Where do the Blue Jackets go from here?
by Andy Newman on Dec 9, 2011 3:27 PM EST
Email
PrintIf head coach Scott Arniel is comfortably safe with an 8-16-4 record this season (42-61-17 overall as an NHL head coach), Derick Brassard and Steve Mason playing the scapegoat and under performer roles (while having a combined cap hit of $6.1 million), and Scott Howson trying to make sense of hockey operations by hiring Craig Patrick, what is the next move?
Certainly you can't trade one of the big three - Rick Nash, Jeff Carter, or James Wisniewski - or can you? I don't think that's the answer, but where else do you go? Do you gut the group of players that Howson has put around them? If so, what does that say about Howson's ability to build a roster? If a complete rebuild is in order, ownership would need to take a good look at the man who put the players in place and handed out large contracts to Brassard, Mason, et. al. So far, he's only managed to get out from Kris Russell's. Don't forget Mike Commodore.
If you don't start moving some of the players, who else is responsible for late period and end of game collapses? Surely, while Howson did play a bit of professional hockey in his career, there's nothing he can do to stop a mess like last night's game against Nashville.
But if they haven't fired Arniel yet, why do it now? Remember at the beginning of November when there was still a chance to rebound from the poor start? Has anyone checked the standings since Ken Hitchcock took over in St. Louis?
So, if the GM, coach, and players are all staying put, what exactly do they expect to happen to turn this team around?
24 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I have NO clue where i heard this rumor, so there is probably a good chance it has no credibility since i usually remember when it does, but i heard something about a Brassard- Kadri centered deal? Thoughts even if it has nothing to it?
Eric Smith mentioned it today. But OTOH, it’s Hockeybuzz, so…
Editor for The Cannon - A Columbus Blue Jackets Blog
Follow me on Twitter (if you're in the mood to be bored!)
Nothing that Arniel can do to stop a mess like last night’s game against Nashville? Really? Why not just fire him and let the players run the team? I cannot get over how patient people want to be with Arniel. Why? Is it because he’s good looking? Does he have sad eyes? it sure as hell isn’t because of how he coaches. The sooner he is gone, and the sooner this team gets a REAL coach, the sooner we can start learning how to win. Right now we are learning how to lose and we are getting damn good at it.
Im guessing the reason people are being so patient with Arniel is becuase we have gone through something like 8 coaches in 10 seasons, so there is obviously something wrong other than the coach. Firing the coach doesnt always fix the problems, as we have learned in the past. See Caps and Ducks.
Is there something wrong other than the coach? I’ve thought the same thing before many times myself. But have you also maybe thought that we’ve just never found the right guy for our team? When you realize that most of our organization is incompetent, and then realize that those are the people doing the hiring, you sadly realize it’s a possibility.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Howson is also to blame, thanks mainly to the contracts and the letting of some key players go (such as Jan Hejda, who in my opinion was very underrated). But this is a skilled group of players on paper, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean they will all play up to their lofty standards on the ice, you certainly have to think they are better than 8 wins in early December.
Not necessarily deriding your thoughts, as really, this all comes down to a matter of opinion. But just a potential thought. It just seems like we’ve either had a decent coach (Dave King), OR a solid team (such as now), but never seemed to have had both at once (though I will argue Hitchcock’s team was pretty good, as was Hitch, but as it turns out the team just seemed to tune him out, for whatever reason, which is maybe something in your favor).
I definitely don’t see Arniel turning things around, and I’d wholeheartedly be all for a ninth coach in 11 years. If a guy’s just not the right fit, I don’t see the point of keeping him around in the hopes he will magically become one.
Im not sure what the deal is here. Part of me thinks that we just havent found the right fit, like you noted above, and the other half thinks its deeper than just the coach. Im really not sure and i dont think anyone really does or else the problem would have been fixed by now.
I definately dont see Arniel turning this around either, so i would bet he will go eventually. I can also see Howson going soon as well, maybe thats as deep as it runs. But i definately think we should really give a hard look at Priest as he is one of the few constants
It should be noted my above comment doesnt really depict my thoughts on Arniel, i was just trying to answer for those that feel that way.
Not sure if you were replying to my comment, but I said there’s nothing Howson could do about the end of game collapse, alluding to the fact that, I do agree with you and believe Arniel is the biggest problem.
