Game day! Nice to have hockey back in town for a bit - five of the next six games, in fact, are at home...

At The Score, they've decided to recast Stand By Me with a Blue Jackets twist...what you feel about it will be highly dependent on your level of 80s nostalgia.

Meanwhile, Carry The Flag has their weekly prospect report and it appears the Jackets should be getting a few guys back in the next week.

Over at Backhand Shelf, they've got an in-depth look at college hockey players in the NHL and a history lesson.

Icethetics has their first 2012 Jersey Watch, and DBJ takes a hard look at Todd Richards as part of his new Glass Bangers.

At Puck Daddy, Lambert thinks the NHL could learn from the super bowl (and he has some fair points, but I also think the reverse is true), the former owner of the Hartford Whalers isn't impressed with the health of other NHL markets, Ray Emery getting a shot in Chicago, Brian Boyle talking a post-superbowl walk of shame, Jordan Leopold in a nasty collision with Lindy Ruff, and wondering if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may no longer be a sure thing for the Calder Trophy (especially since he was hurt in last night's game vs. Toronto).

At the Dispatch, Todd Richards is still calling for the team to focus on pride, and Ryan Russell is making himself a home through hard work.

Finally, it's not hockey related, but there is a cat on the pitch. This is not innuendo. It is not some strange code phrase. There is a cat on the pitch at Anfield. A cat. On the pitch.

Tomorrow, we get live hockey again. Fantastic!

Unfortunately, that news does not hold true for Brett Lebda, who is out indefinently after requiring thumb surgery. The d-man was hurt early in the Anaheim game, and will be out until his thumb has healed.

On the plus side, it looks like James Wisniewski is skating, so he could be back in the next week or two, and with luck we'll get Nikita Nikitin back in the near future as well.

Plus, there's been the silver lining of John Moore being surprisingly good.

Meanwhile, Scott Gomez hasn't scored in a year (though he ALMOST managed a deflection yesterday afternoon), Ms. Conduct talks about being a newbie goalie well into middle age, and a wealthy businessman wants to build an NHL caliber arena in Seattle, so of course we're speculating that they, too, could be the new home of the Phoenix Coyotes...

Oh, and I hear there was a football game last night. (Was it me, or were the commercials kinda underwhelming this year?)

Happy Sunday!

In case you tuned out the NHL last night, Olli Jokinen had a big mac attack, Sam Gagner is still in beast mode, Ryan Miller broke a franchise record, Martin St. Louis got a hat trick in his 900th game, Ilya Kovalchuk got a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and Teemu Selanne won a pig.

In matters Columbus, Carry The Flag recaps the road trip, Crimespree Hockey takes a look at who is likely to go at the trade deadline, and it's been confirmed that Jeff Carter does not have an NTC this season.

At SBNation, Bruce wonders if Zach Parise might be feeling Minnesota, and a Blues fan pretty much made the best Chris Hansen joke. Too bad Pekka Rinne was, well, Pekka Rinne.

At the Dispatch, Portzline sees an "experience gap", Derick Brassard is beefing up his game, and Michael Arace pens a column about Carter's much discussed exit, which Dannie decided to eviscerate.

Sports Illustrated says putting the Islanders in Brooklyn is a terrible idea, Backhand Shelf can't explain many things, and Cam Charron wonders if Bruce Boudreau could be a Jack Adams trophy candidate?

Dear Derick Brassard:

THANK YOU!

The young forward's OT blast not only marked his first career OT winner, but his first multi-goal NHL game, and earned him first star of the night over at Puck Daddy. Awesome!

For more thoughts on the game, check out Martini Hockey, Puck-Rakers (it turns out the one thing in the world Aaron Portzline and I agree on is our preferred order at In-N-Out), DBJ, and TMM.

Backhand Shelf has a beerability update, the 5 teams Bourne always wants to watch, and praise for an NHL GM doing nothing.

Appropriately, DBJ had some thoughts about the growth of Brassard before last night. So, um, how do we feel about him in a clutch situation now? (Honestly, better, but hoping he can repeat it a few times...) DBJ also put together a few glass bangers earlier in the week.

At Puck Daddy, there's a Scott Gomez protest song and more Jersey Fouls.

LTL has some This and That and a look at a fan made ASG logo concept. Not bad, but I agree - MORE CANNON.

Finally, we've got a whole mess of Clockgate from TMM, Backhand Shelf, and Puck Daddy. Stick-taps to CBJReddit for figuring out this is NOT the first "clock malfunction" at Staples Center this year...

In case you missed it? Last night was kinda frustrating.

Martini Hockey has more video and a recap, there's the usual reports from Puck-Rakers and DBJ shared his thoughts.

Out in the wide world of sports, Backhand Shelf talks to Dr. Mark Recchi, Justin Bourne talks about teams that make him reach for the remote, and trade deadline madness.

At Carry The Flag, there's a fresh prospect review and a well reason argument for why Columbus should build with Jeff Carter.

Carter was also the theme at TMM, with Jeff Little taming the tempest and looking at how rumors are built, a Dispatch piece where Carter claims it is out of his control, and LTL has some "lamb chops."

I think it comes down to this: A lot of the arguments for keeping Carter are looking at a pile of statistics, and those numbers make a compelling argument that say he is the type of player this franchise should be building around.

