Like the team themselves, many Jackets fans are in search of inspiration.
“Where do we go now? What do we do?”
We hope that the Sunday bag skate will have had a revelatory affect on the team. We desperately want to see the aggressive, hungry squad we thought we would get this season.
Surprisingly, a voice for calm and reason comes from Michael Arace, who wants to wait on any judgments until after this weekend. Elsewhere at the Dispatch, Aaron Portzline covers a battlefield promotion for Derick Brassard, and Shawn Mitchell looks at the goalie crunch.
(For the record, yes, Capgeek reports the Jackets within ~900,000 of the cap, which was probably part of the reason that Mathieu Corbeil was brought up, but remember that Kristian Huselius is a candidate for Long Term IR (he will miss 10+ games and more than 24 days with his injury). According to the CBA, any team with a player on LTIR is allowed to go over the cap without penalty up to the value of the injured player’s salary. Now, the downside of that is, if Howson made a move that violated the cap, he would be forced to clear salary before the team could bring Juice back when he (eventually) returns.)
After seemingly reaching the end game four or five times already, it looks like we’re back to the final push for the Coyotes once again.
Andy sums up things nicely at CBJ Blog: #WTCBJ
Over at Backhand Shelf, hot starts are a myth, Bourne talks about game day for a healthy scratch, there’s a new (better?) metric for goalie performance, and a look at Ryan Kesler lurking his way back onto the ice.
DBJ looks at the kids being removed from his lawn and sees some positives to go with the negatives.
Hockey Canada is lobbying the NHL to raise the draft age from 18 to 19. Not surprisingly, he has some ulterior motives, but he also has some history behind him in the case of the 2003 draft class and the lockout. Admit it – would you be happier with the Ryan Johansen situation if we weren’t worried about “losing” him to Portland for the year, and could put him in Springy instead? I suspect a lot of people might.
This look at sports fans and getting depressed / giving up was written for the Predators (0-2-1 in their last three games) but it’s absolutely worth reading in Columbus, too. Speaking of “misery loves company”, the Lightning are now 1-3-2 and got blown out in their home opener. And, hey, if the Jets can finally get a win, why not us?
Over at Bluejackets.com, Rob has your latest Jackets Journal to get you ready for today’s game. We’ll have our own preview up later this morning!
At Crimespree Hockey, they see the Islanders as a team on the rise, to which I agree, but I also have to couch that with concerns about the health of their D, their goaltending, and their overall depth. Still, no denying that John Tavares is in Beast Mode right now.
As the bad luck piles up, Jeff suggests an old priest and a young priest for the Jackets. Me? I’m thinking it’s time we ask the team to restore Hockey Jobu to the locker room.
Finally, a smorgasbord of internet over at Puck Daddy, ranging from edible NHL logos (here’s hoping he does Columbus – maybe blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries over creme fraiche?), looking for a majority opinion on fighting in the NHL, fantasy hockey needs, the Bruins getting lauded by the Harvard Lampoon (I’m sensing some slight bias), the joy of hockey hugs, yet more rumored Winter Classic jerseys, the Oilers had some problems with raising their derrick last night, and a bit more of the futility that is Battle of the Blades. (Seriously, the judges are allowed to un-eliminate the losing team? What? And they don’t have to make up with it by a double elimination the next week? So essentially this “battle” could theoretically run the entire season as a tie? WHAT?)
Anyhow, that’s it for this morning. We’ll be back to get you ready for the rematch with Dallas!