Game 8: Columbus vs. St. Louis | 1/31 7PM EST

[Viqsi]

I want to focus on the comment about the minor league team. It is nice that they are doing well, but the question is whether them doing well will translate into anything for the Jackets. Take a look at that team. See any forwards that are going to help solve our huge offensive problems in Columbus? Closer to home, has the improvement at Springfield improved the development of a player like Johansen who still doesn't seem to have the scoring touch at the NHL level?

So, I'm not ready to celebrate Springfield's success just yet because it isn't clear it is anything more than a case of building a good minor league team that can compete as men against boys.

Sorry, my crystal ball is still in the shop. I guess I'm just happy that there's something resembling a winning, competitive culture in the place where our guys go to learn how to play professional-level hockey. We really ought to know better than to place any value whatsoever on such meaningless tripe; thank you so much for setting us all straight in that regard. Clearly it is better for us to just presume that development here has sucked, does suck, and will always suck, and do nothing whatsoever to change it.

What later round picks have we developed? Cam Atkinson, a guy who hasn't had enough NHL games to really evaluate? Take a good hard look at our roster--most of this team was acquired through trade. Two of the late round picks on this team are Doug MacLean picks--Dorsett and Boll. Who else from a late round is anyone counting on to take this team to the next level?

Free Translation: "We haven't gotten Our Singular Lord And Savior from the late rounds yet, so therefore all those other guys who might be depth or quality depth are worthless trash that proves that our drafting still sucks."

I think we can figure out one person who shouldn't be here if the Jackets are drafting in the top 3 again--the guy who said with a straight face to fans last spring that the Jackets were just a couple players away.

Perhaps then we can follow up with the guy who has repeatedly said with a straight face to fans and media that the Jackets are currently better off than St. Louis was before their resurgence. Can you imagine the gall of such a thing? Any fan with a superficial glance at the scoreboard can tell that everything sucks and is miserable and so clearly he has no idea what he's talking about. Fire him, too!

Time to be honest with fans and stop tip toeing around it--this team is in a rebuild and this isn't a one year fix.

Because, of course, the Jackets front office has been telling us repeatedly all this past summer that we're going to make the playoffs and compete for the Cup right now. And certainly the optimistic fans here haven't helped, what with their ludicrous suggestions of "if things go really, really well, the playoffs aren't completely impossible." Balderdash!

I saw enough of the Cleveland sports disease growing up. Let's not emulate it. Let's actually move forward now that we have a hockey guy at the top of the food chain with a reasoned plan to get to the ultimate goal of a Stanley Cup instead of one half baked scheme after another. Accept and be honest about the fact that this is year one of a 3 year process and that no one should be expecting a playoff trip until the process is completed, but also step up to the plate and have real consequences or accountability if the process fails.

John Davidson hiring date: June 30, 2006. After end of 2005-2006 season. Roughly one year before Scott Howson (hired in May of 2007).
First Blues playoff appearance during Davidson era: 2008-2009 season (third active season). Swept in 4 games by the Canucks. Same season as Scott Howson, with the same result, only that was in Howson's second year.
Subsequent two years: Both out of playoffs, both falling further back in conference and overall standings.

So, going by past indicators, you'll be calling for Davidson's firing in a little under two and a half years, and "leading" a quixotic protest to demand his removal in about three or four. Looking forward to it.

 

[Jovavic]

Found? Jarmo didn't find him, Tarasenko was held in high regard as a top 10 player in the draft but fell due to the Russian factor.

I do believe they traded David Rundblad (who was drafted the year before) to Ottawa for their pick so they could grab him.

