Ohio Jones
Game on...
CD - Columbus
He's called "The Bod", although his gruesome mug would draw few comparisons to the one that makes legions of Rod Stewart fans swoon. His face shows every single one of his 16 years in the league. But when GM Doug Emerson introduced Rod Brind'Amour to the Columbus media and fans today, a general cheer arose.
The Blue Jackets announced that league officials confirmed a trade late last night that sees Brind'Amour join Columbus in return for C Marty Reasoner (28), D Glen Wesley (37), and an undisclosed amount of cash.
As a 33-year-old, Brind'Amour was the undisputed leader of the Coyotes the last time HFNHL hockey was played, earning a spot among the HFNHL's top-20 scoeres with 36 goals and 47 assists for 87 points - the first time in a decade that he had come anywhere close to the point-per-game plateau. Playing 30 minutes a night and every power play for the Desert Dogs no doubt contributed to his increased output, but it probably also wore the one-time NHL ironman down - Brind'Amour only skated in 68 games.
The year off helped Brind'Amour recover from his superhuman exertions of the 03/04 season, but now, at 35, the question begs: can Brind'Amour be expected to live up to that level of production in Columbus?
"He'd better - otherwise he's fired", Emerson quipped, mimicking real estate magnate and pop culture phenomenon Donald Trump - unsuccessfully, to judge from a restrained smattering of chuckles that can best be described as polite - "Seriously, that's not our expectation. Rod is one of the top two-way forwards in the game, and while we will certainly look to him to contribute to the scoresheet, we wanted him for his strong play in his own zone as well. We knew as a team we needed to improve on the number of chances we were giving up each night, and having a shut-down centerman and faceoff expert in the lineup will certainly help in that regard.
"Of course", Emerson continued, grinning, "if he scores like that with us, who are we to complain?". One hopes Emerson isn't planning to give up his day job to tour the comedy circuit...
The replacement of Reasoner with Brind'Amour down the middle likely demotes Henrik Sedin to the fourth line, with Brind'amour centering the third line behind returning Jackets Jeremy Roenick and Mike York. That would make Brind'Amour and RW Kirk Maltby one of the elite checking tandems in the game, and should also help the Jackets improve on their middle-of-the-road penalty kill from 03/04.
None of which, of course, does anything to help improve the Jackets' achilles heel from that season, the power play: Columbus was a woeful 11.3% with the man advantage, 23rd in the league.
"We feel we're addressing that by improving from within", Emerson responded when asked about scoring. "We have a number of key guys who improved their play in the offensive zone over the course of the last season, and who continued to work on those skills in our - ahem - extended off-season. I am confident we can count on better performance on the power play."
When asked if the Jackets would consider hitting the trade market again in order to further boost the Jackets' scoring, Emerson was non-committal. "We're always talking - you have to, in this job, to see what the market is like, what opportunities may exist. But we're not going to make a deal for the sake of making a deal - like I said, we feel confident with our current group. We'll evaluate again before the trade deadline to see if there's anything further we'd choose to do heading into the playoffs. We've still got substantial cap room, despite this guy's hefty contract", Emerson gestured at Brind'Amour, who turned to the group and innocently shrugged as if to say: "Who - me?". The newest Jacket has three years left on a contract worth some $10 million.
So Emerson is counting on the Jackets making the playoffs?
"Absoutely - if not, (Head Coach Mike) Babcock's fired", Emerson responded, taking another kick at that particular dead horse, although not entirely joking this time. "I think we've got the pieces in place to be a factor in the playoffs, but you still have to get there one game at a time. There are a lot of good teams in this conference; we're not taking anything for granted."
As for Brind'Amour, what was his first impression of moving to Columbus?
"It's colder than the desert", he smirked, his battered mug cracking into a smile. "But that's OK - I've got a warm heart".
This time there was nothing restrained about the laughter in the Press Room.
