The Blue Jackets welcome back Ken Hitchcock tonight (but not Leopold, apparently) before heading out to Ottawa for tomorrow’s game. Linky time:
- SB Nation’s Power Rankings saw the Jackets drop five spots this week, and even that might not have been enough if we’re being honest.
- Speaking of – check out the current odds for the NHL Draft Lottery (h/t to Seeds). Click as many times as you’d like and watch the Jackets win (or not) the lottery!
- Um, why can’t he “get back in that groove” in Springfield?
- Speaking of Springfield, they’ve hit a bit of a scoring drought.
- The Hockey Writers list the Top Ten arena atmospheres in the NHL. Someday, NWA…someday.
- ESPN won the rights to the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, beating out NBC Sports and Fox Sports.
- You want your advanced stats? NHL.com will have your advanced stats (coming February 20th).
- CBJ players embrace the cannon. Opposing media and players…not so much.
- Remember Jacket draftee Petr Straka? Here’s what he is up to now in Philadelphia.
- Evander’s Kane is often tossed around in trade proposal ideas. This will certainly ignite the flame a bit./
Let’s get #bizzy. Every now and then I drop by the biz journal site to see what they have to say about the Jackets. The following links are all courtesy of their website:
- The Arena deal seems to be a messy issue with no solution for the time being.
- On that note, the team is enjoying some increased attendance, but it falls below the projected “break even” mark needed of 16,000 fans per game. The graph at the end shows a steady decline in attendance after the first few years, save for the playoff season bumps and some renewed interest (was it bringing in VINNY??) in 2011-2012. What could happen next season with no All-Star tie-in?
- Looking to attend a game on the cheap? Evan Weese reports that the team will be aggressive with its group ticket sales
- TV ratings are up, year over year as well. Watch every game so far this season? You’re one of roughly 8,200 households to do so. It’s unclear to me if that’s within just Columbus, all of Ohio, or what./
Have a fun and safe weekend, everybody.