace Nash which he did admirably (visions of his hat trick still dancin in my head). However the Jackets want this kid developing and playing key minutes so he can solidfy his spot in the lineup next year — there is no reason to keep him up and play him 4 minutes a night. Let him develop — didn’t hurt Brassard right?

If Murray comes back then things get interesting. Which guy do you send down between Picard and MacDonald? Both have played well. I think you choose the one least likely to get claimed on waivers (although I read somewhere that Picard may not have to pass through them again due to some 30 day rule). Personally I think Picard stays up and they’ll send MacDonald down.

The roster should look something like this:

Top 6: Nash, Huselius, Voracek, Umberger, Modin, Malhotra
Bottom 6: Boll, Peca, Torres, Murray, Dorsett, Williams
Scratch: Picard

In case you hadn’t heard yet Brendan Shanahan has signed with the New Jersey Devils and will finish the year with them…. and whadyaknow — the Jackets will be his first game back tonight.

Hopefully he doesn’t shake off the rust until his second game!

Finally the Jackets look to be on the hunt for a goaltender. How serious they get will depend on Leclaire and the report they get on his ankle.

This comment from Leclaire didn’t strike me the best:

“If I can’t play, I can’t play,” Leclaire said. “But if there’s an option and I can come back and play, that’s what I want to do.”

I’m probably reading into this alot more than I should but it sounds pretty ho-hum. You’d think this guy would be chomping at the bit to get back in there and get his pipes back.

I’ll have some pre-game thoughts up a little later today!

-LTL

Game: 

Joel Lundqvist and Nicklas Grossman did not play. Lundqvist’s shoulder was sore from the CBJ game, and Grossman was out with the flu.

Scoring opened at 1:27 in the first, when Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson scored with a snap shot with assists from Ilja Zubov and Filip Kuba. 

Despite three penalties (Krys Barch at 3:23 for boarding, Nick Foligno at 5:19 for hooking, and Anton Volchenkov at 12:44 for hooking) and consequential power plays, neither team scored until the final minute of the period.

Matt Niskanen’s shot managed to trickle past Martin Gerber at 19:09 to tie the game going into the first intermission. Mike Ribeiro and Darryl Sydor got the assists. 

Second period.

Fabian Brunnstrom got his first NHL penalty at 2:11 for interference on Brendan Bell.

The Senators broke the tie on the following man advantage, when Antoine Vermette scored at 3:52. Assists went to Foligno and Mike Fisher. 

At 7:02, Chris Kelly took two minutes for hooking Mike Modano, giving the Stars a power play. 

Brad Richards took advantage of the PP, scoring at 7:37 in an unassisted solo effort.

Dallas managed to take the lead by making the game 3-2 when Toby Petersen scored at 9:49, assisted by Landon Wilson and Doug Janik.

Stephane Robidas was whistled for hooking at 10:39. 

At 10:55, Stars veteran Jere Lehtinen went to check Alfredsson, who turned to catch himself awkwardly on the boards. Lehtinen did his best to limit the damage, even grabbing the Ottawa captain in an attempt to slow his descent. Alfredsson put on a heck of a show, going to stand but dropping dramatically to his knees. His teammates came to his aid and helped him limp off the ice, and later it was announced he had an upper body injury and would not play the rest of the game.

Lehtinen, a powerful forward but by no means vicious, was slightly targeted for the rest of the game by a team looking to stand up for their captain. Later  he was called out by an angry Ottawa journalist as someone who should have been absolutely demolished by the Senators for the hit. 

Alfredsson earned a spot on our hate list for potentially putting a finally-healthy Lehtinen in danger with his theatrics, with a questionable injury that disappeared by their next game a few days later. Boo.

Anyway, the irritated Senators got another PPG at 11:51 from Jason Spezza, assisted by Kuba and Gerber. 

Matt Niskanen and Krys Barch both got penalties for slashing, at 12:49 and 19:59 respectively.

Niskanen’s was killed off, but Barch’s lingered into the third period.

Right at the beginning of the third period, at 1:36, Alexandre Picard scored for the Senators on the remaining PP. Assists to Chris Phillips and Foligno.

