Rumor of Hockey coming to Ohio

[yave1964]

My take on the 2013-14 Columbus Bluejackets

 

  Wow they came close last year, fighting with the Wild and red Wings down to the wire for the final two playoff spots, but someone has to miss out and columbus drew the short straw. But Bob picked the club up and ran Mason out of town and they almost made it.

  This is a fairly balanced club, a bit short at center and Prospal their leading scorer was not resigned though he offered a decent discount, but overall not too shabby, on offense, Marian Gaborik is used to toiling in obscurity  as a teams only true scorer from his days in Minnesota, Nathan Horton was signed for six years, he will miss half of the season but is a nice addition. Jack Skille came from Florida, a nice lower end winger who knows his role and Blake Comeau who can play wing on either second or third line was re-upped after coming over at the deadline. Last years acquisition Nick Foligno hopes to bounce back as does hometowner R.J. Umberger. Cam Atkinson and Matt Calvert provide youth and exuberance to the club.

  Centre is a problem, the two men who came from the Rangers in the Nash deal, Anisimov and Dubinsky are good players, but they are second and third pair middle men and that is about it, to move them up is to play them out of posiition. Young Ryan Johansen has not taken the bull by the horns but has enormous upside. Mark Letestu is a personal favorite who outplays his assigned role, a Chris Draper sort who understands that he needs to be the hardest worker on the ice and usuallly is. Derek Mckenzie provides quality depth.

   One thing with the forwards that they do as well as any team in the league is backcheck. Coach Todd Richards allows for no floaters, you play a 200 foot game or you sit, period, that is what ran Derek Brassard out of town.

  Defense is the strength of this club, after years of poor Mason being surrounded by garbage. Jack Johnson is a solid minute eating player with offensive ability, as is Fedor Tyutin to a lesser extent. Ryan Murray comes back this year, as the second pick in the draft two years ago he has a huge upside and will get his feet wet. James Wisniewski is among my least favorite players, has a great shot but looks lost in his own zone way too often but grudgingly i admit the sucker can shoot,  Dalton Prout showed size and snarl in his chances last year and has likely moved ahead of Tim Erixon and David Savard on the depth chart but both can play.

  Bobrovsky was absolutely amazing last year, this club averaged only 2.4 goals a game last year but he almost snuck them in, he proved that a goalie can make the entire team better. No more Allen York or Curtis Sanford back there, thank God. He flirted with a return to the KHL as a contract ploy and is rumored to be one of the Russians most homesick. That is fine, in columbus he toils in the NHL's version of siberia. Rumor is Tim Thomas may be coming aboard as a backup seems that all the starting jobs are long claimed.

  They will play a tough disciplined game, you know from the bruises and aches that you played the Jackets. Bob cannot possibly be as good as he was last season, so the offense needs to step up. I think too many forwards are stretched too thin in their roles, Dubinsky, Anisimov and Letestu are all fine players but too much is being counted on from them. No offense against Horton but this club desperately needed Weiss or even Grabovski much more than him. I think they will be competitive but will fall just short.

[jammer2]

  I love the game Mark Letestu plays. He's one of the unheralded checker types that does not get a lot of press, but wow, what an effort he puts out! That guy leaves it all on the ice.  Matt Clavert seemed to supply a little offense from the back end, he might continue where he left off. Derek McKenzie is one of the better skating goons in the league, I've seen him score some nice goals also.