According to the CBC’s Radio-Canada.ca site (in French), National Hockey League Players Association executive director Donald Fehr shared at a late April meeting with player agents that he’s beginning the process of building consensus toward meaningfully addressing hockey fighting.  By the tone of the article, it looks like Fehr wouldn’t mind eliminating fighting altogether.

What do I mean by that?  Read this Google translation of the above-linked article:

After leading the Association of Major League Baseball players for a quarter century, Fehr found himself at the head of the NHLPA in 2012. Aged about 65 years, he has signed with the NHL collective agreement that could last ten years. It seems that the abolition of fighting is one of the objectives that Fehr is set before bowing out.

“Nothing concrete has been announced to us, but I felt that Fehr was motivated by a genuine desire to address the issue of fighting,” says the Robert Sauvé, who confirmed that he had attended the meeting [of] agent[s].

…

“Fehr told us he was trying to understand the dynamics of fights and he was struggling to understand an athlete can get to defeat another or to injure him in the course of a game. It is a culture that has not known when was working in other sports,” reveals [agent] Gilles Lupien for his part, who was also present at the discussion.

It goes on from there, but I think the message is clear: Don Fehr, one of the two most powerful people in professional hockey, has fighting in his sights.  And there’s good reason to do so:

The accumulation of scientific data confirming the permanent brain damage arising from concussions, the recent deaths of former fighters in the NHL as well as the prosecution and the possibility of a potential class action [lawsuit by] players, it seems , led to a questioning of the [policies of] the NHL.

Change like this won’t happen overnight, but it sure seems like the final chapter on hockey pugilism could have started.

On a personal note: I’ve had a back-and-forth infatuation with the hockey fight (and the personalities who practice the pugilistic arts) over the years, coming to the conclusion that while fighting could have some value as a real on-ice policing tool, the current structure of the rules have limited the hockey fight to a clown show – a way to vent off some steam.  If that’s the case, I don’t see why fighting should be allowed any longer.  Never mind the chilling research about chronic traumatic encephalopathy.  I hope Fehr gets the job done.

Once the season ended in Central Ohio, the Blue Jackets announced that forward Ryan Johansen and defenseman Dalton Prout were going to head back to the club’s Springfield Falcons AHL affiliate for their playoff run.  The Falcons were 45-22-5 this past season, good enough to win the Northeast Division outright (over the affiliates for their future NHL divisional rivals in the Devils, Rangers, Flyers and Islanders, no less) and second overall in the Eastern Conference.  Sure, the Falcons were helped early on by the CBJ moving the likes of Cam Atkinson, Matt Calvert and Johansen to Springfield to wait out the NHL lockout, but the team’s momentum wasn’t appreciably slower once the NHL fired back up and the Blue Jackets took those youngsters off of coach Brad Larsen’s hands.

Point being, the Falcons were well-positioned to make a deep run into the playoffs this season…and the arrival of Johansen and Prout could only be seen as a positive.  In some ways, their playoff insertion suggested a replay of now-NHL All Star Jamie Benn’s 2010 placement in Austin by the Dallas Stars as the AHL’s Texas Stars.  Benn led the AHL in playoff scoring and drove his “baby” Stars to the Calder Cup finals, loving his experience all the way.  If only we could see the same for Johansen and Prout, right?

To borrow the football guy’s saying, “Not so fast, my friend.”  After Johansen and Prout landed in Springfield halfway through the first round, the Falcons finished off the Los Angeles Kings-affiliated Manchester Monarchs…and the team was summarily swept in the second round by the Syracuse Crunch.  Here’s how our duo performed in this year’s AHL playoffs (keeping in mind that they arrived in the Berkshires in time for game three of the first round):

Sadly, the AHL doesn’t appear to offer the time on ice numbers in their box scores like the NHL does.  Still, some conclusions can be drawn.