Sean Donovan got a holding penalty at 9:03, but the Stars couldn’t convert.

Finally, at 14:26, Loui Eriksson scored to tie the game, assisted by Richards and Niskanen.

The game was pushed to overtime.

Early in OT, Trevor Daley got a penalty for delaying the game when he put the puck over the glass at 00:27. It was a questionable call, as the puck seemed to deflect off the stick of a Senator first. Hm.

The Stars killed off the power play, but again the momentum fueled the other team and they caught Dallas flat-footed.

Jason Smith scored at 3:30 in OT, with assists from Fisher and Dany Heatley, to win the game. 

Notes: 

• The three game stars, in order: Foligno, Smith, Richards
• Turco let in five goals for the second game in a row, with a .848 sv%. 
• Three of the five goals came out of six Senator power plays.
• Conclusion: This game had a lot of the problems the CBJ game had, only this one we didn’t win. The goaltending was sloppy, special teams were poor, and leads slipped away and turned into deficits. 

SHR +/-:

Stephane Robidas: two for tying for the team-best in hits with five and for winning a faceoff but minus-one for the stupid penalty that the Sens scored on; +1
Matt Niskanen: three for the goal, two for the assist, and one for an otherwise strong game; +6 
Krys Barch: two for tying for the team-best in hits and for winning a faceoff but minus-one for a stupid penalty that the Sens scored on; +1
Toby Petersen: three for the goal; +3
Landon Wilson: two for the assist and one for tying for the team-best in hits; +3
Jere Lehtinen: one for delivering four hits, all of which were perfectly clean; +1
Doug Janik: two for the assist and one for finally getting a point as a Star; +3
Marty Turco: minus-two for not being able to string a couple of good games together for some reason this year; -2 
Darryl Sydor: two for the assist; +2
Mike Ribiero: two for the assist but minus-one for failing at faceoffs; +1
Brad Richards: three for the goal but minus-one for leading in giveaways; +2
Fabian Brunnstrom: minus-one for the penalty that the Sens scored on but one because he never takes penalties; +0

The CHL announced the rosters for the 2009 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game today.  The Lewiston Maineiacs are represented again this year as defenseman Eric Gelinas will be heading to Oshawa, Ontario on January 13th.

The 17-year-old defenseman has 6 goals and 16 assists in 35 games this season.

Other QMJHL players invited include Olivier Roy (Cape Breton), David Gilbert (Quebec), Dmitry Kulikov (Drummondville), Simon Despres (Saint John), Charles-Olivier Roussel (Shawinigan), Philippe Paradis (Shawinigan), and Jordan Caron (Rimouski).

The way that Gelinas is playing, he’s a second round pick.  I think a good showing at the Top Prospects and possible selection to the Under-18 in early April will put in the late 1st round or in the early second round come June.

In alumni news, Alexandre Picard was recalled by the Columbus Blue Jackets today.

Danick Paquette and Michael Chaput will be representing the Lewiston Maineiacs on the big stage.  Paquette will be replacing Logan MacMillan on the QMJHL roster for the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge.  Ed Harding made a call to the League, to get him on the roster.

“I made a couple of phone calls.  I was disappointed that he was not selected at first.  I voiced my opinion, very professionally, and said you have very good players here.  If it gets down and dirty with the Russian Team, you want someone like Danick Paquette out there helping you out,” said Harding.

Ed Harding stressed it’s an honor for everyone involved.

“The League called me up, and asked if was okay. I said is it okay? It’s an honor for Danick; it’s an honor for the Lewiston Maineiacs to have him represent us at that ADT Challenge.”

Michael Chaput will be joining the 29 players that are under 17 at Hockey Quebec’s evaluation camp in late November.  Out of the 30 players, only 22 will be selected to go to the World Under-17 Challenge in Port Alberni, British Columbia.  The tournament begins on December 29th to January 4th.

Ed doesn’t want to focus on Chaput statistics but see what he does against players his own age.

“He’s 16-years old; this is older men’s league, he’s done very well.  I don’t think you can look at the stats at this level (QMJHL).  Let’s see how he does against kids his own age.  The time we will be able to judge Chaput is after Christmas and as 17-year-old and as a 18-year-old,” said Harding.

