I veered astray to comment on the NHL’s award voting geography curiosity but am back on track with the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Let’s do one more award for the season and then try to wrap 2013 up with a bow in the next post, shall we?

DBJ's Columbus Blue Jackets Rookie of the Year, Dalton Prout (photo taken from Dalton Prout's Twitter page. You don't think he'll mind, do you?)

Beyond the Most Valuable Player award, I wanted to go out of my way to recognize what I deem to be the team’s rookie of the year.  Unlike my MVP, Vinny Prospal, this one shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: The Dark Blue Jacket CBJ Rookie of the Year is Dalton Prout.

There wasn’t a ton of rookie talent competition for Prout in 2013.  Cam Atkinson put in 27 games last season, so he wasn’t eligible using the “must play less than 25 games in the prior season to be considered eligible” standard that the National Hockey League uses for awarding their rookie of the year award, the Calder Trophy.

In fact, the only real competition was Tim Erixon.  Erixon played in 31 games for Columbus this season, notched five points (all assists) on the year and wound up with a plus-4.  In comparison, Prout played in fewer games (28), scored a goal in addition to his six assists and was plus-15 on the campaign.  Thanks for playing, Tim.

Prout arrived in Columbus on March 1st and never left.  I’m not going to say that his arrival was the magic ingredient to fire up the Blue Jackets’ season-ending 19-5-5 streak, but it would be foolhardy to say that Dalton Prout was not a contributing factor.

Then there’s that plus-minus score.  A plus-15?  PLUS-15?  We haven’t seen a plus-minus that high in Columbus since the CBJ’s playoff season of 2008-09, when Jan Hejda piled up a plus-23.   And Hejda wasn’t a rookie.

Prout logged 468.65 minutes of 5-on-5 time, with another 26.4 of 4-on-5 (penalty kill) and 1.12 of 5-on-4 (power play).  That’s 496.17 minutes across 28 games, or 17.72 minutes per game.  Those aren’t your normal rookie third pairing/occasional healthy scratch numbers.  Those are big boy minutes, with the minutes ramping up real quickly once Prout broke into the roster.  In fact, I see eight games where Prout pulled more than 20 minutes.

To be clear, I’m awarding Prout as top rookie and not top defenseman.  I acknowledge that he’s not going to win the NHL’s Norris Trophy for top defenseman any time soon.  But for being a rookie, he was an incredible contributor and has a bright future ahead of him.

So, for his defensive contributions leading up to his plus-15 rating and his ability to crack the lineup and pull top-two pairing minutes almost immediately, I can’t see how one cannot give Dalton Prout the CBJ rookie of the year award.

The heart, soul and scoring backbone of the 2013 Columbus Blue Jackets: Vinny Prospal

It’s time to look back in earnest on the 2013 Columbus Blue Jackets season, to try to put some capstones on the team and its efforts coming out of the NHL lockout.  In my mind, there’s no better place to start than with the individual award that stands out above all others: The team’s Most Valuable Player award.

Of all the awards out there, this is perhaps the most deliciously subjective.  Does it go to the most prolific player?  Does it go to the one whose efforts most impacted the team’s performances? (And how does one quantify “impact”?)  Does it reward a person whose actions at a pivotal moment were the most positive?  Does it reward a player who showed up every day, playing strong as his blue line crumbled around him (see: Fedor Tyutin, my 2009-10 CBJ MVP)?  Tough questions.

Can a goalie be your MVP?  Let’s be honest with ourselves: A really good goalie covers up a number of faults that a team might have.  So if a goalie has a great year, should the award go to anyone BUT the goalie?  And what about a goalie – like, say, Sergei Bobrovsky – who starts the season with a rough 3-6-3 record but then morphs into a beast between the pipes, finishing with an impressive 21-11-6 stat sheet?  (And I suppose it’s fair to ask whether that marked improvement is all on Bobrovsky or perhaps a reflection of a commitment to team defense that we haven’t seen in years.)  I’m going to say that goalies can be MVP’s, but Bob wasn’t the MVP.  Most Improved Player?  Probably.  But my Most Valuable Player award goes in another direction.

