With the lockout coming to a close, I'm looking forward to the Blue Jackets' season. I don't think this team is by any means a playoff team, but I do think they'll be a fun, more gritty team to watch. I'm actually confident that Bobrovsky will improve (He's played really well in Russia lately), and he already provides a huge bonus over Mason in net, and the defense should be extremely solid with 2 really good lines of Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski, and Fedor Tyutin and Nikita Nikitin (Aucoin at 39 will play sparingly I think). On offense, I look forward to Cam Atkinson's development, as well as the addition of Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky, as they're two young guys with upside, just like Atkinson. Nick Foligno is a bit of a wild card, he had ok numbers with the Senators last year, but how impactful he will be with the CBJ is hard to predict. I also hope that RJ Umberger, the former Buckeye, will have another decent 20-20 season. I'm optimistic for this team's future, and while they no longer have a sure-fire stud in Rick Nash who can be a 70-point player, they'll be an extremely solid defensive team, that will have to rely on a goal-by-committee effort to win games. They'll struggle offensively this year, and getting screwed out of drafting Nail Yakupov certainly didn't help (Add in the fact the CBJ just lost Ryan Murray (D), their 1st rd. pick, for the year), but a solid foundation may have finally been laid for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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I think they are going to struggle again this year but hopefully they can be a little more competitive than last year. Being from Cleveland i didn't get to see as many games as i would have liked, but the ones i did watch were fun yet painful at the same time. I hate seeing Nash go, but i really think we have some good young defensemen to build around. Last year it seemed like we gave up too many goals in the last 2-3 minutes of periods and that really hurt. I am hoping to make it down for a few weekend games, but we will see what the schedule looks like. The only benefit of CBJ not being good was cheper ticket prices, but i will gladly pay face value for a competitive squad!
Columbus is in such a weird spot. They have a wealth of first round picks on their roster. I really like Anisimov and Dubinsky-the latter will win over the fan base pretty quickly. He's a hard nosed player who can be a really good PK\two way guy. I've always liked Anisimov. I think he can be everything Derick Brassard was supposed to be.
Can't go wrong with Johnson\Wiz either. That's some really physical play and one of the better defensive tandems in the business. I'd be willing to call Nash addition by subtraction. He was a points machine but had the feel of a guy you won with, not because of. I think they may struggle to find a go to scorer but Phoenix has made several runs into the playoffs despite a sure fire goal machine. If you have 5 guys who can give you 20, you are better off than 3 guys who give you 30. They'll struggle in higher scoring affairs but should be sound enough on D and in the net to be in some games.
I won't say playoffs just yet but their arrow is pointing up with the raid they pulled on NY. They might be in hockey's toughest division, however. Detroit, Chicago, and Nashville are annual playoff contenders while St. Louis looks like they went from 0-60 in 2 seasons.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
I think they'll be an increased use of back-up goalies this season due to the condensed season. If the CBJ can face the back-up goalies often because teams choose to rest the starter against them, they might see some increased scoring. But the division is stacked this year, and I think young teams like Chicago and the Wild are better suited to the gruling back-to-back schedule.
“Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect.” - Woody
The CBJ themselves are fairly young.
The Blue Jackets most likely won't be good. Not even proven goal scorers. Not enough skill. Two question marks in goal.
That said, I'm looking forward to watching them this year. They'll be different than the teams of the last two years that seemed to quit somewhere down the stretch. I think it may be a return to the first 2 seasons or so of the franchise with the lunch pail, blue collar squads that came to work every damn night.
Class of 2010