His experience at the QMJHL level will do him wonders at the evaluation camp. “He’s going to be really good there. He has received a lot of ice time here and playing in all situations. He has gained a lot at the Major Junior level.”

Team Atlantic should announce their roster in a week or two where it’s expected Garrett Clarke will be named to the roster.   Maineiacs fourth round pick in 2008, Travis Moore, could also be named as he has 6 goals and 12 assists in 21 games with the Truro Bearcats of the MJAHL.

Stephan Hoyl Helps Canada East to Win Bronze

In Camrose, Alberta, Maineiacs 8th round pick in 2007, had goal and three assists in four games at the World Junior A Challenge.  He had three assists in the Bronze Medal game.  Team USA won Gold as they defeated Canada West 7-1.

Back on the Bus

Alexandre Picard was put on waivers late last weekend by the Columbus Blue Jackets and has cleared waivers.  He joins the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.  In other AHL news, Eric Castonguay was recalled to the Lowell Devils.  He was leading the Trenton Devils with five goals and nine assists in 10 contests.  The Binghamton Senators have released Pierre-Luc Faubert from his Professional Tryout Contract.  Faubert didn’t suit up for the Baby Sens.  He rejoins the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL where he has two goals and five helpers in ten games.

(Nathan also started “The World of Junior Hockey Blog” and is a contributor to the Maine Hockey Journal His email is fourniern@students.nescom.edu.)

I certain CBJ blogger (you may know him!) contributed to this blogger’s Western Conference preview. Check out what he had to say about the CBJ here. The Eastern Conference preview can be found here.

There was a really good turn out last night at the season ticket holder event at the Columbus Zoo. In fact there seemed to be a lot more people compared to the similar event they held back in 2005 coming out of the lockout.

So with Torres out for 6 weeks who gets that extra roster spot? That is the question the boys at the Dispatch looked at in today’s addition.

Before the scratch appeared to be one of Novonty, Malhotra, Murray or Chimera. All of those faces will be in the lineup now.

So who gets that 13th forward spot? The names tossed around in the paper were Filatov, Dorsett, Sestito, Picard, MacKenzie and Pinealut.

Depending on how Filatov does in his first pre-season action this Thursday or Friday (or both) I can certainly see the Jackets hanging onto this kid for at least 9 games fora taste before sending him down (which I think they eventually will do). The last thing I want is this kid playing in the bottom 6 when he could be getting prime minutes in Sudury while the Jackets also save a year on his contract. We’ve seen what the extra year or two has done for Brass and Voracek so why stray from the formula?

After the Filatov situation works itselft out my money is on Dorsett.

Why?

I just think this kid can add a lot to our lineup in a 4th line role. He’s shown he can play at this level and this dude is a tough as nails to play against. Not only will he drop the mitts if needed but he hits, can pot a goal here or there and isn’t afraid of doing the dirty work it takes to win…..and as Portzline stated yesterday, he’s proud to be a Blue Jacket which is icing on the cake.

I think Picard has done a pretty good job this pre-season to make a case for himself and I did not realize he was waiver eligible which may tip the scales in his favor as I think he’s got a decent shot at getting claimed. Derek MacKenzie has also shown well but he is center depth and with Novonty and Manny very capable of playing those roles I can’t see him getting the nod (although I think we’ll see him on the big club for a few stints) even though I’m sure he can play wing no problem.

All things being considered though if it were me making the decision right now its Dorsett.

-LTL

Incapable de boucler le dossier Andrej Meszaros, le directeur gérant des Senateurs Bryan Murray a réglé le problème en échangeant le défenseur au Lightning de Tampa Bay.

Meszaros, qui était joueur autonome avec compensation, a accepté une entente de six ans qui lui rapportera une moyenne d’environ cinq millions par saison.  Pensez-y un instant 5 millions par saison pour Meszaros!!!

En échange les Senateurs obtiennent beaucoup.

En retour de Meszaros, agé de 22 ans, les Sénateurs mettent la main sur Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard et le choix de première ronde que le Lightning avait acquis des Sharks de San Jose en retour de Dan Boyle lors de la saison 2007-2008.

