I think Chicago hoists the cup tonight in Philly although I'm rooting for Philly to extend the series to game 7. Why? There is NOTHING like a game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals where its for all the marbles. Plus, as I was just typing to an emailers (Mike), it will give me a great excuse to have some coldies this weekend (not that I need much of one).
Only one former Blue Jacket that I know of in the Stanley Cup finals. Who is it? Answer at the bottom of this post.
Only 15 days til the draft and I've been flipping back and forth on whether or not Howson should deal the pick. No longer. If Howson can find the right dance partner I think he's got to move the pick. The ideal situation would be to trade down (hopefully within the top 15) while picking up help for next year.
According to the Dispatch Tyler Wright will be heading to Russia for 5 days in June to spend some time with Nikita Filatov -- certainly the goal has to be to get a feel for where this kid's head is at in terms of his commitment to the NHL and Columbus next season. My next question is will this be before or after the draft? If this trip wraps up before the draft it could be the deciding factor if he is included in serious trade discussions.
I know a lot of folks don't think Howson would deal him b/c his value is low but I can see it going either way. Sure they could keep him and hope he pans out and/or rebuild his trade value. However the flip side of that is despite what some say the kid still has value and the org may decide after meeting with him that it's time to cut the cord and cash in for what they can and move on.
Publicly Arniel said the right things yesterday about wanting to work with him but what else is he gonna say?
I certainly wouldn't give him away but I think it would be interesting to see what teams offer up. I give it 50/50 chance he's in a Jackets jersey by the start of camp.
Lots of Spezza chatter going on out there. This is a serious case of where there is smoke there has got to be some fire.
Spezza makes a lot of sense as he's a #1 center but is sooooo damn expensive. He's signed for the next 5 years at 8, 8, 8, 5 and 4 mil per season. He's still only 26 and had 57 points in 60 games last season but he's been known to take games off.
I've seen a lot of crazy proposals thrown out there on HF that include both Brassard and 4th overall pick plus a dump for Spezza.
I don't see any way in H-E-double hockey sticks Howson would move those assets for him.
At an absolute minimum either Mike Commodore or Kristian Huselius would have to go the other way to even get past first base. From there I could see Howson offering up one of 4th overall, Brassard or Filatov. After that I could see a B type prospect or 3rd round pick or later to top it off.
I can NOT see him moving more than one blue chip asset - not when taking back that kind of salary. Remember cap/budget space is like gold in this league. Even if he sent back Commodore or Huselius in the other direction he's still be taking on 3+ mil and I don't see our frugal ownership biting on that one.
I'll file this in the "unlikely" category as I just don't see the salary hits lining up unless ownership opens the wallet (again "unlikely").
Speaking of Brassard I was a little disappointed to learn he is not yet in town for summer work outs. On the flip side I was very excited to hear that Steve Mason was here.
The names of those in town thrown out by Howson yesterday were Derek Dorsett, Jarred Boll, Steve Mason and John Moore.
Dorsett and Boll don't surprise me. Those two are always working their asses off.
Mase I already touched on but how about that John Moore? Good early sign of commitment from him.
Great to see these guys here but after last year, that list should be a whole lot longer. For all I know they may be here but if so I'd like to think Howson would have commented on them.
Let's hope it grows over the next few weeks.
Hits for Hockey grew by another $125 big ones yesterday after the Sportsbook sponsor underneath the R Bar logo re-upped for another year. Give em a click if your interested.
Nothing like a little coaching drama to get the casual fan re-engaged in CBJ news... this particular blog was jumpin the past couple of days as is I'm sure others were and I can't tell you how many folks stopped by at work to chat and ask me about Ariel and this Boucher-gate.
Jackets may have looked like clowns again but it did get people talkin about them in June.
As they say, there is no bad publicity.
I like all this talk about playing an up-tempo puck possession style. Sounds great... in theory. One major problem however is that you have to have the skill to pull that off - especially on the backend.
After all the new coach butt kissing is over let's get down to the read business -- what is Howson and ownership prepared to do to get Arniel the players to play this system?
As they say, how can anyone expect Arniel to cook the meal with out the right groceries?
...errr somethin like that.
-LTL
ANSWER: Brian Boucher
