Seeing as we’re in the midst of perhaps the slowest week of the NHL year – you know nothing of significance is going to happen when the Blue Jackets’ PR man goes on vacation – I thought this would be a good point to solicit some feedback.

To date, the Dark Blue Jacket Plus blog hasn’t delved into the NHL rumor mill.  I also haven’t laid out any “If I was the General Manager”-type posts suggesting trades or proposing a reengineering of the Columbus Blue Jackets depth chart.  I’ve worked largely in the realm of fact: Player/team statistics, dollars and cents, etc.  Going off those facts, I’ve suggested areas and issues that probably need to be addressed in order for the team to be competitive in 2012-13.  My purpose of this approach has been to lay groundwork against which I can judge to-be-executed moves like drafts, free agent signings and trades.

Yet the rumors are out there.  As an example, a rumor-monger of questionable credibility suggests that Philadelphia is trying to put together a package that would result in Rick Nash, Jack Johnson and/or the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2nd overall pick heading east to the Flyers.  The lynchpin of this rumored trade appears to be James Van Riemsdyk, but there are plenty of other pieces supposedly in play from the City of Brotherly Love.

I tell you that not to upset anyone but rather to illustrate my conundrum.  This rumor is being pushed by a rumor broker.  It’s grabbed people’s attention.  Yet nobody in the “mainstream” media is commenting on it beyond a radio/tv guy alleging that Van Riemsdyk is delaying some offseason medical work to make it harder for the Flyers to trade him.

To me, it’s so much noise and silliness.  And in the same vein, constructing elaborate scenarios describing how I would blow up the team and build a Stanley Cup winner in one offseason doesn’t seem like the most productive exercise.  With 30 teams all scrambling around, trying to spend their money and get the players that they want/need (let alone the Kontinental Hockey League coming in and poaching marginal players), I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s best to sit, wait and discuss once something happens.

But a good blog listens to its readers (at least some of the time!), so I’m asking you to pipe in: Do you want me to use this blog to analyze rumors as they come down the pipe?  Do you want me to put my GM hat on and try to construct a team based on nothing but my own intuition?  Do you want me to suggest possible trades?  Do you want me to champion specific draft picks?

I’m listening.