Shrapnel - 10/21/11

Good news: It's Friday!

Better news: It's a Game Day!

With that in mind, we'll keep this simple.

Vinny Prospal spoke out about the lack of hunger to the Dispatch, and wants to make it work here. Bob Hunter's neighbors think it's time to fire everyone. Interestingly, Hunter characterizes the team's ownership as J.P. Mac and a bunch of "head-nodders". Nice way to refer to your ultimate boss, Bob. Meanwhile, the team is looking to get back to their strengths.

Something worth studying - over at Copper & Blue, they break down changes to the Oilers PP. Something they bring out is the team focusing on guys down low, and the defense working to get the puck to them as part of isolating the defense, not simply setting up for long bombs. That's worth watching for - what are we doing, and can the Jackets take some useful hints from Edmonton?

Speaking of the hot seats, Gallos has an excellent piece at DBJ: Will the Jackets ever recover from firing Dave King? Tom, on the other hand, makes some darker comparisons.

Over at Backhand Shelf, they're hoping for a few old rivalries that could return, getting a bit more critical about scoring leaders, talking about a 30 year old rookie, doing more face painting with Semyon Varlamov, and talking a look at Mike Yeo's conversational approach.

Over at Full Mental Jackets, Greg thinks Columbus is a bit of an island. At Carry the Flag, they're hoping you'll support the 10/25 game not just for the Freeing of Wiz, but for Hockey Fights Cancer. Meanwhile, Alison tells a little story about why she calls her blog Heart of a Jacket, and how it applies to right now.

Over at Puck Daddy, they make up a few more victory trophy ideas, look at how Mike Priest is defending the Jackets, find out that Michael Phelps is an Ovechkin fan, responds to a Denver sports commentator trolling hockey fans, winces at the cost of retiring the Fighting Sioux nickname in North Dakota, and yet another newspaper in Vancouver goes after Roberto Luongo...and wants to pick up Vinny Lecavalier?

Over at TMM, Jeff talks about looking at the team through a glass, darkly, but doesn't hesitate to question what he thinks are bad personnel decisions by Scott Arniel, while Kat offers a week 2 recap at Strait-Jackets.

NHL fans in Scandinavia are happy today after the NHL finished another broadcast agreement, while Travis reviews NHL Game Center Live vs. Center Ice.

Over at Puck Rakers, they discuss the looming threat of the Red Wings tonight, and put out another Cannon Fodder podcast.

Finally, things are not so rosy in Nashville, while the Wild and Rangers blasted out some buzzer beaters.

We'll be back later to get you ready for tonight - have fun and stay tuned!