Deep Thoughts

Jackets’ Game Plan: Jrod Says Buy!

So you’re a season ticket holder for 41 home games a season at Nationwide Arena.  You’ve paid thousands upon thousands of dollars for 7 seasons of… hockey.  This time, your team is within shouting (more like yelling) distance of the NHL playoffs.  What should your team do?  This is a VERY tough call.

Option 1:  SELL!  High priced veterans like Sergei Federov, Adam Foote, Freddie Modin, David Vyborny (who’s struggled terribly this year)—those are guys you can put on the market to teams in contention and get either young help, or at least dump their salaries. Then spend in Free Agency over the summer and land guys who fit Ken Hitchcock’s style.

Option 2:  BUY!  Are you kidding me?  We’re actually halfway decent, we’ve got a chance to make the postseason, and we’re gonna let our veterans go?  I mean, history proves if you just get into the postseason you can win the Stanley Cup.  All you have to be is red-hot in the playoffs, and it could happen to anyone—even Columbus!  Let’s trade for someone who can score goals—I mean we know we can play some defense and Pascal Leclaire’s a top 5 goalie.

Option 3: status quo… Do nothing. Show confidence in your team, which does not lack for talent, just consistency.  Let Ken Hitchcock continue his work with the franchise’s young talent (Derrick Brassard, Gilbert Brule, Steve Mason, etc…). 

The correct answer is: BUY!

Until the Jackets show they’re serious about spending on the product, they cannot expect their amazingly dedicated fan base to follow blindly.  Fan favorite Jody Shelley was already dealt this season, with lackluster results.  But recent addition Dick Tarnstrom has proven an active and energetic player.  Average attendance is dwindling by the year, and fans are growing less patient. Give people a reason to come back, and do it THIS year.

Jrod, how can you say Pascal Leclaire is a top 5 goalie? Do you mean right now, as in for the moment? Because I agree he has played good for 75% of the games he has played THIS YEAR. But he is #19 among goalies this year in wins, and is #32 in shootout save percentage. Also, look at his career. This is his first good year, yet the year is not over with yet. His 2005 and 2006 seasons were horrible with an average GAA of 3.0 and a SV% around .900.

How many goalies have 1 good year and then fade off into the distance. Rememeber Ty Conklin, the former back up for Columbus, and how bad he was here? He went to Buffalo last year and played horrible as back up again even though Buffalo was the NHL’s best team during the regular season. So this year he is with Pitt. Now he is playing good. Give him 1 year and he will be back to a back up with another team. My point is, 1 good portion of a year does not make a goalie a “top 5 goalie.”

The Columbus Blue Jackets need new ownership and management. I will prove my point with this statement-Columbus is the only team in the NHL never to make the playoffs. Many new teams came into the NHL around the same time Columbus did and got to the playoffs within a few years. No matter what this team does, coaching changes, GM changes, player changes, it does not matter. The organization as a whole has no clue how to play.

They keep bring in players who are over rated and over the hill. I mean, I thought this year was the year......lol. Heard that before huh? The team still has no idea how to pick a good player. Take Michael Peca for exapmle. He has been with 6 different teams in 13 years. A true journey man. He has no leadership and no talent. So why did they bring him here...because he had a few good years in Buffalo 10 years ago with Dominick Hasik (in his prime) as the team goalie?

I have grown up around hockey all my life. I grew up in Buffalo watching all the games there. I can tell you this, go down to the players bench rinkside during the pre-game skate and watch the players faces and attitudes. You can see they don’t care to be here. They look unispired. They look like a AAA team. They do not look like an NHL team in any fashion.

I was at last Wednesdays game against the Black Hawks. I watched the Jackets pre-skate and told my kids that the Jackets looked misearable and would get blown out when the game started. Guess what, they did get blown out. I thought Hitchcock was brought in to have the team play hard and give it their all each and every night....guess not last Wednesday....or many other nights of late.

The areana is empty each and every game. If it is half full they are lucky. The fans boo most nights as they watch a team that is going no where fast....AGAIN.

I love hockey and it is my hope that this team pulls it together in the off season and makes some bold moves at every level. But this teams history has shown us all 1 thing.....the Jackets are a team born to lose.

It is my prediction that unless the Jackets make the playoffs in the next 5 years, they will be sold and moved to another city. So far, the NHL experience in Columbus is not working out so well.....and the future is not bright!

Hey JRod,

Looks like Columbus Blue Jacket Management thinks diffeently than you. They dump some of their high priced bums at the trade deadline and bring in no new players.

And you thought this team had a chance of making the playoffs if they just “Buy”. It takes more than getting some more players in here this year to improve the team.