 

[CBJx614]

First and foremost I think we need to establish a set 1-2 punch. Let the players earn their minutes. That's what was going on in Springfield. Cam, JAM, ryjo all sat as well as everyone else on the team if they made a bad play or took a bad penalty they sat. Didn't matter if it was 2min left down 1, he still sat Cam or JAM. It shouldn't matter if it's Johnson, Umberger, Tyutin or Wiz. If someone's not making wise decisions, sit them. Let somebody else take those minutes. We are THE youngest team in the nhl. What our team needs is seasoning. Tyutin ****s up? Perfect Moore, gets a few extra shifts. It will make everyone work that much harder knowing that minutes are going to be a earned. I get that we are still trying all the combos and all that jumbo but we need to establish some consistency. We need to hit the jackpot on these picks. Whether it's a late round steal, or just a player near the bottom of the 1st that got overlooked and maybe he takes an extra year or two to grow. But we need some luck as well as smart hockey decisions from Davidson and the crew. I see Richards as the luke fickell of the bucks. Yes I did just compare the jackets to the buckeyes.

But I agree with who ever said that Richards is really just an interim coach until the team is more developed and at that point we will re access coaching. If we need to. And if we need to, maybe with some luckh luck Davidson and potentially one or two elite players maybe even a franchise player, attract some other big names.

 

[JacketsFanWest]

I want to focus on the comment about the minor league team. It is nice that they are doing well, but the question is whether them doing well will translate into anything for the Jackets. Take a look at that team. See any forwards that are going to help solve our huge offensive problems in Columbus?

Without Johansen, Atkinson, JAM and Erixon, the Falcons are beating the Crunch 3-1. The Crunch and Falcons are tied in the standings with 56 points.

The system they are using in Springfield is allowing them to be successful with whoever the players are. But will that same system work in the NHL?

It's going to take time to keep developing players. Johansen has been so close to scoring. He's been in the right place at the right time, but the puck isn't going in. He's make major improvements but there's obviously still flaws and he's turning over the puck far too much. He's very much a work in progress but it's good to see improvement.

They could recall Chaput, but playing a full AHL season would be better than rushing players to the NHL. Maybe even Johansen belongs in the AHL working on his scoring touch.

Having half a season of a good AHL team isn't going to pay major benefits for the Jackets. It's going to turn into a long term benefit. The Falcons aren't winning because they have one star player. It's very much a team effort. IMO, that's good news for the Jackets.

 

[Skraut]

I can't stop laughing at the fact that Mr. Fire Them All, can write with a straight face that he doesn't want the Jackets to emulate Cleveland Sports when the only pro sports franchise to go through more front office staff than the Jackets since 2000 is the Cleveland Browns.

 

[Timeless Winter]

The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Howson has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year

 

[Timeless Winter]

Sorry, my crystal ball is still in the shop. I guess I'm just happy that there's something resembling a winning, competitive culture in the place where our guys go to learn how to play professional-level hockey.


.

Where??

 

[JacketsFanWest]

The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Howson has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year

Well, he got 3 draft picks in one of the best draft classes since 2003.

In the early years, the Jackets overachieved and it cost them in terms of draft picks. Being bad beyond belief got the Hawks and Pens their star players. It may have worked for the Oilers.

Howson gambled big time on this draft. It's too early to see how the trades have gone until draft day and beyond.

 

[CBJx614]

The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Howson has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year

Murray, Johansen, Jenner (2nd Rd steal), Atkinson (6rd steal) Reilly 6 late Rd steal) Our goaltending is actually improving(Dansk Forsberg Korpisalo Bobrovsky). Will it last? Time will tell. Howson brought in Bobrovsky to motivate Mason. I think that lit a fire under his ass and maybe, just maybe it's starting to show. Developing players takes time, and having the right players to surround them with is critical.

We also have a stock full of promising defensive players. They just need to get some offensive help.

 

[Hugg]

Browns are by far the worst team in the division, are 23-57 (and haven't won more than 5 games in a season) since 2007, just fired everyone and are resetting...again. How are they in any better shape than the Blue Jackets?

 

[Skraut]

Where??

http://theahl.com/stats/statdisplay...ament_id=0&leagueId=4&division_id=-1&confId=0

 

[CBJx614]

http://theahl.com/stats/statdisplay...ament_id=0&leagueId=4&division_id=-1&confId=0

2nd in goals for 3rd in goals against = WINNING!