I suppose in my slowly advancing age and also in this age of instantaneous communication of ideas and thoughts (Thanks, Twitter) that it should come as no surprise that I have selected Vaclav Prospal as my 2013 Columbus Blue Jackets Most Valuable Player.  Let me explain why I chose Vinny. Read More »

It’s been a wild season in Columbus for the hometown Blue Jackets, one that is culminating with One Of The Most Important Games in Franchise History (Yet another – feels like we’ve been in this mode for the last month or so, doesn’t it?) as the CBJ take on the Nashville Predators at 7PM on Saturday to try to secure a playoff time for only the second time ever.  It’ll take a little help from the likes of the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota Wild, but a playoff seed is not out of reach as we close out the 2013 regular season.  I’m hearing a sellout is likely at Nationwide Arena, so expect a little noise from the fans!

Beyond that, it’s also Fan Appreciation Night.  The Blue Jackets will open the festivities at 5PM on the Nationwide Arena plaza with “interactive games and entertainment for the kids.”  Among the other in-game promotions will be a free team poster for each fan (courtesy of FOX Sports Ohio) and the annual “Shirt Off Our Backs” giveaway at the conclusion of the game – a neat ceremony that shouldn’t be missed.

Lastly, the Blue Jackets sent out an email this afternoon to ticket holders informing them of the following:

Dear Blue Jackets Fan,

The safety and comfort of our fans is of paramount importance to the Columbus Blue Jackets and as you are probably aware, Nationwide Arena implemented new security protocols earlier this season to that end. In light of recent events, the arena has joined numerous sports and entertainment venues across the country in rededicating its efforts in this regard.

We are very much looking forward to hosting you at Nationwide Arena for the final home game of the 2012-13 regular season this Saturday and we encourage you to give yourself a little extra time to enter the arena as our staff continues its efforts to provide you with a world class experience. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Go Jackets!

So if you have to get to the arena early, as the email suggests, at least there will be things to do in and around the place while you wait to get in.

Have fun at the game, everyone – be it at the game, on the couch or wherever you plan to watch!

I officially give up on this Columbus Blue Jackets team.  I’ve tried analyzing, understanding and rationalizing what’s happened this season and have arrived at the conclusion that it’s hopeless.

Just when you think a pattern is emerging, everything changes.

On March 1, the Blue Jackets lose to the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 4-3 in a shootout.  This drops their record to 5-12-4, a dismal 14 points after 21 games.  It’s time to pack it in for 2013, right?  Time to create some goofy Twitter hashtag for Nathan MacKinnon or Seth Jones (the two most prominent draft prospects this season), right?

Wrong!

The team then rattles off a five-game winning streak, winning eight out of the next ten and grabbing an overtime loss point in both of the losses.  That’s 18 points in 10 games – after 14 points in the prior 21.  Amazing.

Now the team’s for real, right?  A 13-12-6 record warrants some action at the trade deadline, right?  But what about John Davidson’s whole “brick by brick” thing that suggests that the team will build through the draft?  The Blue Jackets faithful are going to have to grit their teeth and pray that the roster that pulled itself out of the cellar will be able to cross the playoff finish line, right?

Wrong!

With one hour to go before the trade deadline, general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen – whom pretty much everyone presumed was going to sit on his hands until the forthcoming NHL draft – trades away the likes of Brassard, Moore, Dorsett and Mason.  He brings in an elite-level talent, Marian Gaborik, forward Blake Comeau (who scored his first CBJ goal last night) and new backup goaltender Michael Leighton.  All that without moving any one of the team’s three draft picks.

OK, now we’re off and running.  The team finally has the big-time scorer that will galvanize the Blue Jackets offense and put them over the top.  Right?

Wrong!