First, Prout (as he’s not the subject of this post, so let’s get him out of the way).  He’s not known as a scoring defenseman, so his single assist across six games isn’t a huge surprise.  And I note that his one positive plus-minus game resulted in a win for the Falcons.  He just only had one of them…and that was the game that they won.  Coincidence?  Probably.  So I can’t go too far on this front.

Second, the opposition.  Despite Steve Yzerman’s “magic” (term used very sarcastically, as he has not proven himself to be a very good NHL general manager yet) in shaping the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate has been tearing up the junior circuit of late.  The Norfolk Admirals won the Calder Cup last season (after crushing the AHL’s winning streak record with an unheard-of 28 straight W’s) and then promptly relocated to the Blue Jackets’ old AHL stomping grounds of Syracuse, New York.  The new “Tampa Bay” Crunch were only two points behind the Falcons in the Eastern Conference standings and won their East Division.  This was not a bad team by the numbers, and they were battle-tested in a way that Springfield was not.  So while a four-game sweep is no badge of honor for the Falcons, there is minimal shame in losing to that particular team.

Now, Johansen.  If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been following his performance coming out of Springfield this playoff season.  This was helped immeasurably by Falcons uber-fan Katharine McCarthy, who has her ear to the ground and keen eye on the ice when it comes to the Blue Jackets’ minor league affiliate.  ”Katy” has long expressed her wariness about Johansen, concerned that his effort and intensity are not matching up with his skill and potential.  It’s come to a head this post-season, where she mentioned on numerous occasions in open dialogue that Johansen apparently did not want to be in Springfield once the CBJ season concluded.  I note that the Dispatch asked Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen about this claim, and Kekalainen only said, “I don’t have any indication that he’d be unhappy.”  Not exactly a rebuttal to what Katy is suggesting.

Still, let’s be generous.  I’ll give Johansen the benefit of the doubt on whether he fully voiced his opinion to Kekalainen.  If I was looking the man who sent Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore and Steve Mason packing in the space of an hour, I’d probably bite my tongue, too.  That’s not to say, however, that he didn’t express these feelings to others in the Falcons’ organization – which would prove Katy correct.  And in the years that I’ve followed Katy, I’m not sure she’s ever been wrong when she goes public with information that she picks up.

The attitudinal issue is manageable, at least until one looks at his playoff stat sheet.  You see, Johansen had a really poor Calder Cup playoffs.

You cannot say that an elite, young scoring talent with only one assist played well.  You cannot say that a forward playing in a defense-first scheme yet repeatedly showing up on the negative side of the plus-minus ledger played well.  In fact, it was so bad that the same Dispatch article reports that Johansen got a pep talk from coach Larsen after his poor play in game two of the Syracuse series.  That talk paid off…in a -3 game.  Johansen was a healthy scratch in game four.

Whether Johansen said he wanted to play in Springfield or not, as I said, is moot.  The stark facts indicate that he did not perform like he wanted to play in Springfield.  One really bad game is unfortunate.  Three in a row immediately following two ineffective games is a nasty trend.  And that’s not good.

In my opinion, there’s only one reason why a young, talented player would not make the most of his opportunity to shine, a la Jamie Benn, and that’s injury.  If Johansen was hurt, I can see why he wouldn’t want to play in the AHL postseason.  I can also see why an injured Johansen wouldn’t have played well.  The thing is, nothing has come out suggesting Johansen was injured, or that some other tragedy befell him that would sap his will to play.

I’ve long been concerned about the culture surrounding the Columbus Blue Jackets system.  Specifically, I worry that the past culture of losing infected the Blue Jackets locker room – that the players who lost under both Ken Hitchcock and Scott Arniel would have a hard time shaking well-established habits and drag the team down.

In the same vein, it does not come as a surprise to me that the Columbus Blue Jackets turned themselves around only after moving the majority of those players out of the spotlight and off the roster.  It truly took a “Columbus New Jackets” with players like Vinny Prospal, Nick Foligno, Brandon Dubinsky, Sergei Bobrovsky, Artem Anisimov and the other recent additions to make this team competitive once again.  If there ever was a team in desperate need of a radical rebuild, it was the Blue Jackets.  And look what happened when the new guys finally took over – It’s been great!