 

[Viqsi]

The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Howson has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year

The only metric by which the Browns are "in better shape" is that they've changed ownership - which I suppose might count as an improvement in the "WE WANT BLOOD but we'll call it 'accountability' so we sound S-M-R-T smart" world. I still can't help but see it as "change for the sake of change", the hallmark of desperate losers everywhere. Heck, I pretty much don't follow pro football at all, but (thanks to listening to 97.1 The Fan pretty frequently) even I've heard the groans of horror at some of the hiring decisions of the new guys in charge - coaching in particular (I won't pretend to know why folks find it worrisome; I just know that they do).

Is there the opportunity for improvement? Of course there is. There always is, regardless of whether or not you've fired somebody and/or set their head on a pike as a warning to the others.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

=Timeless Winter;58857785]The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Howson has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year[

The regular season ends on April 27. Sunday April 28 or Monday the 29th should be Howson's last day on the job. 87 days and counting until the inevitable.

 

[Mayor Bee]

The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Howson has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year

Cleveland just hired Mike Lombardi to handle personnel matters. For the NHL equivalent, put Doug MacLean in a sealed chamber breathing industrial chemicals for about a year, then make him GM again.

 

[Viqsi]

The regular season ends on April 27. Sunday April 28 or Monday the 29th should be Howson's last day on the job. 87 days and counting until the inevitable.

I imagine you are going to be very disappointed in late April.

The question of real interest for me, though, is whether or not that disappointment will be great enough to also call for JD's firing. Only time will tell!

 

[db2011]

Sorry, my crystal ball is still in the shop. I guess I'm just happy that there's something resembling a winning, competitive culture in the place where our guys go to learn how to play professional-level hockey. We really ought to know better than to place any value whatsoever on such meaningless tripe; thank you so much for setting us all straight in that regard. Clearly it is better for us to just presume that development here has sucked, does suck, and will always suck, and do nothing whatsoever to change it.



Free Translation: "We haven't gotten Our Singular Lord And Savior from the late rounds yet, so therefore all those other guys who might be depth or quality depth are worthless trash that proves that our drafting still sucks."



Perhaps then we can follow up with the guy who has repeatedly said with a straight face to fans and media that the Jackets are currently better off than St. Louis was before their resurgence. Can you imagine the gall of such a thing? Any fan with a superficial glance at the scoreboard can tell that everything sucks and is miserable and so clearly he has no idea what he's talking about. Fire him, too!



Because, of course, the Jackets front office has been telling us repeatedly all this past summer that we're going to make the playoffs and compete for the Cup right now. And certainly the optimistic fans here haven't helped, what with their ludicrous suggestions of "if things go really, really well, the playoffs aren't completely impossible." Balderdash!



John Davidson hiring date: June 30, 2006. After end of 2005-2006 season. Roughly one year before Scott Howson (hired in May of 2007).
First Blues playoff appearance during Davidson era: 2008-2009 season (third active season). Swept in 4 games by the Canucks. Same season as Scott Howson, with the same result, only that was in Howson's second year.
Subsequent two years: Both out of playoffs, both falling further back in conference and overall standings.

So, going by past indicators, you'll be calling for Davidson's firing in a little under two and a half years, and "leading" a Quixotic protest to demand his removal in about three or four. Looking forward to it.

fixed it for you

The Browns are in better shape than the Blue Jackets. Keeping Priest has done what exactly?? Made us worse. Every year

fixed it for you

 

[Viqsi]

fixed it for you

Pfah. merriam-webster.com suggests that the uncapitalized form is perfectly acceptable.

 

[Doug19]

Change just to make change? I'm indifferent on Howson, frankly I don't care if he stays or goes, but Scott has one playoff run on his resume, countless bad signings/resigns, an average trade record, and a TBD draft record.

He's lucky that the ownership here is so horribly indecisive or else he probably would have been canned by now.

Since he's been here we've had 4 head coaches, countless assistant coaches, had to bring in a new president to try to bring credibility to the franchise. The coach that he resigned in the offseason has another coach over his shoulder as the "associate" head coach. Is there anything the Howson has really done right other than a few trades?

