What are the Blue Jackets doing?

[gtrower]

Aside from Tampa, who else from the east should the Blue Jackets be afraid of at this point?

They basically have 5 possible 1st round matchups right now:

- reigning champs
- team that won the two before that
- runaway PT winner
- division leader with reigning champ coach
- Carolina. Might be favored in that one.

I’d say they should be afraid of just about everybody. Hell it’s not even a given that they make the playoffs. Can you imagine?

 

[shtorm2005]

They basically have 5 possible 1st round matchups right now:

- reigning champs
- team that won the two before that
- runaway PT winner
- division leader with reigning champ coach
- Carolina. Might be favored in that one.

I’d say they should be afraid of just about everybody. Hell it’s not even a given that they make the playoffs. Can you imagine?

Enemies everywhere!

 

[Crede777]

They basically have 5 possible 1st round matchups right now:

- reigning champs
- team that won the two before that
- runaway PT winner
- division leader with reigning champ coach
- Carolina. Might be favored in that one.

I’d say they should be afraid of just about everybody. Hell it’s not even a given that they make the playoffs. Can you imagine?

Jackets have taken the season series against Washington and Pittsburgh looks like a shadow of its former self.

Islanders have done well vs Columbus and have Trotz but on paper the Jackets should match up well so there's that.

 

[Bobcat110]

I understand why they're going all in, and on some level I wish them luck, but man it's not what I would do this season. I think the best they can hope for is to lose in 5 or less in the ECF... is that worth both losing your stars for nothing AND spending assets on guys who might not resign? You could be setting yourself back for years.

Jarmo wouldn’t have done the trades if he didn’t believe he could sign the players. Dzingel was a CBJ fan while at OSU and Duchene will likely love Columbus for his family. Getting him here for a few games to experience the city during a playoff run will be big selling opportunity that the team may not have had if they waited until July 1st.

Jarmo has $30 million + available this off season. Someone will take his money.

I love Jarmo is controlling the higher end trade deadline market , and hilariously frustrating HFers. I also like that teams around the CBJ (Caps, Pens, Habs, Canes, Isles) have fewer options to improve.

Bob wasn’t bringing assets to CBJ. Bob has no trade clause that puts him in control in already a soft goalie market in which CBJ would further restrict themselves to only offers from Western conference.

Panarin is still on the trade table. So if he isn’t traded, it’s because the buyers didn’t want to spend for him. CBJ aren’t giving him away for a late first round pick.

Also, regarding the draft picks. We are talking about the same Jarmo that HFers blasted for taking Dubois over Puljujärvi? Pretty sure he knows what draft talent will be available, or more likely, not available late in the first round this year and I’m confident in his decision. People should go back and see how many late first round picks become productive nhlers, much less first line centers, which is what they can get from Duchene.

 

[pomx]

With just 2 picks in the upcoming draft, why not go ALL in? Wonder if that’s ever been done before.

 

[Voight]

Cant blame Jarmo. Now is the time to make a run, at worst you lose The Russian + Ottawa duos and still have guys like PLB, Jones and Werenski to build around.

 

[Sky04]

They basically have 5 possible 1st round matchups right now:

- reigning champs
- team that won the two before that
- runaway PT winner
- division leader with reigning champ coach
- Carolina. Might be favored in that one.

I’d say they should be afraid of just about everybody. Hell it’s not even a given that they make the playoffs. Can you imagine?

Columbus matches well against everybody not TB.

 

[Thrasymachus]

Jackets have taken the season series against Washington and Pittsburgh looks like a shadow of its former self.

Islanders have done well vs Columbus and have Trotz but on paper the Jackets should match up well so there's that.

Isles fan here - Columbus could take out the Islanders in a series I do believe.

I just question if they can go the distance - and barring a cup victory, are all these trades worth it when you are about to lose Panarin?

 

[RockTheRedDC]

LOL, Lumbus is like Leafs...they didn't even win a PO series and are already contenders\super champs whatever...

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[Johniac]

This seems kind of risky. If they don't win it all and then have half the team leave come July 1st, it won't be pretty. CBJ may have to overpay to keep these players because it seems like they really want to go to the highest bidder this summer.

 

[txpd]

Jackets have taken the season series against Washington .

3-0 on the back end of a back to back
2-1 in 3 on 3 OT
4-0 Capitals.
2-1

1 see one schedule win. 1 overtime game. 1 lose in a blow out and a 2-1 game. I wouldn't take that as some sign of what a playoff series would look like. Its about as unrepresentative as you get

 

[txpd]

This seems kind of risky. If they don't win it all and then have half the team leave come July 1st, it won't be pretty. CBJ may have to overpay to keep these players because it seems like they really want to go to the highest bidder this summer.

They need to make the playoffs and win one series to keep the fans with them. They can take that success toward signing the incoming ufa's. They can use the cap space from bob and panarin to land replacements. That is their way out.

What they need is the Islanders in the first round.