Let’s now connect the dots back to Ryan Johansen.  What is going on with him?  Is he a young kid who has chosen to overvalue his talent?  Is he willing to do what it takes to become an elite player?  Have my worst fears about his professional development come to pass?   Is he part of the Columbus New Jackets locker room, or is he more in line with the players that now are scattered to the far corners of  the National Hockey League?

Or was Johansen mentally spent after a season that saw him make three stops in Springfield?  Is he just a kid, not ready for the grind of The Show?  Was there an extenuating circumstance – like an injury, or perhaps a family issue – that took his mind out of the game?

And what should management do with this situation?  With Kekalainen’s public statement that “I really don’t care if he was unhappy” over Johansen, it’s worth asking what that means to Johansen.  Is the kid on a short leash?  Is he destined for another extended stay in Springfield next season?  Would the Blue Jackets give up on Johansen so quickly in his young career?

My DBJ blog compadre Gallos has been mulling over the same issues in another post.  As we try to figure out what’s happening with the newly complicated relationship between Johansen and his team, perhaps Gallos’ comment warrants consideration:

I think it’s premature to say that management has given up on Johansen. He is still a very young player, and has distinct developmental steps he has yet to go through. It took Matt Calvert a couple of years of back and forth to the minors before he ‘got it’ on the need to bring a professional attitude every day.

Joey established himself as a very capable defensive player by late in the season. I think management would like to see his offensive game make progress this next year. Maturity comes at a young age for some people, for example Boone Jenner. For others, such as myself, it takes longer. Ryan has been a late bloomer at all stages of his development, and this is no different. I would be VERY surprised to see Johansen moved. I would not be shocked at all if he spent some time in the minors next year. A lot of that depends on what he takes away from this most recent lesson.

I tend to agree with Gallos on this one, but only to a point.  The transition in culture from the past editions of the Blue Jackets to the New Jackets is still happening, and I’d guess that it is still taking root.  As such, the situation is delicate.  Having a hard worker who is trying to learn what it takes to make it in the big leagues (like Calvert) is one thing, but I’m not sure that the team can afford to have an attitudinal challenge to match the productivity challenge in the body of the same player.  That’s what I fear we have in Johansen.

Now, to the big picture.  This offseason’s free agency crop is supposed to be one of the worst in recent years.  General managers are already reconciling themselves to making trades to improve their teams as opposed to slinging offer sheets around.  If that’s the case, what general manager wouldn’t drool at the possibility of picking up a Ryan Johansen via trade?

I’m not saying I’d try to move Johansen if I was Jarmo Kekalainen…but I’d probably listen carefully to offers at this point.  The new Blue Jackets management seems to know how to deal for talent, and Marian Gaborik trade demonstrates that they know that they have to give to get.  Johansen would be an awful big “give”, but the team stands to “get” something pretty impressive if they move him out.

We knew the 2013 offseason was going to be interesting for the Columbus Blue Jackets, if only for the three first round draft picks that the team holds.  It apparently will be at least as intriguing of a summer for Ryan Johansen, too.

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.

Hart Trophy (MVP) – Sidney Crosby (PIT), Alexander Ovechkin (WAS), John Tavares (NY Islanders)

Lindsay Award (Most Outstanding Player) – Crosby, Ovechkin, Martin St. Louis (TBL)

Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender) – Sergei Bobrovsky (CBJ), Henrik Lundqvist (NY Rangers), Anti Niemi (SJS)

Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) – Kris Letang (PIT), P.K. Subban (MTL), Ryan Suter (MIN)

Calder Trophy (Best Rookie) – Brendan Gallagher (MTL), Johnathan Huberdeau (FLA), Brendan Saad (CHI)

First, congratulations to all of the nominees.  There’s a lot of talent in the NHL, making for a very crowded field of contenders for each of the awards, so to make the top three finalists is terrific recognition in its own right.