D’accord le défenseur Filip Kuba 31 ans ce n’est pas la merveille du siècle à la ligne bleue avec une saison de 6 buts et 25 passes la saison dernière.  Mais c’est tout de même pas très loin du  9 buts 27 passes de Meszaros.

Alexandre Picard un défenseur de 23 ans  qui ne compte que 92 matchs d’expérience dans la LNH ce n’est pas assez non plus pour remplacer Meszaros.  Mais ça fait tout de même un francophone de plus dans l’organisation des Senateurs.

Aussi, un premier choix de San Jose… ça peut s’avérer intéressant à long-terme.

Je me demande si les Senateurs vont s’ennuyer tant que ça de Meszaros.

Semble-t-il que les Senateurs offraient 3,5 millions à Meszaors, lui en voulait 5.

Trop gourmand le Meszaros, comme punition il ira jouer sous le chaud soleil de la Floride.   Arrivera-t-il là avant après Gustav ?

Quand on se souviens de la dernière hiver, je me demande si c’est une si grosse punition que cela pour Meszaros.

Avouons que d’évoluer en plus avec Lecavalier et St. Louis c’est pas si pire comme changement.

J’aurais bien vu Andrej Meszaros à Montréal, mais bon, Bob devait encore dormir au gas entre deux rondes de golf.  On échange pas quelqu’un dans sa division vous allez me dire?  Dans le contexte actuel de la LNH je ne vois pas ce que ça peut changer.

Well, the Flyers certainly know how to move the D.

Janne Niskala, who apparently insists that he will sign with Europe’s KHL if he can’t get a one-way NHL contract, was sent packing to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2009 sixth round pick.  Given the depth chart in Tampa Bay has a surprisingly decent depth chart for a last place team - Dan Boyle, Filip Kuba, Paul Ranger, Mike Lundin (a plus-3 rating over 81 games), and Doug Janik as primary defensemen.  They also picked up Alexandre Picard from the Flyers at the deadline in exchange for Vinny Prospal.  So I would be very shocked if Niskala managed to obtain an NHL offer from the Lightning. 

The Flyers acquired defenseman Tim Ramholt from Calgary in exchange for left winger Kyle Greentree.  It’s only an AHL trade, but it does add to the defensive stock in the Flyers system.

And Denis Gauthier was placed on waivers today.  Will any other NHL club snatch him up?  It’s possible.  Gauthier models his hard-hitting game after that of Scott Stevens and proved himself a leader while serving time on the Phantoms this season.  But Gauthier isn’t the same caliber of defenseman as Stevens, often taking himself out of good defensive position when angling to make a big hit.  We’ll see whether he clears waivers.

My prediction: Paul Holmgren is not going to sit silent at 12 noon tomorrow.  I expect to see a move to nab Jeff Finger from Colorado’s clutches.

Picard Glad To Be Thrown Into Mix With Lightning

I was busier than I planned yesterday and couldn’t get this post finished. But I’m back at it today and Drew has given me some coupons for a McDonald’s breakfast treat and the local restaurant happens to have free WiFi, so here goes.

I made a remark about officiating and to expand on that: When I saw Dave Jackson skate out on the ice Tuesday night for the Calgary game, my first thought was that, OK, we won’t see many calls tonight. Jackson is a senior official who worked some of the big games in the recent past. Cup Finals, All Star games, Olympics, he has done them all, but he is no longer a rising “star” among NHL officials and after 18 years as an official, he is established and set in his ways. His partner, Chris Rooney has about half of Jackson’s experience and would be the one to make the calls.

And they made a lot of calls and although I did not keep good records that night, it looked to me like Rooney made the majority of calls. Believe it or not, the calls were even, but the Jackets took calls at the wrong time. The call against Adam Foote for cross-checking only 25 seconds into Derek MacKenzie’s penalty was an example of this. I watched Foote raise his arms and push them as far as he could into the back of Dion Phaneuf with Chris Rooney standing about 10 feet away. Did Foote think that he was going to get away with that? If they had a video camera present, they could have shot this sequence for instructional purposes to show what cross-checking is. Foote was hosed because to make things worse, Phaneuf was not standing just outside the Blue Jacket goal crease but was further out and away from the “privileged area” that goaltenders have. As bad as this was, it did establish how the game was going to be called.