The team is doing the right thing even though JRod thinks differently. The Blue Jackets were not even close to making the playoffs again this year. So the team is doing the right thing. Get good draft picks, dump your high priced bums, and rebuild the entire team. Get rid of almost all the players on the team. They have no chemestry and no talent except for maybe a few players like Nash.

I do not mean to sound rude, but I do not think you know that much about hockey JRod. I think you should stick to writing about other sports.

This team will take years before they are competetive and before they have a chance at making the playoffs. McClain really screwed this team up when he was GM. This team is like an expansion team all over again. They must start from scratch. I’d say it will be atleast 4 years before they make the playoffs--if they make the right moves.

JRod, you are wrong about what you say about the Blue Jackets and about hockey in general. You have no credibility when it comes to this sport!

Sometimes all it takes is the right player. Look at Pittsburgh dating back to 05 when they drafted Crosby, look at Philadelphia this year with Briere in the lineup.

One player can shake up an entire team in my opinion.

It takes a lot more than 1 player to go from the only team in the NHL never to make the playoffs to being a contender!!!

I do not recall Pitt or Philly ever having a 7 year stretch where they did not make the playoffs. In fact, when both these teams came into the league, the both made the playoffs well beofre 7 years!

Pittsburgh has more than just 1 good player in Crosby. And Philadelphia made several moves in the off season to add to the team. Briere is not the only reason they have improved. And correct me if Im wrong but isn’t Philly in the 8th seed in the East and close to falling out of playoff contention with only 10 games left in the regular season?

According to your logic, shouldn’t Nash be helping the Blue Jackets make the playoffs year after year??? I mean, Nash is a wonderful player. Any team would love to have him. So why isn’t Nash the answer according to your logic? I can tell you why....BEACAUSE IT TAKES MORE THAN 1 PLAYER TO MAKE A TEAM.

And if one player can shake up an entire team, then why hasn’t columbus gotten him? I will tell you why, because the management does not have an eye for talent or skill. Their record of picking players proves this. Why didn’t Columbus get Brierre or Crosby???

The Blue Jackets as an organization are horrible top to bottom. They have no clue how to operate a team. The advertizing around town is pathetic. The gimmicks at the areana are sad. Go to another NHL game in another city and you will see what I mean. Columbus puts on a poor performance in every conceivable way.

This team is so horrible I could go on and on. But I won’t because the only thing you need to know is this....Columbus is the only team out of 30 teams to never make the playoffs. In fact, they have never even come close to making the playoffs in their entire existence. The 4 other expansion teams that came into the NHL around the same time Columbus did all made the playoffs within 3 years. I think that stat speaks for itself.

I bet you are one of these fans that says each and every new season...."this is the year for Columbus. They will make the playoffs!”

I have news for you, this team will never make the playoffs while in Columbus. The NHL experience has been a bust here. Attendance is maybe 1/2 full at any game and people do not follow the team. They have a horrible owner, another bad GM, and a horrible coach. The players are either old and overpaid or young and inexperienced with a general lack of talent. This team would make a better AAA team.

Blue Jackets will move from Columbus within 7 years. And they will never make the playoffs while here. And the sad thing is, 16 teams make the playoffs and 14 do not. You have better odds at making it. It is not that hard to do. That should show you how truly bad this team has been and is currently!

Hey JRod,

Do you know how bad the Jackets have been since their inception? I bet you do not. Let me break it down for you. Remember there are 15 teams in the Western conference and only the first 8 make the playoffs. That means you have a better chance making the playoffs than not ( 8 make it, 7 do not).

2000-2001: Jackets #13
2001-2002: Jackets #15 (dead last)
2002-2003: Jackets #15 (dead last)
2003-2004: Jackets #14
2005-2006: Jackets #13
2006-2007: Jackets #11
2007-2008: Jackets #13 (as of 03/20/08)

This is a team going no where FAST! How long can this team be at the bottom before the fans give up? How long will it be before the team leaves Columbus? I can tell you it will not be much longer. I believe the team will leave Columbus in the next 4-7 years.

Hockey has been a bust in this city of Buckeye lovers. And the media is partially to blame. Yes JRod, you and your cohorts at the other stations give the Jackets excuse after excuse. You do not tell the public how bad this team really is. As a result, the fans in this city still do not understand the game of hockey. Because of you, they think each and every new season will be the season the Jackets make the playoffs. And how sad is that. Just making the playoffs? How bout competing for a Stanley Cup???

Stop giving the Buckeyes and local high school sports top billing over the only professional sport team this struggling city in the midwest will ever have.

Sorry for a dumb question, but I really can’t get, what NYS is?…