Sergei Bobrovsky beat the odds and garnered a major NHL award nomination in recognition of his incredible 2013 season

Next, a good Columbus Blue Jackets fan can’t help but note that Sergei Bobrovsky was nominated for the Vezina Trophy.  What a terrific accomplishment for Bob – worthy recognition for his incredible season between the pipes for the CBJ.  I also note plenty of online consternation over his exclusion from consideration for the Hart Trophy.  It would be hypocritical for me to join that chorus, seeing as I chose Vinny Prospal as my CBJ MVP and thus didn’t even choose Bob at that level, but I can’t help but be amused at how the hockey writers who made these nominations have been defending themselves against what appears to be a withering onslaught of criticism over the omission of Bobrovsky and other worthy candidates.  (No, I didn’t have a ballot as I’m not in the Professional Hockey Writers Association.)

But then there’s the thing about these nominations that I can’t help but note: Only one award – the Vezina – has more Western Conference nominees than Eastern Conference nominees.  Two awards – the Hart and the Lindsay – are entirely drawn from Eastern Conference players.  Past that, every single other award has two Eastern nominees and one Western.

That makes for eleven Eastern Conference nominees to four for the Western Conference.

Can that be?  Is the Eastern Conference that overwhelmingly superior in top-level talent in comparison to the West?  By an almost three-to-one margin?  Really?

I don’t have a good answer, at least one that I can say was exhaustively researched and validated.  But my working hypothesis is that there has to be an eastern tilt in the voting population.  I believe I heard that the eligible voters were restricted to one-third from Eastern markets, one-third from Western markets and one-third being “national” in scope.  That tells me that the national writers largely come from the East.

Is there a better argument for increased cross-pollination between the two conferences than the disparity in nominations?  Will the home-and-home schedule for every team in the league help boost exposure for underexposed talents?  And why not put the second Toronto team (which I think everyone acknowledges will happen eventually) in the Western Conference – if only to force the hockey intelligentsia to pay a little more attention to the West?

(Of course, that doesn’t account for the Lindsay Award, which is selected by the members of the NHL Players Association.  Does anyone have an idea what happened there?  Are Crosby, Ovechkin and St. Louis really that much better than every player in the West?)

This matter will largely become moot next season when the Blue Jackets head to the East, and I think that the CBJ will be turning a few heads as they continue their upward climb.  But here’s a word of advice for those being left behind in the West: Send your favorite writers a gift card for your favorite coffeehouse chain.  These guys need to stay up later, as there’s some darned good hockey being played on our side of the Appalachians.

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.

SCORING: 12 goals, 18 assists, 30 points.  Prospal was second on the team in goals (Mark Letestu, another worthy MVP candidate, had 13), tied for first in assists and first in total points by three points over the next closest player (again, Letestu).  On a team that was 25th in goals scored, every single goal counted.  In fact, it could be argued that the well-timed goal in this game or that would have put the Blue Jackets into the playoffs.

The team needed scoring, and Vinny Prospal more than pulled his weight in that department.

[As an aside, Prospal's 12-18-30 scoring tallies over the 48 game season works out to 20 goals, 31 assists and 51 points over a full 82-game schedule.  Again, not shabby.]

DURABILITY: There were 48 games in this season.  Vinny played in 48 games.  You cannot ask for more.  Never mind that Prospal is 38 years old!

MATURITY: When his teammates shied away from anything remotely controversial last season, Prospal repeatedly spoke truth to power and said that it wasn’t good enough.  What impressed me about Vinny’s comments, however, was the manner in which he spoke up.  There was no venom or vitriol.  Instead, there was the calm, straightforward demeanor of a man who’s been there before and whose words could not be challenged.  Vinny was right: For a very healthy part of last season, the Blue Jackets were not good.