Except that later on in the game, Zherdev was clearly tripped on an offensive rush, but no call. Jason Chimera was hit in the face with a stick and probably got stitched up after the game, but no call. On the Glencross goal, Kris Russell was hauled down as he made the pass, but no call was made. So why did the officiating crew decide to call things differently after the Foote penalty? I have no idea, but want to hear what that crew was thinking.

The reason I mention the call against Foote is not to berate Adam for his poor decision, because Foote learned from that and did not commit another penalty the rest of the game. I mention it because it showed that at least ONE player on the Blue Jackets figured the officials out and then adjusted. What was Rick Nash’s problem? He earned a Slaymaker award with three costly penalties on the night when the team badly needed him to do something offensively.

People have remarked that the team has recently resembled a Gerard Gallant-coached edition, with the undisciplined play and lack of planning that marked his teams. I will agree that there are some similarities and that would be the roster, which is almost the same one that Gallant had to work with. Maybe we should re-sign Anson Carter to fill in for some of the injured players we have and the similarity would be complete.

I understand that the team is not very deep and not matching up to Calgary and others very well. If you take this game and the Boston loss together, it showed that the NHL has figured out that the way to beat the Jackets is to keep them away from the crease area and not allow them to follow-up on their shots. For both games, the Blue Jackets took more shots than their opponent, but have one goal to show for it. Instead of calling up Derick Brassard to help with the scoring issues, maybe they should consider Tommy Sestito and his size. A lot of you are saying that Ken Hitchcock needs to send a message to the players, but he did that by benching the 6′3″ Kris Beech in the third period. The team has to compete better for offensive opportunities in the crease area and you do that by establishing position and taking the punishment that comes with it. Beech and the other forward have to play this way.

The team is competing better this year, but as the season goes along, I see a few guys who won’t go into no man’s land to get some chances. Calling guys up from Syracuse is not going to help because those guys aren’t ready yet. We’ve tried Alexandre Picard many times and he still is not ready. If you think Marc Methot is ready, do you honestly think he will put up better numbers than Kris Russell?

-Truth Serum

Almost 8 months after 2004 1st round pick (8th overall) Alexandre Picard suffered a devastating MCL and ACL injury to his leg he’s expected to make his season debut for the Jackets’ AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch. Apparently he’s also bulked up according to Crunch blogger Lindsay Kramer:

Patrick’s comment yesterday on the Aaron Johnson post regarding the QMJHL interested me.  He mentioned that someone in the front office seems to really like players from the Q, but they tend not to pan out.  Patrick also noted that the Q is regarded as the weakest of the three Canadian junior leagues.  While the latter statement is not easily quantifiable by me, the first is pretty easy to view.

What I can say regarding the competitiveness of the three leagues is this: since the creation of the QMJHL (the youngest of the three) in 1969, here is the breakdown of Memorial Cup champions by league.

• Western Hockey League: 17
• Ontario Hockey League: 14
• Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: 8

So on a very base level of judging competitiveness, Patrick is correct that the Q is the lesser of the three leagues.  (Stat freaks and fans of the Q, please note that this is a broad statement made for the purposes of moving on to the next point and not intended to indict the Q in any way.  Q fans especially may want to keep reading.)  Moving on…

In the last seven years (junior league information was not readily available on NHL.com for draftees in 2000 and I’m lazy to take the five minutes it would require to complete the results), the Columbus Blue Jackets have drafted 71 players.  Here is a breakdown of the top five leagues/countries and the average draft position of a player selected by the CBJ from that league.

1. Ontario Hockey League: 13 players, average pick of 113
2. Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: 11 players, average pick of 102
3. Western Hockey League: 9 players, average pick of 129
4. Russia: 7 players, average pick of 131
5. Various high school leagues: 6 players, average pick of 155

This does give me a little insight.  Columbus drafts players from the Q at a higher average position than any other group.  But this also includes a slew of players who very likely were not expected to make the NHL (I’m just rambling so I sound smart, you can quit reading at any time), so I decided to only include picks in the first three rounds (1-90) and reevaluate.  I know that with the limited history of the Blue Jackets drafts this will not be a great statistical sample, but I don’t care.  The results?

