Welcome back to Cannon Blasts! Let me take you behind the curtain a bit — throughout the summer, we’ll be doing one of these every couple of weeks or so. Once the season gets here, who knows, but as for now, that’s the plan. So sit back, enjoy, and lets have some good, fun conversationing.
Jack Johnson is no longer a Columbus Blue Jacket, and some might be bummed by that while others don’t really care. However, in trying to win over his new fans in the Steel City, he may have burned every bridge he ever built while in the Union Blue.
Jack Johnson: “I’ve been looking to be in a winning culture.”
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) July 1, 2018
The irony here is lost on no one, I assure you. Jack Johnson, who has been a Jacket since 2011/12, is complaining about CBJ not having a “winning culture,” despite 1.) being brought in to have a hand in building one and 2.) who was a healthy scratch throughout the playoffs for, rumored to be, a myriad of reasons.
Look dude, I get that Pittsburgh has had tremendous success, both in the past and recently, and I get what you were trying to say — you’re excited to be with a club that has that tradition, and you hope to add to it. That’s what any athlete would say.
But there are any number of ways of saying that without coming off like a complete prick and, well, you picked the one way that.
Johnson later clarified his statement, as Aaron Portzline reported, but in the same report got a quote from Jarmo and Torts and, needless to say, both were pissed.
And it wasn’t just JJ’s comments, it’s what was said by Jim Rutherford that also lit a fire under the Jackets front office.
If you weren’t already looking forward to having Pittsburgh come to NWA, this should be enough. Even though there are still plenty of hate towards Rick Nash, the recency of this could vault Johnson up the charts to public enemy #1.
Columbus Blue Jackets News
- The story of the CBJ free agency, at least one day in, is the signing of a position the Jackets desperately need depth help in, with Riley Nash coming to Columbus.
- Tommy Cross, Adam Clendening, and Dillon Simpson were also each signed by the Jackets in NHL free agency Day 1.
- The Jackets also signed Garret Cockerill, but to an AHL contract./
NHL News
- Gonna put this here since they’re not Blue Jackets anymore, but for a running list of guys who have left Columbus, click here.
- The LeBron-to-LA move of the hockey world also happened yesterday (okay, that might be an exaggeration) as John Tavares is now a Maple Leaf.
- Noted Jackets’ rivals Buffalo made a non-free agency move in trading Ryan O’Riley to St. Louis.
- For a full tracker of every move during free agency, here’s your spot./
Sports News
- I alluded to it above, and I know a ton of you are going to hate me for saying it again, but I have to – LeBron is a Laker.
- You know the SBNation NBA team is killing the free agency coverage, so if you’re interested, just head there. Also, here’s their rumor tracker.
- For the first time in quite some time, both quarterfinal games in the World Cup went to PK’s and the host nation of Russia and Croatia pulled it out over Spain and Denmark, respectively. They’ll meet Saturday in Sochi.
- Kam Chancellor maybe announced his retirement? No one is quite sure.
- The Ohio Machine of Major League Lacrosse fell to New York by one goal this weekend.
- As we move forward throughout the summer, there will be news regarding sports you know nothing about, but that I have garnered quite an interest in. Unfortunately, nothing really of note has happened recently to put in here, so it’ll have to wait another time./