But statistics say nothing about how a player is interacting with the rest of the room, the attitude he takes towards his coaches, and his willingness to play in good faith. We as fans simply cannot see what happens off the ice on a daily basis, and as much as we'd like to say "off ice shouldn't matter", it does. If Carter could score 40+ when healthy, but he spends much of his time making everyone around him miserable, that's not a good situation for either side.

If you have a co-worker who turns in incredible projects on time and under budget, but spends a great deal of his non-project time antagonizing and harassing the rest of his department or skipping out of other duties, part of management's responsibility is to A) get him to adjust his attitude or, failing that B) determine when you need to move on.

Would attitude issues be less of a problem if the team was winning? Almost certainly. I'm sure that Carter's mindset wasn't improved by the team falling apart, either. But when the team needs to band together, having someone pushing people apart is only going to lead to more failure.

Perhaps Carter's own words are worth judging here - continuing to say that there's nothing he can do about rumors or reports isn't entirely true. Given that the subject of more than a few of the reports comes down to his behavior and willingness to play in Columbus, all Carter really needs to do is come out and make a statement that he's committed to playing here. Yet aside from boilerplate statements from his agent, the silence on that front has been resounding, while remarks like this say quite a bit.

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Welcome to the second half (metaphorically) of the NHL season, as the league kicks back into gear following the All Star Break and teams start either charging for the trade deadline or taking a long look at their assets.

In Columbus, team president Mike Priest said that the newly awarded All Star Game for 2013 will not impact plans to rework the club, while I took a little time to write on the main SBNation page about why Columbus may be more prepared for this event than many expect.

Over at Backhand Shelf, they have top 10 goals of the season so far, (and yes, Jamie Benn's singlehanded one against us is in there), why Tim Thomas is now tied to his politics, an excellent All Star history lesson, the rise, fall, and rise of Carey Price, and a long look at the Crosby neck "abnormality."

Back home, a few more updates on how Columbus fans spent the break, including a protest wrap up by LTL, Martini Hockey's thoughts on the current game and anticipation for next year, some glass bangers at DBJ, and Ten Minute Misconduct headed out to the bonspiel.

Remember, Curling remains the only Olympic sport to allow smoke breaks.

At Puck Daddy, Baseball star Nyjer Morgan (and/or his alter ego Tony Plush) will skate with the Sharks, a look at the playoff picture in the West, the Montreal Gazette stuffs their foot, leg, and boots into their mouth, ratings indicate that Canadian fans were more interested in the skills competition than the game this year (it's the Ryan Johansen ratings bump, I tell ya), a look at Carolina deciding to hang onto previously pending free agent Tim Gleason, and why the Predators may choose to hang on to Ryan Suter despite the heavy trade interest.

Finally, Puck Rakers has the details on yesterday's recall of Andrew Joudrey and David Savard from Springfield, Filly don't do the KHL either, and a hockey agent responds on his blog about why you cannot always trust the media.

Depending on who you were watching and listening to, yesterday was a day of pure joy, righteous anger, anticipation, or fear - and perhaps a mix of all four for those closely monitoring the pulse of the NHL here in Columbus.

In the "Joy" department, the NHL held their All Star skills competition (featuring the Jackets' Ryan Johansen in the breakaway challenge), with some good natured one-upsmanship, record setting power, and a general sense of enjoyment characterized the spectacle.

For the anger, look to the crowd of ~250 who gathered at Nationwide yesterday, delivering a message to ownership and grabbing local media attention as they called for the team to deliver a winning product. Check reactions from Puck Rakers, the Dispatch mailbox, and a Bob Hunter column, while DBJ provided photos of the event.

Appropriately, yesterday also saw the start of a series on NHL.com titled "unzipping the Jackets", looking at the team's fall from early season excitement to midseason frustration.

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Well, it's official - Your Columbus Blue Jackets will host the 2013 NHL All Star Game!

The official announcement is expected to be made later today, but fan and media reactions have been pouring in.

Check out reactions from DBJ, Ten Minute Misconduct, The Hockey Writers, and Hockeybuzz, while TSN's Darren Dreger keeps it short and sweet.

One thing I've seen on Twitter, and I give full credit to @RedditCBJ for bringing it up first: If you're excited about the ASG, you owe Mike Priest a thank you card. Maybe he shouldn't be interviewing hockey hires, but his successes on the business ops side paved the way for this, and his partnerships with the GCSC and local development were what made the bid successful.

The other big news today is, of course, the fan protest.

At CTF, The Coach argues it starts at the top, while Eternal Optimist tries a different version of the JP Mac letter.

Greg puts together a few ideas at Full Mental Jackets, Alison shares her $.02 at Heart Of A Jacket, while DBJ is split between one who won't go to the protest, and one who will.

The New Jackets Fan offers another translation of the letter, LTL talks about turning up the volume, and a Preds fan weighs in on the situation.

Honestly, I think all sides have weighed in, but it comes down to this: I'm not going. I understand why others are. To those who organized the protest, congratulations - you have the attention and gathering you hoped for. But remember that also means a lot of eyes are watching you. Please handle yourselves with the class, dignity, and good spirits that we want Columbus fans to be recognized for around the NHL.

Back to news of this year's all-star game, Ryan Johansen has an ASG blog up, and he'll be competing in the breakaway challenge trick shot competition. Should be a lot of fun to watch!

At Puck Daddy, they have a nice visual guide to All-Star MVPs, Backhand Shelf looks at great all stars on bad teams, and the problem of relocated teams and their history.

We hope you have a great Saturday - enjoy the weekend!