Editor for The Cannon -- A Columbus Blue Jackets Blog
Follow me on Twitter - @andynewman
A great goalie.
Carey Price is about the only Elite goalie who will be a free agent next year, but an RFA at that. His cap hit is 2,750,000, which converts to at least 4,000,000 to play in Columbus.
A great D-Man.
Ryan Suter is an FA next year too. Man I would love to see this guy in Union Blue.
I don’t agree that firing Arniel would be the best solution though. We could have Al Arbour’s clone coaching the team, and it wouldn’t make a difference with the players we have.
Playing for 1st Round Draft Picks since 2000!
If it were strictly a question of Howson or Arniel, I would rather see Scott Howson fired than Scott Arniel. Yes, the coaching has been suspect at best. But the coaching can only deal with the players under contract from the GM. And at least as it seems to me, Howson’s tenure has been littered with poor contracts, which doubly hurts the team – the coach has to deal with less-than-exceptional players, and the team loses the ability to move those players due to their enormous cap hits.
I certainly don’t want to remove blame from Arniel (he of the moronic line combinations, poor late game play, and confusing benching strategy), but I’d rather see Howson go. Just because he’s better than Doug MacLean doesn’t mean he’s any good.
CCT, CBJ, SU, NYM, Bills Fan. It can be depressing.
Sometimes I tweet things
If you look on paper, and not at contracts, what place do you think the Jackets should finish the year in? This has nothing to do with contract $, what our record is now, or injuries. Just looking at our roster, and our roster depth.
If the honest answer is below, say, 10 then Howson should be fired. If its above 10, Arniel. Thats how i look at it right now.
Besides, if Kaberle’s contract can be moved, we should be able to move someone as well. We lose a lot of salary after this year also.
And by no means do i actually think Kaberle’s deal can be moved on a regular basis. But i do think if you look hard enough there are opportunities out there, even if its a smallish return.
And i absolutely cant stand the way Arniel is managing his lines AT ALL. It pisses me off so much. So IMO, if Howson goes, so should Arniel.
In other words, i dont really care if Howson gets fired, as long as Arniel goes with him.
My wider thinking on this (which of course makes it a more idealized case and less likely in real life) is that Howson and Arniel both get canned. But if Arniel goes first, Howson is left with more time to deal with the team, make more unwise moves, and potentially be involved a hiring a coach that doesn’t gel with whatever new GM would come in.
Considering that his job was theoretically on the line going into this season, I can’t really see Howson surviving a year like this. So I’d rather see somebody else deal with player and coaching personnel decisions if Arniel is going to be fired too.
CCT, CBJ, SU, NYM, Bills Fan. It can be depressing.
Sometimes I tweet things
Completely agree
Which worries me going into trade deadline knowing that Howson will be making decisions with it being doubtful of him remaining for next season. If we are going to fire Howson, i would have rather done it a while ago so whoever is next in charge would be able to start the trade wire and get things done.
Now, i get the feeling Howson will remain at least to the end of the season. No reason to keep him here right now if that werent the case
Some deals I could see happening
Brassard to Calgary for sarich. Gives Columbus a top 4 dman ( this year is just a down year which could be fixes with a change of pace) plus sarich is ufa after this year. With him and huseilious off the books next year that frees about 8 mill in salary cap for someone like suter or weber.
Phalsson to sj for 3rd rnd pick. Rebuild mode.
Huseilious to Detroit for jiri hudler. Hudler hits ufa this year as well as juice but jackets would spend almost half as much on a player who is currently healthy
by FFmorgan89 on Dec 9, 2011 4:54 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Why would Detroit, who sure as hell is probably hoping for a cup this year with all their old guys, want to trade Hudler (great depth guy), for Juice (injury problems). This is Juice in the playoffs, where things are even more physical.
I would also rather not trade Brassard for a rental. I would rather go for a draft pick if this were the case.
It will definately be interesting to see what Howson can get for Brassard when he trades him. Same with Pahlsson and Huselius.
From what I understand hudler is not well liked in the Detroit locker room. Huseilious is an upgrade and Detroit can afford to let him rest more and not rush him back. Plus that would mean that he would be well rested for the playoffs. It’s hard to imagine brassard pulling a draft pick with out brining back salary.
by FFmorgan89 on Dec 9, 2011 5:48 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Damn you, Andy!