Milo Minderbinder
Columbus Discoverer
He's called "The Bod", although his gruesome mug would draw few comparisons to the one that makes legions of Rod Stewart fans swoon. His face shows every single one of his 16 years in the league. But when GM Doug Emerson introduced Rod Brind'Amour to the Columbus media and fans today, a general cheer arose.
The Blue Jackets announced that league officials confirmed a trade late last night that sees Brind'Amour join Columbus in return for C Marty Reasoner (28), D Glen Wesley (37), and an undisclosed amount of cash.
As a 33-year-old, Brind'Amour was the undisputed leader of the Coyotes the last time HFNHL hockey was played, earning a spot among the HFNHL's top-20 scoeres with 36 goals and 47 assists for 87 points - the first time in a decade that he had come anywhere close to the point-per-game plateau. Playing 30 minutes a night and every power play for the Desert Dogs no doubt contributed to his increased output, but it probably also wore the one-time NHL ironman down - Brind'Amour only skated in 68 games.
The year off helped Brind'Amour recover from his superhuman exertions of the 03/04 season, but now, at 35, the question begs: can Brind'Amour be expected to live up to that level of production in Columbus?
"He'd better - otherwise he's fired", Emerson quipped, mimicking real estate magnate and pop culture phenomenon Donald Trump - unsuccessfully, to judge from a restrained smattering of chuckles that can best be described as polite - "Seriously, that's not our expectation. Rod is one of the top two-way forwards in the game, and while we will certainly look to him to contribute to the scoresheet, we wanted him for his strong play in his own zone as well. We knew as a team we needed to improve on the number of chances we were giving up each night, and having a shut-down centerman and faceoff expert in the lineup will certainly help in that regard.
"Of course", Emerson continued, grinning, "if he scores like that with us, who are we to complain?". One hopes Emerson isn't planning to give up his day job to tour the comedy circuit...
The replacement of Reasoner with Brind'Amour down the middle likely demotes Henrik Sedin to the fourth line, with Brind'amour centering the third line behind returning Jackets Jeremy Roenick and Mike York. That would make Brind'Amour and RW Kirk Maltby one of the elite checking tandems in the game, and should also help the Jackets improve on their middle-of-the-road penalty kill from 03/04.
None of which, of course, does anything to help improve the Jackets' achilles heel from that season, the power play: Columbus was a woeful 11.3% with the man advantage, 23rd in the league.
"We feel we're addressing that by improving from within", Emerson responded when asked about scoring. "We have a number of key guys who improved their play in the offensive zone over the course of the last season, and who continued to work on those skills in our - ahem - extended off-season. I am confident we can count on better performance on the power play."
When asked if the Jackets would consider hitting the trade market again in order to further boost the Jackets' scoring, Emerson was non-committal. "We're always talking - you have to, in this job, to see what the market is like, what opportunities may exist. But we're not going to make a deal for the sake of making a deal - like I said, we feel confident with our current group. We'll evaluate again before the trade deadline to see if there's anything further we'd choose to do heading into the playoffs. We've still got substantial cap room, despite this guy's hefty contract", Emerson gestured at Brind'Amour, who turned to the group and innocently shrugged as if to say: "Who - me?". The newest Jacket has three years left on a contract worth some $10 million.
So Emerson is counting on the Jackets making the playoffs?
"Absoutely - if not, (Head Coach Mike) Babcock's fired", Emerson responded, taking another kick at that particular dead horse, although not entirely joking this time. "I think we've got the pieces in place to be a factor in the playoffs, but you still have to get there one game at a time. There are a lot of good teams in this conference; we're not taking anything for granted."
As for Brind'Amour, what was his first impression of moving to Columbus?
"It's colder than the desert", he smirked, his battered mug cracking into a smile. "But that's OK - I've got a warm heart".
This time there was nothing restrained about the laughter in the Press Room.
Milo Minderbinder
Columbus Discoverer