Gaborik scores the game winner in his first Blue Jackets game, against Nashville, but the team falls into a funk – one that looks all too familiar to those who watched the team defer all too often to former Blue Jacket Rick Nash – and scores just a single goal in the next two games…resulting in losses to St. Louis and Minnesota.

But this is a team with a scant chance to make the playoffs to start with, and two straight losses in such familiar style suggests that the old Blue Jackets are back.  The team starts slipping in the standings, falling back to the nether-reaches of playoff contention.  The season is over, the playoffs are a pipe dream.  Right?

Wrong!

The Blue Jackets roar back to playoff life on April 9th with a 4-0 pasting of the San Jose Sharks.  They add three more wins to pull themselves back into ninth place, tied for points with eighth place Detroit.  They aren’t all dominant wins – the last two decided after regulation time concludes – but each win counts the same in the end.

The Blue Jackets appear to have refound the culture that had them on a tear through the month of March.  Gaborik is now a part of the team as opposed to the team being a bunch of second fiddles to Gaborik.   And while Gaborik is clearly important to the Blue Jackets, his 3 goals and 3 assists over his seven games with the Blue Jackets show that the team is not dependent on his success to achieve larger goals like qualifying for the playoffs.

The team is now off to Southern California, where they will take on the Western Conference’s second seed, the Anaheim Ducks, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings on successive nights starting tomorrow.  The Ducks have found new life under head coach Bruce Boudreau, and the Kings took a little while to shake the rust off (Sound familiar?) but are looking more and more like Cup contenders as we get closer to the end of the regular season.

The Blue Jackets continue to cling to playoff hope, knowing that the playoff qualifying tiebreakers aren’t in their favor.  The only way to definitively stay in this playoff chase is to win.  Even a single loss will put their chances in serious jeopardy.  Yet, they’re taking on two of the toughest teams in the West on consecutive nights.  There’s no way they can pull this one off, right?

Right?

At 1:30 in the afternoon today, I already had a post percolating with all sorts of excuses reasons why the Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t do anything at the 2013 NHL trade deadline.  Granted, nothing else of substance was happening around the league, but Columbus at least had a plausible reason in that they had a brand new general manager in Jarmo Kekäläinen and an expressed desire to avoid mortgaging the future for a shot at the playoffs this season.

And then the 2:00 hour struck…and so did the Blue Jackets.

In fact, so much happened that I thought that a “Glass Bangers” was appropriate.  Here we go…

TRADE NUMBER ONE

Steve Mason to Philadelphia for goaltender Michael Leighton and the Flyers third-round pick in 2015

The trade yielded probably the most sentimentality from me, for I still vividly remember Mason’s magical rookie season of 2008-09.  He came out of nowhere and backstopped the Blue Jackets to the team’s only playoff appearance in their history.

That run is what hooked me on hockey, the National Hockey League and the Columbus Blue Jackets.  And Mason impressed me so much that season!  I remember him stoning Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the shootout on March 12, 2009 en route to a 4-3 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins (part of what at least a few of us refer to as the Best Week Ever in CBJ history).  He was the Stone Mason, a wall in front of the net for so much of his Calder Trophy (NHL rookie of the year) season.

Then things got difficult, and the tough goaltender mentality began to crack. Mason’s frustration was palpable on December 1, 2009 on the ice in Chicago’s United Center as he was literally screaming at his teammates to give him some goal support as he carried the Blue Jackets through ten (TEN) shootout rounds before succumbing in the eleventh round.  He shattered his stick on the boards as he left the ice.  Blue Jackets fans everywhere shared his pain.  And while he had moments that reminded us of 2008-09 after that point, I’ll suggest that he never really was the same.  He lost his faith in his team…they lost their faith in him…end scene.

Still, 2008-09 was magical to those of us who experienced it.  I loaded up on CBJ playoff paraphernalia after they went out, and my playoff ball cap sports the one player autograph that I own: Steve Mason’s.  I’ve had plenty of opportunities to get autographs, but Mason’s signature on that hat pretty much says it all to me.  It’s a shame things didn’t end up better here in Columbus for Mase.

