Jackets Will Be In The Mix; Playoff Bound?

[yave1964]

  Last year I adopted as my secondary team the Carolina Hurricanes who I said would be peripherally around a playoff spot and fall short but would be fun to watch. The year before I adopted Calgary. This year I am staying a bit closer to home and saying the Jackets will at the very least be around the playoff picture and if they get the breaks, they may even contend.

  This is a team that entered the season with high hopes and saw a wretched start doom the team, Todd Richards was fired, John Tortorella fresh off of flaming out in Vancouver was brought in to coach, he clashed with the teams young star center Ryan Johanssen eventually dealing him to Nashville. The team finished among the worst in the league.

  And for the most part they stood pat this offseason. Yet I still see them as one of the leagues surprise clubs.

 

  First off, I may be in the minority but I LOVE the drafting of center Pierre Luc Dubois ahead of Jesse Puljujarvi. Dubois fits the Jackets greatest need, a top line center, whereas as talented as Puljujarvi is he is a winger, something the Jackets have in spades. It was a gutsy pick and I think it was the right call. I would love to see him stick this year, playing third line minutes at the NHL level to start behind up and coming Alexander Wennberg and veteran Dubinsky. If he sticks out of camp, which is the kind of move the Fonz is known for, the Jackets could have depth at center like they always seem to lack.

  Boone Jenner had a breakout year as a power forward, still only 23 and coming off a 30 goal campaign, he is part of a stable of young wingers which include last years addition Saad, Cam Atkinson, Foligno and newcomers rugged scoring winger Josh Anderson and lightning fast Oliver Bjorgstrand. Veteran Scotty Hartnell can still put up points but may be moved before the start of the season.

  On Defense, Young Zach Werenski broke in as a pro in the postseason for Lake Erie on their way to a championship run, scoring at a point a game pace and looking like he is ready to take the plunge right now at the NHL level, along side Seth Jones who came over from Nashville. Former second pick in the draft Ryan Murray seems to have finally found his groove, Jack Johnson is now the graybeard on the back end who can carry the puck and loves to hit. David Savard can play the point on the PP and hits too. Dalton Prout is among the leagues toughest men in hockey and is a solid 7th defender.

  That is the thing with this bunch, they love to hit, almost to the man. They finish their checks, they line people up and drill them, teams hate to play them on a night to night basis. And Torts, warts and all does not allow his teams to take shifts off, let alone take nights off.

  In years past, as goalie Sergei Bobrovsky went, so went the Jackets, when he would pop a hammy, the season was lost. Now, they have two ultra bright prospects in net who shared the Calder Cup run together, Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg will push each other and push Bob equally for playing time in the crease.

  So they have a top nine the equal or better than most teams, a defense that carries the puck and defends well with a phenom in Werenski starting his legend, and are three deep in net.

  The division is probably the best in all of Hockey, the Pens are champions, the Rangers lost some key pieces on defense but added Jimmy Vesey, the Isles are solid, both the Canes and Devils are promising, the Capitals easily had the leagues best record, the Flyers in the second half were as good as most anyone. And yet for all of that, I am telling you look past this Jacket club at your own peril. They can score, defend and hit, they have more depth than at any time in team history including three deep in net. They will be right there all year.

[flyercanuck]

The BJs (snicker snicker) were one of the worst underachievers in the league last year. Yes injuries happened, as did Tortellini. But there's too much talent for them to be bottom feeders, despite BOBROVSKY!!! being a loose cannon and off the case! 

 

I'm a big Dubois fan myself.

[ruxpin]

I'll take the bet and go against.  I'm not impressed with the goaltending or the head coach.    By the time they do what they have to go right the ship, it will be too late. 

[J0e Th0rnton]

Tortorella. Nuff said

[ruxpin]

12 hours ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

Tortorella. Nuff said

This. So this. 

[OccamsRazor]

@yave1964

 

Wow!!! Does this count????

 

 

[flyercanuck]

Preseason...who cares. Bad call...you can see how the refs got it wrong. replay clearly shows what happened though.

[AJgoal]

I have a serious question here. This wasn't like Leclair's goal in the playoffs where it entered the net through the twine. This one passed through the twine to hit the goalie in the backside and then went in as it normally should. Is there anything that makes that goal not valid in the rules?

[yave1964]

6 hours ago, AJgoal said:

I have a serious question here. This wasn't like Leclair's goal in the playoffs where it entered the net through the twine. This one passed through the twine to hit the goalie in the backside and then went in as it normally should. Is there anything that makes that goal not valid in the rules?

nothing that I could find.

[Buffalo Rick]

I think this is the best start from Columbus EVER?  I mean, a 10-0 pasting of Montreal is something that does not happen very often.  Beating anyone in the NHL that bad is rare.  My Sabres put up 10 on the Kings not that far back.  But 10-0 is impressive.  But they beat the Ducks last night in a tough game and have been competitive.  This might be the year they break in.  It would be good to see.  I would not want to see them lose this team like the Cleveland Barons did years back.  The Barons also lost their AHL team.  I want to add their plus minus is one of the best and they have given up the fewest goals in the Eastern conference!!!