Fast forward to this season.  The captain was traded away, the talent cupboard appeared dry.  For the first third of the season, things looked bleak for the Blue Jackets.  Yet there was Vinny, still telling the truth as evidenced by this post-game interview from the CBJ’s first home win on Janaury 28th:

Say whatever you want about the talent of the pre-John Davidson Blue Jackets.  They were talented, I’ll grant, but I’d be hard pressed to find a stronger spine on this team than Vinny Prospal since Mike Peca left Columbus.

TEAM FIRST:  Since he was signed by the Blue Jackets, I’ve been interested in how Prospal – in his mid-thirties when arriving in Columbus – still celebrates like a kid right off the draft floor.  Remember that he arrived in town at a particularly sober time for the Blue Jackets, and you’ll appreciate why I was so intrigued.

I’m thrilled to report that rather than let the team culture change Vinny, I’ll suggest that Vinny probably was a driver in changing the team culture.  All the way back to one of the first non-Nash/Carter practices (which also was one of the first Todd Richards-coached practices, granted), Prospal has celebrated in a way that is infectious amongst his teammates.  This attitude has snowballed in 2013, as evidenced by the following:

January 20, 2013

March 2, 2013

April 22, 2013

I’ll admit that I’m being selective in my offerings.  Yes, there are iconic photos of Prospal celebrating on his own.   My point in showing you these photos, however, is to demonstrate that Prospal – while clearly overjoyed with the success achieved on the ice – is not making the celebration about him.  It’s about the team.  He’s getting hugged by the team.  He skates over to his teammates to celebrate. He celebrates another player’s success (in this case, Letestu’s) like it was his own.  And his teammates are reciprocating.  Folks, this seems like a no-brainer…but it hasn’t been in Columbus.  Vinny helped bring the concept of Team (capital “T” intended) back.

THE KILLER INSTINCT: One of the joys of the end of this past season was the virtual water cooler banter over whether there was a turning point where the Blue Jackets transformed from a bunch of guys who tried hard yet were expected to come up short into a team that expected to win each and every night.  From losers into winners, in essence.  Terrific conversations have come out of this subject.

The answer I favor is one opined by Full Mental Jackets‘ Greg May (at least I think it was Greg): On March 9, 2013 at Nationwide Arena, Vinny Prospal went scoreboard on the Detroit Red Wings.  By that, I mean the Wings’ Justin Abdelkader was trying to get a little plucky, and Prospal was having none of that.  At 13:34 of the third period, Prospal reminded young Abdelkader who was in control of the game:

"See that score, kid? You're not winning. We are."

Yes, Prospal took a 10-minute misconduct for the gesture.  Yes, it was probably unsportsmanlike (…in a sport where beating the tar out of another player is sportsmanlike – go figure).  But it was demonstrable proof that Prospal was a winner, and he showed both his teammates and the Red Wings that he knew the score…and was comfortable with it.  He wasn’t afraid to lord it over Columbus’ former overlords.

I cannot overemphasize the magnitude of this.  It’s like tectonic plates shifted under Nationwide Arena.  The Blue Jackets had become a competitive, winning hockey team.

In fact, it was such a profound moment that Blue Jackets fans giddily inserted Prospal into a whole host of graphics, to terrific comedic effect.

Yes, Vinny, we noticed.

So there you have it.  You want tangibles, like scoring statistics and durability?  Vinny’s got ‘em.  You want intangibles, like maturity, a team-first attitude and a killer instinct?  He’s got that, too.  Where would the team have been without Prospal’s contributions?  Nowhere near the playoffs, I’ll suggest, and thus cementing his value to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

For those reasons (and for his epic post-game interview hair…can’t forget the hair), Vinny Prospal is the Dark Blue Jacket 2013 CBJ Most Valuable Player.