I actually had not checked the standings since Ken Hitchcock took over for the Blues. And now I see that they are 10-2-3 since he took over, which somehow makes me even more depressed for the status of our team this season.
And I would say there’s nowhere to go but up, but as the Jackets have proven already, there’s always more room down below. Oh well. Good post nonetheless. Will be interesting to see how even half of these many, many questions get answered.
Will be even more maddening to see if they don’t.
But also consider that the Blues were hovering around .500 when Hitch too over. It’s not like he was left with a 15th place team.
Playing for 1st Round Draft Picks since 2000!
by PomeroyCBJFan on Dec 9, 2011 11:58 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Sure, but the Blues as an organization felt that a 6-7-0 record wasn’t good enough. They took decisive action and it paid off – they’re sitting at 5th place in the West.
When have the Blue Jackets ever made a smart, decisive action like that? In the rare case of cutting someone from the organization too early (Dave King, Ray Whitney), they have almost always sat on people long past their expiration date (see my previous post – Doug MacLean, Zherdev, Filatov, Klesla, now perhaps Howson, Arniel, Brassard and Mason).
Editor for The Cannon -- A Columbus Blue Jackets Blog
Follow me on Twitter - @andynewman
by Andy Newman on Dec 10, 2011 12:22 AM EST up reply actions
I agree that the organization needs to make some changes.
I was just saying that Hitch wasn’t necessarily the solution to our problem.
Playing for 1st Round Draft Picks since 2000!
by PomeroyCBJFan on Dec 10, 2011 2:36 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Thanks Andy
You took the words right out of my mouth. And sorry CBJFan…I wasn’t nearly suggesting that Hitch was the answer for us and that that’s where we would be if he was behind our bench…I was just insinuating that look what a change in coaches CAN do for a struggling team. The Blues got the right guy (at least for now), and the boost now has them in a competitive spot.
Meanwhile, we just sat complacent with the same coach and largely the same team with a 3-12-2 record earlier on in the season, and now we’re already forced to look on to next year if we want any kind of success, or anything worth cheering about. It’s ridiculous.
by Toxichighway on Dec 10, 2011 9:46 AM EST up reply actions
I think we shouldnt do much
I would try to dump brassards contract if i could, but ever since sanford took over in goal were 5-3-3. I can see the talent of this team when they have confidence in their goalie, and i think with a few tweaks we can be a playoff team next year especially if/when we get a very high draft pick and a good young player. Assuming sanford can keep up playing decent, which i think he will, maybe not as good as he has been, but still solid, i would give him an extension, and decide if you still want to try and groom mason for the future or dekanich or whatever. Its unfortunate we have to waste this year because the team and the city really needed a winner now, but i think good things are coming… I HOPE. If we could reset the season starting now with sanford in goal, wiz not suspended, carter healthy, we would be competitive all year for a playoff spot in my opinion.
If you just sign Sanford to an extension now, based on his roughly 12-game sample, you run into the same problem the Jackets always run into: Giving a guy a contract without making him show you what he can do. Already Sanford’s stats have taken a huge dip. I honestly think he just needs a break, but offering him an extension now is just another possible example of the stupid, rushed decisions this team seems to make (not that I am calling your idea stupid at all, but you get what I mean.)
But I agree with the fact that we REALLY needed a competitive product this year, and this of all years is the time we didn’t even come CLOSE to getting it. It really is a shame. I also agree that we could easily be in a better place this year if the season didn’t get off to such a bad start, but unfortunately they did and we’re still paying for it. It’s just depressing all around.
by Toxichighway on Dec 10, 2011 9:54 AM EST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on The Cannon
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Blue Jackets Schedule
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Coyotes’ Mike Smith believes Dustin Brown should be ‘done forever’ for Rozsival hit; slams Game 5 officiating
- Tuesday’s Three Stars: Penner’s overtime winner puts Kings in the Final
- Mike Milbury vs. Jeremy Roenick over Dustin Brown’s Game 5 OT hit on Michal Rozsival (VIDEO)
- Watch Kings, Coyotes in hostile handshake line after Dustin Penner sends LA to Stanley Cup Final (VIDEO)
- Kings vs. Coyotes Game 5; Pierre McGuire on Tortorella/DeBoer argument (Playoff Puck Previews)