1. Ontario Hockey League: 7 players, average pick of 50
2. Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: 5 players, average pick of 23
3. Western Hockey League: 3 players, average pick of 42

The OHL had the most players selected in the first three rounds (led by Rick Nash at #1 overall in 2002), but the Q led in the more important area.  Players selected from the Q in the first three rounds have an average draft position of 23.  I have to say, this shocked me.  If you take Aaron Johnson out of the equation (he barely squeaked into the top 90 at #85 in 2001), the average draft position for QMJHL players is an astonishing 7.25!

With such a small data set, I’m required (by law!) to make very broad brush strokes to paint my picture.  So what’s the problem that Patrick’s indicating with the Jackets using so many high draft picks on Q players?  It probably has to do with the fact that none of them are stars, and only one (Pascal Leclaire) has shown that he might be a regular NHL’er. 

Immediate disclaimer: In the 2006 Entry Draft, the Jackets selected Derick Brassard (at #6) from the Q and in 2007 they selected Jakub Voracek (at #7) from the Q.  Both of these players are too young to pass judgement.

Still, that leaves Alexandre Picard (#8 in 2004), Pascal Leclaire (#8 in 2001), and Aaron Johnson (#85 in 2001) as Q alumni who have played with the big club.  Leclaire shows flashes of extreme promise, but has been unable to stay healthy long enough to know for sure.  Picard has done well in the AHL, but has struggled mightily at the NHL level.  And finally there is Johnson, who never quite found a permanent spot on the club and was not extended a qualifying offer.  He will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Many would argue rightfully that it takes at least five years to properly evaluate a draft.  I don’t disagree, I just dont have that much data to work with.  So some of you who have gotten this far may be asking yourself, “what the hell is Drew’s point?”

I’m glad you asked.  One line in particular in Patrick’s comment sparked this whole mini-research project for me, and it was probably the line that contributed the least to his point (correct me if I’m wrong, Patrick).  It was:

Someone in the organization likes this league above the others.  It worked for Sidney Crosby and not so well for Alex Picard.

I understand his point, but I wanted to make a rebuttal.  There are plenty of good NHL players who have come from the Q.  There have been eight players elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, including Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, and Patrick Roy.  Plenty of current NHL’ers played junior hockey in the Q, including Sidney Crosby, Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier, Manny Fernandez, Ales Hemsky, Daniel Briere, and Roberto Luongo.

Sure, the Blue Jackets haven’t exactly mined the best there is out of the Q.  But they really haven’t cherry picked any of the other leagues, either.

So what did you learn from this post?  Probably to avoid any posts I make that started out with, “So and so said something the other day that made me think…”

Thanks for stopping by the End of the Bench.  Come back soon.

As reported in today’s Columbus Dispatch, winger Alexandre Picard (the Jackets 2004 first round pick) was suffering from vertigo for most of the 2005-06 season. I don’t know too much about this particular problem, but more information can be found here. It sounds like this could be fairly disorienting for anyone, let alone someone who makes their living on a slippery surface.

Picard reports that he feels better now, and has been educated on how to deal with future spells. Here’s hoping that the young winger will continue to enjoy his good health and go on to a fine NHL career.

Best of luck, Alexandre.

In a continuation of the season-ending process, we will resume examining the various position players on the Blue Jackets. We’ll give our opinions on the pros and cons, a little bit of salary info (if we can find it) and any other tidbits we find interesting. Today, the left wingers get put under the microscope.