The curtain closes on the 2013 Columbus Blue Jackets (photo by Tom Larrow)

It was a strange feeling, sitting in the upper deck of Nationwide Arena and watching the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche on the massive arena jumbotron with a few thousand of my new closest friends.  The actual live game went to the Blue Jackets, but the playoffs – and, thus, the fate of the 2013 season – were being decided out in Denver.

So I was sitting there, watching Colorado screw up time after time – wasting countless opportunities that would have potentially propelled the Blue Jackets into the playoffs for only the second time in team history – when the thought crossed my mind: It was just too high of a mountain.  By that, I mean that a 5-12-4 start was simply too much to overcome.  That the Blue Jackets came within a single standings point of doing so is stunning, and the team deserves credit for refusing to throw in the towel when many (most?) were humming “Taps”.

Then it hit me: That Six Days piece that I wrote back before the season started pretty much encapsulated the “What went wrong?” part of the Blue Jackets’ post-mortem.  New management, a gaggle of new players, a head coach who was entering his first full season, varying degrees of game-readiness and fitness level…and only six days of training camp. And the team needed half a season to figure itself out.   Check out the post if you wish by clicking on the link at the top of this paragraph.

Anyway, I’m putting that tiebreaker stuff aside.  While the Blue Jackets officially didn’t make the playoffs because of the tiebreaker, the real reason is that their superhuman second half performance couldn’t quite compensate for the obstacles in their way at the start of the season.

In the wider view, I’m still sorting through my thoughts about this season.  I’ll be sharing more of them as they crystallize.

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 said that I’ve given up trying to understand this team, but you probably know me too well to believe that line.  Yeah, I dug back into the statistics to try to draw some conclusions about what makes this team win when the odds seemingly are stacked against them.

My current fixation: Faceoffs.  For a relatively low-scoring team like Columbus, controlling the puck from the faceoff means that the opposition has less time to attack…and Columbus has more time to set up with a scoring play.

Check out these facts, all culled from post-trade deadline statistics:

- Since the trade deadline, the Blue Jackets are 7-3-0.

- In that time, the Blue Jackets have been part of 559 faceoffs.  They’ve won 295 of them, or 52.77 percent.

- The Blue Jackets were under 50 percent in the faceoff circle only twice – both against Minnesota (4/7  - 48.08 percent, 4/13 – 43.40%).  The Wild and the Blue Jackets split those games.

- Past that, the Blue Jackets always won more faceoffs than they lost – meaning that they had a 6-2-0 record when they were over 50 percent.

My conclusion?  It looks to me like if the Blue Jackets control the faceoff circle, they have a better than average chance at winning.  (That, and Minnesota has some impressive faceoff specialists in Mikko Koivu and Co.)

So watch the faceoffs.  They probably will help tell the story of the team’s last two games.

And lest you think I didn’t check, the Blue Jackets last played Dallas on February 26.  Columbus won 27 of 56 faceoffs that night, a 48 percent success rate.  Gulp!

Word is leaking out that the NHL, flush with excitement (and, I presume, cash) over their successful series of annual New Year’s Day Winter Classic games, is expanding from their current scheduling model – an annual Winter Classic in the United States, combined with a periodic Heritage Classic in Canada – to six outdoor games in 2013-14.  If you check out the link above, you’ll see the following outdoor schedule:

January 1, 2014 – Winter Classic – Detroit v. Toronto in Ann Arbor, Michigan (University of Michigan)

January 25, 2014 – Los Angeles v. Anaheim in Los Angeles, California (Dodger Stadium)

January 26, 2014 – New York Rangers v. New York Islanders in New York, New York (Yankee Stadium)

January 29, 2014 – New York Rangers v. New Jersey Devils in New York, New York (Yankee Stadium)

March 1, 2014 – Chicago Blackhawks v. Pittsburgh Penguins in Chicago, Illinois (Soldier Field)

March 2, 2014 – Heritage Classic – Vancouver Canucks v. Ottawa Senators in Vancouver, British Columbia (B. C. Place Stadium)

Wow.  That’s a lot of outdoor hockey!  What do you think of that, Oprah?