With Mason gone, Michael Leighton comes in to assume the backup role.  Leighton hit his high-water mark in the NHL in 2009-10, when he compiled a 16-5-2 record over 27 games and manned the goal through playoffs for the Flyers – all the way to the six-game Stanley Cup Finals loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.  Leighton was replaced in 2010-11 by a rookie goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky.  He went back to the minors and has been biding his time since.

I don’t see Leighton being anything more than a backup to Bobrovsky, but that’s what Steve Mason ended up being prior to the trade.  So, from a functionality perspective, I’d say it’s a wash.  Salary-wise, Mason’s expiring contract and it’s $2.9 million salary cap hit is replaced by Leighton’s expiring $900,000 salary cap cost…so the CBJ saved a few bucks, which helped clear the financial decks for…

TRADE NUMBER TWO

Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore and Columbus’ 2014 sixth-round pick to the New York Rangers for right winger Marian Gaborik and defensemen Steven Delisle and Blake Partlett

As you can see, Gaborik had to waive his no-trade clause.  This apparently wasn’t an issue; I guess Gaborik was ready to high-tail it with his $7.5 million salary cap hit out of Manhattan!

Drafted one spot ahead of the original Blue Jacket, Rusty Klesla, the 31-year-old Gaborik has logged eight seasons with the Minnesota Wild and three-plus with the New York Rangers.  When healthy, he’s worth somewhere between 75-85 points per full 82-game season.  Thing is, he’s had four truncated seasons (65 games or less) since the 2004-05 NHL lockout.  If he can stay healthy, Marian Gaborik has the potential to be an elite scorer for at least a few more years.

I’m genuinely excited to see how Gaborik does in Columbus.  He’s a big-time scorer on a team that’s had a devil of a time finding the back of the net, so much so that the scheme that has resulted in the most wins involves minimal offensive effort and four or five men dropping back for smothering team defense.  Can CBJ coach Todd Richards rework the scheme to allow for a scorer to score while not abandoning the defense that got the team to the cusp of playoff qualification?

As for the rest of the Rangers’ assets, Delisle and Partlett are minor leaguers.  Delisle was in the CBJ system before, having been traded to the Rangers as part of the Rick Nash trade.

I’m going to keep the post-mortem on the three now-ex Blue Jackets short.  Derick Brassard never approached his potential in Columbus, and his shredded post-fight shoulder in Dallas from December 18, 2008 had a lot to do with it.  Derek Dorsett was fun to watch, but his hard-hitting style of play is unsustainable.  You simply cannot count on Dorsett to stay healthy, and I worry that concussions will get the best of him.  John Moore might actually have a future, but he was getting lost in Columbus and spent way too much time munching nachos in the press box rather than spending time on the ice.

That said, it looks like Brassard and Moore had impressive debuts on Broadway.

TRADE NUMBER THREE

Columbus’ 2013 fifth-round pick to the Calgary Flames for left winger Blake Comeau

With the departure of two forwards to the Rangers, the Blue Jackets needed another NHL-level talent to fill out the roster.  Enter 27 year old Blake Comeau, who’s been in the league since 2006 and appears to be a 20-point player in the vein of the departed Derek Dorsett.  In 33 games with the Flames this season, Comeau has four goals and three assists.

I appreciate that the Blue Jackets weren’t looking to pick up rental players at this trade deadline, but how else can you look at Comeau’s $1.25 million contract (which expires at the end of the season)?  Perhaps a rental is OK when it’s for a bottom six forward.

WHEW!

How is that for a hectic hour of trading?  I’m exhausted!

The Gaborik era kicks off Thursday night in Nashville against the Erat-less Predators at 8:00.  Dave and Dan (with Natalie) will get things started at 7:30, and I have to guess that they will have plenty to add about these moves.   After that, Jeff and Bill will have the call.  It should be an exciting night.