Left Wings

Rick Nash
- Age – 21
- Status – Signed through 2010 (I think)
- Pros – By far the most talented Blue Jacket in the offensive zone. Rick is able to use his size and strength to create goal scoring opportunities that other players cannot. Great hands and size will enable him to continue to score a lot of goals for many years to come.
- Cons – Still has not developed into a two-way player. Has shown more defensive responsibility this year than the past two, but still needs a lot of hard work to be on the ice in all game situations. It remains to be seen if Nash’s injury problems at the beginning of the season are cause for concern or are a thing of the past.
- If I were GM/Coach – Keep Rick Nash in Columbus for as long as you can. Allow him to develop as a leader, and he may be the next team captain when Adam Foote leaves. Nash is one of the top ten players in the NHL when he’s healthy, and the Columbus franchise needs him now to keep fans in the seats.

Nikolai Zherdev
- Age – 21
- Status – Still playing under his rookie contract (thank you Dispatch for taking down the information I was using. That’s what I get for taking to long to write these articles. Does anyone know where I can find NHL contract information on the internet?)
- Pros – Mastery of the puck, dazzling stickhandling skills. Zherdev has a quick shot that can sometimes surprise goaltenders because it comes from odd places (behind the defenseman). Nikolai is not afraid to handle the puck (sometimes to a fault, see below) and is adept at drawing a crowd away from his linemates.
- Cons – With a few exceptions, Zherdev is invisible in the defensive zone. Often seems to lack the discipline and sacrifice to forecheck and backcheck the opposition. Consistency of attitude is important to develop, as Zherdev has a tendency to look very disinterested if he is not performing up to his personal standards.
- If I were GM/Coach – Keep Nikolai on a forward line with fellow Russian Sergei Fedorov, who has seemed to be a good influence on the young winger. Lock him up to a long-term contract at the earliest convenience, as this youngster’s goals will translate into cash in the form of filled seats. There is nobody on the roster that keeps you on the edge of your seat like Zherdev does.

Jason Chimera
- Age – 27
- Status – Restricted free agent
- Pros – A speedy winger with good size, Chimera is not afraid to throw his body around and bang with the opposing team’s top line. An important character player, Jason chipped in 17 goals this season which was a nice surprise.
- Cons – Those 17 goals are a career-high, and it remains to be seen if Chimera will be able to increase that high or not. Constantly using his body as a battering ram will eventually wear him down, but that is what third and fourth line guys are for (if we’re being honest).
- If I were GM/Coach – Try to keep Chimera with the squad. His size and willingness to get physical are very important to a team that also ices quite a few smaller players. If he can continue to be an effective checking line winger while netting 15-20 per year, he is more than worth the investment.

Jody Shelley
- Age – 30
- Status – I think he has one year left on his current contract.
- Pros – Shelley can pound somebody’s face in with the best of them. Oh yeah, he can take a punch, too.
- Cons – Usually only sees four to six minutes a night, for very good reason. Shelley does not contribute much in the offensive or defensive zone. His lack of speed could become a liability in the “new NHL”.
- If I were GM/Coach – Shelley is a great guy to have on your team. The fans love him, his teammates probably enjoy having him in the locker room and on their team. Unfortunately, for the Jackets to make the slow conversion from pretender to contender, Shelley will have to go. I would let him play out the final year of his contract if no one else wins the spot, and then let him live on in Blue Jackets lore as our first legitimate enforcer.

Alexandre Picard
- Age – 20
- Status – Signed through 2007-08
- Pros – Picard showed us in his late season call up that he loves to hit. At 190 lbs, he needs to add another 20-25 lbs to become a major physical menace. He has not scored in the NHL to date, but he has shown vision and promise.
- Cons – Seems to have a confidence issue with the puck, but I would attribute it at this point to lack of experience and youth. Once Picard scores a goal, he will “know that he belongs” and continue to play that way. Needs to play with the big club and gain familiarity with linemates to feel comfortable.
- If I were GM/Coach – Picard has shown that he wants to play in the NHL and is willing to work hard to be there. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for him to be on the club next year, nor would it be a disaster for him to have another season in Syracuse.

In a flash
I haven’t seen enough of any left wingers in Syracuse to speak on those on the farm team. This might be an area that Columbus will look at in free agency to fill a second line spot to play with Zherdev (probably a true right winger despite playing often on the left side) and Fedorov. The hope is probably that when Shelley is let go (it will happen), that Picard will be ready to step up and be an NHL regular.

Up next, the right wingers.

Thanks for reading.

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Have a great Friday.