Image from @HockeyMemes

Amazingly, and despite the threefold expansion of outdoor NHL hockey, frustration abounds.  Point is, there’s frustration over the uneven allocation of outdoor hockey.  Some say there’s too much – that a single Winter Classic makes the whole notion of an outdoor game novel and unique, and that all these additional games water down the product.  Others suggest that these outdoor games are simply bad hockey – that NHL hockey should be played in the controlled environment of an NHL arena.  Then, you have those who feel aggrieved because their team isn’t hosting one of the six games.  (Even Blue Jackets fans are expressing frustration that they can’t get an outdoor game at the Ohio State University’s football stadium, but that’s another story for another day.)

Considering all of the angst, permit me to offer a proposal to address the challenges of outdoor NHL hockey.

First, a reality check: Outdoor NHL hockey isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  These games are licenses for teams and the league to print money.  I’m not a big fan of freezing my rear off for hours on end in an outdoor stadium, but apparently a lot of you hockey nuts are.  I mean, a LOT of you.  Only two NHL arenas hold more than 20,000 seats, but the five Winter Classics have drawn between 38,000 and 71,000 fans.  The tickets are sold at a premium.  The special merchandise sales are out of sight.  Is that the sound of cash registers that you hear?  Point being, the arguments against outdoor hockey on the merits are going to fall on deaf ears.

That said, let’s look forward.  Here’s the core of my proposal:

Presuming they meet the league’s requirements for hosting an outdoor game, every NHL team should be permitted to hold one home game outdoors every season.  

That’s a tall order, granted, but maybe Oprah was onto something.  Here’s how I suggest we get there.

1. The NHL should create some standards. Every NHL game has to meet a certain threshold of quality.  Elements to be considered should include: 1) Size of facility, 2) Appropriateness of facilities (locker rooms, press box, etc.), 3) Ability to generate and maintain NHL-quality ice, 4) Scientific proof of ability to hold a game outdoors and 5) Community engagement and support – including an agreement with the host facility.  Other considerations should be included as needed.

2. Teams should be required to submit outdoor game plans to the league for approval.  The above standards should be satisfied, and teams should also propose dates for outdoor games and opponents.  (No single NHL team should be required to play more than three outdoor games per season, protecting the likes of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Original Six from playing half their games outside.)  If they meet the requirements, they get an outdoor game on the schedule.

3. The NHL will have the flexibility to schedule the games and choose which games will receive special designations – Winter Classic, Heritage Classic, Hockey Day in America, Hockey Day in Canada.  Special designation games will get the full weight of the NHL marketing machine.  Teams without the special designations will be left to the normal treatment of their home television and radio packages, with the possibility of getting picked up by national networks at their discretion.

This could be a tall order for the likes of the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning or the Phoenix Coyotes, whose climates don’t automatically scream “pond hockey.”  But who are we to say they can’t do it?  If they can find a way to pull off an outdoor game, more power to them.  Heck, the NHL is confident that they can get an outdoor game played in Los Angeles.  They’ve already played an exhibition game in Las Vegas!

Then there’s the matter of facilities and community support.  Not every NHL community is lucky enough to have a giant football stadium or historically significant baseball park in which to stage a game.  Many are, though.  Why not let them have the opportunity?

Same goes for ticket sales.  I’ll presume that the time and effort involved in a one-off event like this would be huge, and ticket sales would need to justify the effort.  If the hosting team can’t fill the place, the NHL should have the right to deny an application.

In the end, though, it’s all about fairness and maintaining an NHL standard of event quality.  Teams have 41 home games a season, so peeling one off for a special outdoor game shouldn’t be a problem.  The key is, don’t let outdoor games turn into gimmicks.  Make them events.

And to those NHL teams who can pull off these events without sacrificing a genuine NHL game experience, go get ‘em.

[We return you to the Columbus Blue Jackets playoff chase.  Enjoy the rest of your season.]

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?