[flyercanuck]

55 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

I think this is the best start from Columbus EVER?  I mean, a 10-0 pasting of Montreal is something that does not happen very often.  Beating anyone in the NHL that bad is rare.  My Sabres put up 10 on the Kings not that far back.  But 10-0 is impressive.  But they beat the Ducks last night in a tough game and have been competitive.  This might be the year they break in.  It would be good to see.  I would not want to see them lose this team like the Cleveland Barons did years back.  The Barons also lost their AHL team.  I want to add their plus minus is one of the best and they have given up the fewest goals in the Eastern conference!!!

 

I think they really underachieved last year. There was the injury bug, no doubt, but they were better than what their record indicated.

[hf101]

Boston has just scored 4 goals in barely over 4 minutes against Columbus.  

 

[yave1964]

Bad night for Bob and the boys but I like this team a lot, they finish their checks and play a full two hundred foot game, the forwards backcheck, the defense joins the rush, quite frankly they are a fun bunch to watch because they play the game the right way.

  One of my favorite young players is a kid named Boone Jenner who scored 30 goals last season, he is a power forward with size and speed and skill and grit, just a joy to watch. He got off to not just a bad start but a rancid, putrid unwatchable start over the first three or four games, then he became tentative and lost his mojo. Fonz cut his ice time to nothing and dropped him to the bottom line, took him off the power play and instead of taking it as a punishment Jenner worked his tail off and is earning his ice time back. In years past in Columbus, guys like Johanssen and Brassard would whine and cry their way out of town, not so now. They are building something fun to watch and quite frankly on most nights they are a better and more enjoyable product to watch than my beloved Wings. A bunch of hard working kids who want it. Don't sell them short.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Make no mistake.

 

The Blue Jackets have been underachieving for a few SEASONS now.

It really has been injuries that have kept this team from doing anything noteworthy since that series in the playoffs against the Pens what seems like oh-so-long ago now.

 

Looking up n down this lineup and the players they have had in recent seasons, and it's almost like a Who's Who in IR lore....seriously...it's been that bad.

Their was a running joke for awhile in baseball that was, "If you are a player who wants to get paid big, but take a bunch of time off, and don't mind a bit of injury during said time, join the NY Mets".

 

The Mets in baseball have been an injury magnet for many years. Both homegrown talent and FA signings have fallen under the spell of injury for many seasons.

The Blue Jackets seem to be the NHL version of that.

Enough talent to do well, but simply cannot withstand all the man games lost!

 

Will they be the team that can "sneak in" this year?

Well, if they can avoid injuries, they can actually do MORE than just sneak him, and flat out have other teams trying to chase THEM down for a playoff spot.

 

Are they Stanley Cup ready? No, not even fully healthy....I think they will need a bit more time for that, but they have the capability this year to compete for a playoff spot and yes, get in....as they have had for a while now.

 

They are built pretty well for post season play. I wouldn't be surprised if they got in.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

**Thread Bump** 

 

 

 

Are the Blue Jackets FINALLY on the right track?

 

With the exception of all but Seth Jones and Dalton Prout (both of which I understand will be returning possibly this week), Columbus looks to be healthy, they are winning, Coach Tortorella seems to be pushing the right buttons as far as line combos go, Bob the Builder is in net playing well, and rookies (Werenski) are stepping up.

 

Approaching the quarter pole mark of the season, I realize there is much season to be played yet and a ton of things can happen from now till April, but his HAS to be encouraging for Jackets fans who have been very frustrated by this team's underachieving and injury riddled ways the last few seasons.

 

Just got done watching the Jackets-Capitals game on and off, and Columbus went skate for skate, goal for goal, and hit for hit with a very good Washington team, twice coming back from deficits...and winning it with a goal late in the 3rd...just 53 seconds before the end of regulation.

 

Once again, proof positive that with the makeup of this team, if they can stay off IR, they WILL be a force to be reckoned with throughout the season.

 

 

[notfondajane]

On 11/20/2016 at 3:17 PM, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

**Thread Bump** 

 

 

 

Are the Blue Jackets FINALLY on the right track?

 

With the exception of all but Seth Jones and Dalton Prout (both of which I understand will be returning possibly this week), Columbus looks to be healthy, they are winning, Coach Tortorella seems to be pushing the right buttons as far as line combos go, Bob the Builder is in net playing well, and rookies (Werenski) are stepping up.

 

Approaching the quarter pole mark of the season, I realize there is much season to be played yet and a ton of things can happen from now till April, but his HAS to be encouraging for Jackets fans who have been very frustrated by this team's underachieving and injury riddled ways the last few seasons.

 

Just got done watching the Jackets-Capitals game on and off, and Columbus went skate for skate, goal for goal, and hit for hit with a very good Washington team, twice coming back from deficits...and winning it with a goal late in the 3rd...just 53 seconds before the end of regulation.

 

Once again, proof positive that with the makeup of this team, if they can stay off IR, they WILL be a force to be reckoned with throughout the season.

 

 

Could Tortilla keep is cool? ( unlike Vancouver!)