Favorite Blue Jacket Tournament: Games 1 and 2

Welcome to the start of the 2017 Cannon’s Favorite Blue Jackets Tournament!

Some notes before we begin:

• Thanks to everyone who submitted nominations last week. 100 players were mentioned at least once. The best cutoff I saw was to take the 48 players with 6 or more nominations.
• I split up the 48 by era, then seeded each group of 12 based on popularity in the nomination process. I will share the full list of nominations and the full bracket after every player has been revealed, which will be at the conclusion of the second round. Gotta have some suspense, ya know?
• We’ll have a new post up every weekday from now until early September. The first two rounds will feature two match-ups per day. On these dual days, pay attention to make sure you’re voting correctly.
• Remember, this isn’t best Blue Jacket, it’s favorite Blue Jacket. Sure, on-ice production will be a factor, but you can consider any off-ice reasons.
• Voting in each match-up will remain open for at least a week, until the start of the next round for that bracket./

Without further ado, let’s get started. First up are match-ups from the early years:

Round 1, Game 1: #8 Rostislav Klesla vs. #9 Tyler Wright

Klesla, D: 515 GP; 41 G; 92 A; 133 P.

Notes: “Rusty” was the first entry draft pick in franchise history.

Wright, C: 309 GP; 57 G; 51 A; 108 P.

Notes: After retiring, Wright returned to Columbus and served 6 years as a development coach.

Round 1, Game 2: #5 Ray Whitney vs. #12 Lyle Odelein

Whitney, LW: 151 GP; 45 G; 95 A; 140 P.

Notes: Whitney was the second CBJ captain, serving in the 2002-03 season.

Odelein, D: 145 GP; 5 G; 28 A; 33 P.

Notes: Odelein was the first captain in franchise history, serving 2 years in that role.

Feel free to lobby for or against these players in the comments. Do you have any memories of them?

Vote for your favored players in each match-up here:

Favorite Blue Jacket, Games 1 and 2