Ohio Jones
Game on...
AP - Miami
The Columbus Blue Jackets flew into Miami on the red-eye, but GM Doug Emerson was not on the flight. Following a lacklustre effort last night that saw his team eke out a tie against the lowly Devils, (just one day after only barely managing to edge the even lowlier Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1, and 2 days after losing 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs), Emerson remained in Columbus, reportedly to put the finishing touches on a major trade.
The $50,000 question, of course, is what kind of trade it will be. Will the Jackets continue to load up for a playoff run and the resultant endorsement and attendance dollars associated with that level of play, or has the team's recent performance against sub-500 teams put the writing on the wall for the current cast of under-achievers?
Either way, for the Jackets, the trade deadline is now: the team has just a few days to opt out of its remaining endorsements and recoup a share of its dollar commitments; right now the team is in jeopardy of missing the targets on at least three of those deals. With attendance slipping and the team hemmoraging money, there is real risk of the team finishing the season in bankruptcy proceedings (owner International Sports Investment Services has already gone on the record to say that they won't be putting any more cash into the team until a new collective bargaining agreement addresses inequities in the cost/revenue structure of the league). So whatever decision the team makes in order to address these concerns, it needs to be made now.
It is known that the team has had extensive conversations with Atlanta, Anaheim, Edmonton and Montreal in recent weeks, leading observers to believe that a sell-off may be on the horizon. But the Rangers, Buffalo and Minnesota were also said to have been on GM Emerson's call list, so the jury remains out.
Which way will it go? We won't have to wait long to find out.
Milo Minderbinder
Columbus Discoverer
The Columbus Blue Jackets flew into Miami on the red-eye, but GM Doug Emerson was not on the flight. Following a lacklustre effort last night that saw his team eke out a tie against the lowly Devils, (just one day after only barely managing to edge the even lowlier Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1, and 2 days after losing 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs), Emerson remained in Columbus, reportedly to put the finishing touches on a major trade.
The $50,000 question, of course, is what kind of trade it will be. Will the Jackets continue to load up for a playoff run and the resultant endorsement and attendance dollars associated with that level of play, or has the team's recent performance against sub-500 teams put the writing on the wall for the current cast of under-achievers?
Either way, for the Jackets, the trade deadline is now: the team has just a few days to opt out of its remaining endorsements and recoup a share of its dollar commitments; right now the team is in jeopardy of missing the targets on at least three of those deals. With attendance slipping and the team hemmoraging money, there is real risk of the team finishing the season in bankruptcy proceedings (owner International Sports Investment Services has already gone on the record to say that they won't be putting any more cash into the team until a new collective bargaining agreement addresses inequities in the cost/revenue structure of the league). So whatever decision the team makes in order to address these concerns, it needs to be made now.
It is known that the team has had extensive conversations with Atlanta, Anaheim, Edmonton and Montreal in recent weeks, leading observers to believe that a sell-off may be on the horizon. But the Rangers, Buffalo and Minnesota were also said to have been on GM Emerson's call list, so the jury remains out.
Which way will it go? We won't have to wait long to find out.
Milo Minderbinder
Columbus Discoverer
