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Entries in Columbus Blue Jackets (4)

Thursday
21Jan2010

Blue Jackets management hear my request, name sixth alternate captain

DateThursday, January 21, 2010 at 3:45PM

Awhile back I posted a piece that included a little note on the Columbus Blue Jackets and their penchant for assigning leadership roles to players. At the time the Blue Jackets had five alternate captains, although a few were on the IR at the time. Since then I've had a running joke going with Yotesgurl over at The Good, The Bad, and the Coyotes about who the Jackets should name an alternate captain next (either the equipment manager or bus driver). I can only assume the Blue Jackets management has been listening, because not only did they activate one of their alternate captains from IR (Fredrik Modin), but they named a sixth alternate captain.

The Columbus Blue Jackets' captain is, of course, one Rick Nash. Helping him out are the the guys wearing the 'A': Fredrik Modin, R.J. Umberger, Antoine Vermette, Mike Commodore, Rostislav Klesla, and the newly minted Derek Dorsett. That's six. Six alternate captains. Surprisingly absent from this list is newly acquired Chris Clark, who actually was a captain (Washington Capitals) until recently.

How does this team pick who wears 'A's on any given night? Draw names from a hat? Take a vote? Hold a contest (two players who pick correctly the number of times Doug MacLean says "Rick Nash" in a segment of Hockeycentral)?

AuthorRyan Classic | Comment2 Comments |
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Tuesday
06Oct2009

5 Things: Hockey Tidbits

DateTuesday, October 6, 2009 at 3:01PM

1. I know coaches are inclined to start their number one goaltender in the season opener, but why would the Lightning start Mike Smith over Antero Niittymaki against Atlanta on Saturday? Smith's a good goalie, but Niittymaki is 13-0 lifetime against the Thrashers. Backup or not, play the percentages! The Lightning lost 6-3.

2. Your Columbus Blue Jackets alternate captains for last night's game against Vancouver: Rostislav Klesla and R.J. Umberger. With Mike Commodore and Frederik Modin both out, Antoine Vermette was snubbed.

3. Roberto Luongo used his beige "classic" mask through training camp, preseason, and the first two games of the season. Presumably attempting to change his luck after a horrid start of the year, Luongo turned to his blue Johnny Canuck mask. The result: pulled after a second period where he let in three goals on the first three shots. How about going to one of those white masks goalies wear before or after getting traded?

4. Toronto is also having goaltending problems. Through two games, Vesa Toskala has a save percentage of .800 and rookie Jonas Gustavsson is at .842. Over in Vancouver, Luongo is at .820, while Andrew Raycroft is at .917. Wait, Raycroft? Bizarro NHL.

5. Finally, does anyone else think Jonas Gustavsson bears an eerie resemblance to British actor David Tennant?

AuthorRyan Classic | Comment1 Comment |
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Sunday
04Oct2009

5 Things Micro Edition: Columbus likes the letter A

DateSunday, October 4, 2009 at 12:25PM

The Columbus Blue Jackets are captained by Rick Nash. He's the face of the franchise, is signed for many years, and is clearly the leader of the team. But NHL captains have alternates, typically two, three if there's no designated captain (or your captain is Roberto Luongo), and four if you have two for home and two for the road. Columbus, however, has five.

Presenting your 2009-10 Columbus Blue Jackets alternate captains: Frederik Modin, RJ Umberger, Antoine Vermette, Mike Commodore, and Rostislav Klesla.

I'm not going to question Modin or Commodore or Klesla. But Umberger? Really? The most illogical is Vermette. He wasn't even considered a potential future leader in Ottawa, unless I missed something while reading numerous blogs and articles. At least there he was the Francophone in a city that has a presence in both Ontario and Quebec. But Antoine Vermette, Columbus Blue Jackets alternate captain? The mind boggles.

Sidebar: Five alternate captains and Sami Pahlsson gets snubbed?

AuthorRyan Classic | CommentPost a Comment |
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Wednesday
19Aug2009

Anatomy of a Trade: Nikolai Zherdev

DateWednesday, August 19, 2009 at 4:48PM

By now you probably know about Nikolai Zherdev, the now former New York Rangers forward. Zherdev was seeking a $4.5M per year contract from the Rangers, and after failed negotiations was awarded $3.9M for one year by an arbitrator. Rangers GM Glen Sather chose to not accept the contract and walked away, leaving Zherdev a UFA. Many in the media applauded Sather as Zherdev had been considered lazy, inconsistent, immature, and even a poor teammate.

He also apparently got Doug MacLean fired.

New York acquired Zherdev last summer in a trade with Columbus. The Rangers sent defencemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Zherdev and centre Dan Fritsche. Zherdev and Fritsche were Columbus' first two draft picks in 2003 (4th and 46th, respectively) and were brought in to help New York's anemic offence. Columbus got a solid defenceman in Tyutin and the most consistent player in the NHL in Backman, who had just completed his fourth consecutive 18-point season (and a 19-point campaign with Frolunda during the lockout). It was a good trade for both sides at the time, but a year later Columbus clearly comes out on top. For New York this trade was a failure. Dig into the details, however, and the trade looks far, far worse.

Click to read more ...

AuthorRyan Classic | Comment8 Comments |
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