 

[mikeyp24]

This seems kind of risky. If they don't win it all and then have half the team leave come July 1st, it won't be pretty. CBJ may have to overpay to keep these players because it seems like they really want to go to the highest bidder this summer.

half the team? Literally 2 players... we gave no roster players for what we gave up so the worst loss would be what we started with and 20+mil cap to replace them...

 

[Crede777]

3-0 on the back end of a back to back
2-1 in 3 on 3 OT
4-0 Capitals.
2-1

1 see one schedule win. 1 overtime game. 1 lose in a blow out and a 2-1 game. I wouldn't take that as some sign of what a playoff series would look like. Its about as unrepresentative as you get

It's better than pure guessing which is the alternative.

 

[txpd]

It's better than pure guessing which is the alternative.

Ok....what exactly does it tell you? CBJ lost one game in a blow out. They won a 3-0 when the Capitals played the night before. CBJ won a 2-1 game and they played a tie. The 3 on 3 ot is not applicable.

It tells me the two teams are competitive. Nothing more.

 

[TMLeafer]

They have to go for it sometime. I don't disagree with them going all in.

 

[Johniac]

half the team? Literally 2 players... we gave no roster players for what we gave up so the worst loss would be what we started with and 20+mil cap to replace them...

I am not sure what other UFAs Columbus may have, but Bob, Panarin, Duchene and Dzingel could all walk. That is a big chunk, though not literally half.

 

[Crede777]

Isles fan here - Columbus could take out the Islanders in a series I do believe.

I just question if they can go the distance - and barring a cup victory, are all these trades worth it when you are about to lose Panarin?

Yeah I think so given the state of the franchise. Re-tooling or rebuilding now that the team is competitive is off the table regardless of what Panarin wants to do. If they were to trade Panarin and essentially throw the towel in on the season, they very well could be playing the next 2-3 years in front of an empty arena.

Plus, a player walking away from a competitive team that is willing to pay him above market value and where he gets along great with everybody is pretty unthinkable. Last time it may have happened would be Suter leaving Nashville to go home.

 

[Crede777]

Ok....what exactly does it tell you? CBJ lost one game in a blow out. They won a 3-0 when the Capitals played the night before. CBJ won a 2-1 game and they played a tie. The 3 on 3 ot is not applicable.

It tells me the two teams are competitive. Nothing more.

It tells me that the Jackets were competitive, yes, and have a pretty good shot to take the playoff series especially if they improve their roster.

 

[txpd]

It tells me that the Jackets were competitive, yes, and have a pretty good shot to take the playoff series especially if they improve their roster.

They had a pretty good shot last season. IIRC the entirety of the hockey media picked them to win. You are of course not taking into account that the Capitals played that series still carrying the choker monkey on their back and that CBJ still has there's. You are not taking into account that the Capitals won the Stanley Cup and are both late recovering from that as is usual and are now generally disinterested in the regular season.

Good for you that you like your team against the rest of the Metro. I encourage you to ask for the Caps in the first round again. Please

 

[mikeyp24]

I am not sure what other UFAs Columbus may have, but Bob, Panarin, Duchene and Dzingel could all walk. That is a big chunk, though not literally half.

But Duchene and Dzingle were added for futures and didnt take any players off the team. So they could just be rentals. Bob amd Bread are the only UFAs we might lose.

 

[Socks]

They had a pretty good shot last season. IIRC the entirety of the hockey media picked them to win. You are of course not taking into account that the Capitals played that series still carrying the choker monkey on their back and that CBJ still has there's. You are not taking into account that the Capitals won the Stanley Cup and are both late recovering from that as is usual and are now generally disinterested in the regular season.

Good for you that you like your team against the rest of the Metro. I encourage you to ask for the Caps in the first round again. Please

I’m certainly not going to say the Jackets are a sure fire bet to beat the Caps. But please don’t tell me you’re using this as a quantifiable measure of Washington’s superiority.

 

[su24]

The Jackets were in playoffs spot with both their goalies' SV% around 0.900. Bobrovsky was a mess for a big chunk of the season. The only significant loss would be Panarin.
They would become a better team if they just sign both Duchene and Dzingel. With Gavrikov (the best KHL defenseman who just established all-time KHL record in +/-) coming they could also trade some defense for a help upfront. Just imagine what they could get for Werenski.
They gonna be just fine.

 

[txpd]

I’m certainly not going to say the Jackets are a sure fire bet to beat the Caps. But please don’t tell me you’re using this as a quantifiable measure of Washington’s superiority.

No. As recently as this week Pierre MaGuire wrote about the Capitals tdl activity saying that the Capitals are just now recovering from their cup run and this is normal. The term disinterested might have been the wrong term. But Kuznetsov has been honest saying he/they are bored.

If you think its your expectation that CBJ would beat the Capitals, good. Have fun with that. Again, ask for them in the first round when all your franchise needs is to win one playoff series.