His first round track record is terrible when you consider only two guys 3 guys are left in the organization.

He stuck with a goalie for far to long when it was clear to the whole hockey world that our goalie position was far and away the worst in the NHL.

He came up with the bright idea to completely dismantle the leadership group the year after we made the playoffs. What a god awful decision that was. Hell

If you think people wanting to get rid of Scott is just to make a change for the sake of it, your absolutely insane. Mr. Howson has accomplished nothing that should warrant him the job security he has been afforded thus far.

It all goes back to ownership. While it's nice having a solid ownership team, the worst thing is these guys cannot make timely decisions. They kept XGMDM was to long, just like it appears they are keeping GMSH to long. Howson's only saving grace now is that he's assembled a team so horrible that it has gotten him Johansen, Murray, and one of the top talents in the 13 draft.

Oh forgot to bring up the embarrassment that was the Carter trade. Yeah, trade two of our top future assets without actually doing your homework on a guy, that worked out soooooo well.

 

[JACKETfan]

From the hockey gods to Doug61's mouth -or fingers.

Why do we need both JD and Howson. Somebody explain it to me.

 

[EDM]

Let me take a guess--- because in a well run organization, the President and GM serve different functions?

 

[TaketheCannoli]

So apparently Dorsett bit Stewart last night.

https://twitter.com/Aportzline/status/297402607922733056

Not cool.

We could see it in the arena. There was a tight camera shot on the scoreboard of the end of the fight; Stewart was poking Dorsett's face and Dorsett bit his fingers.

 

[CBJfan4evr]

The regular season ends on April 27. Sunday April 28 or Monday the 29th should be Howson's last day on the job. 87 days and counting until the inevitable.

As long as GMSTH plays nice with JD he will be the GM in Columbus. CBJ have enough problems without adding the drama of searching for a new GM.

I'd go on to suggest that the failure of this leadership team may likely mean the end of hockey in Columbus. You can only go through so many rebuilds. When folks that are fairly well regarded in NHL circles fail you've got major problems on your hands. Real value of JD may be fealt during next years FA period. Respect he has in the NHL circles may help to entice better players to come here.

 

[Crede777]

From the hockey gods to Doug61's mouth -or fingers.

Why do we need both JD and Howson. Somebody explain it to me.

Someone has to do the paperwork. Who better than a lawyer like Howson.

 

[blahblah]

I imagine you are going to be very disappointed in late April.

You are probably right. The Jackets and the Islanders are teams that seem to reward the GM for not showing results on the ice. Not sure why that is, but for some reason it is.

There really isn't a rational defense the Jackets can use to retain him, never has been. That has been illustrated by the lack of anything coming from the front office in a rational defense. It's been mostly just "He's smart".

My tin-foil hat side keeps telling me that Howson was forced into the Carter trade and this is the owners way of making up for that blunder, especially since he flipped it around to get JMFJ.

TW did have a point, this team has been getting worse, not better. All the momentum gained at the end of last season appears to be gone and we are back to being on of the worst teams in the NHL right now. That is with a full roster. We can claim the Nash trade as a big reason, but are we so dependent on what player we couldn't even lose him for 10 games with an injury and not implode? If so, that is a very poor team built after this length of time at the helm. Just more evidence he hasn't done his job with the NHL roster.

I suspect, if things keep up as they are, we will head into another coaching search. Hitch, if nothing else, illustrated with the Blues what a difference a head coach can make. Even if it is just giving the room confidence. There is something very wrong with this team right now, it should not be this bad.

The question of real interest for me, though, is whether or not that disappointment will be great enough to also call for JD's firing. Only time will tell!

I don't see how, at least not with anything resembling a vast, vast minority.

I understand it is fun to poke fun at the over reactionary, but this is probably on the other side of rational to be honest. The vast majority of us realize there was little JD could do this first year.

Now the 2013-14 season will start to give me more insight on what this guy is about.