Carry the Flag

Moving Forward..

2012-05-04T17:00:00.001-04:00

The writers at Carry the Flag have moved to a new home. This collective effort will hopefully provide a better, more effective way to bring information to the Blue Jackets fan base, and work towards building a smarter and more vocal community.

Please join us at TheUnionBlue.com in the future and thank you for taking the time to read CTF.

-The Carry the Flag Team.

CBJ Prospect CHL Playoffs/Doyle Cup Recap

2012-05-02T17:44:00.001-04:00

Hello all back again to keep you up to date on the Jackets prospects two more prospects had there seasons ended in the last round one possibly playing his last CHL game.

Dalton Smith-Ottawa(OHL)
Final playoff stats 18GP 4-4-8 -7 46PIM
In a battle of the top two teams in the OHL's Eastern Conference the Otrawa 67s losing in five games. Before I get going on the recap I found this interesting after the two division champs(Niagara and Ottawa) seeded one and two, seeds three through six were in the Central Division(Niagara) and seeds seven through 10 were in the East Division(Ottawa). As for the series Dalton probably played some of his best hockey scoring four points in five games. Dalton was held scoreless in game one then putting together a three game point streak that included a shorthanded goal in each game. In game two Dalton had a goal (20 seconds in) then added a assist(2:08 in same video) on Jake Cardwell's third period goal.Then in game three Dalton scored probably the easiest goal(40 seconds in) of his career when Ice Dogs goalie Mark Visentin went out to play the puck and he tried to pass it to a teammate and what you'd probably call a miscommunication happened when not one not two but three dogs missed it leaving Dalton a tap in from just above the blueline, Visentin would get the last laugh when he'd score a goal late in the third(or pretty much the only time goalies score goals). In game four about eight minutes in Tyler Graovac had a breakaway which was broken up by the Dogs' big d pair Jamie Olesniak(6'7") and Dougie Hamilton(6'4") tipping the puck out to Smith in the slot to go three for three. Dalton would go scoreless as the 67s were eliminated in game five. This was Dalton's best postseason scoring eight points in 13 games after having 10 points in 16 games the last two seasons. This will be kind of a big summer for Dalton as he was signed by the Jackets before last season and will either play in Springfield or be sent back to Ottawa to play as one of the 67s three 20 year olds. Quickly with the IceDogs win they'll take on the London Knights for a chance to play in the Memorial Cup, The Jackets havent had a prospect on the OHL representative team since 2007.

Lukas Sedlak-Chicoutimi(QMJHL)
Final playoff stats 18GP 5-3-8 -2 18PIM
Lukas and the Sagueneens had the task of trying to defeat the mighty Saint John Sea Dogs for a chance to play for the President's Cup. The Sagueneens lost the series in five games with the last three going to overtime. Lukas Sedlak was held off the scoresheet in most games picking up a assist in game four. While he didn't score much in the series he did get to work on his Michael Chaput impression winning 66% of his draws losing no more than seven faceoffs until game five when he still won 50% winning 13 of 26. Next year Lukas will return to Chicoutimi and could be more of a featured part of the Sags offense as it looks like two of the teams top 10 scorers will be graduating from the CHL, plus hes already playing on the team's top line. On a quick side note I think that everyone should see Lukas' teammate Etienne Broduer's celebration when the team won game three in overtime.

Petr Straka-Rimouski(QMJHL)
Playoff stats 17GP 7-12-19 +6 6PIM
I'm not sure what got into Petr before this round but whatever it was he'll have to keep it up in the next round as the Oceanic will take on the Saint John Sea Dogs. Petr was Rimouski's best player in the last round picking up 11 points in the six games series. In games one and two in Halifax Straka had a goal and three assists in the two Oceanic wins. In game three a game that Rimouski lost Petr had his sixth goal(1:05 into the video) of the playoffs when(going off the video) after a save Straka took off like he'd been shot out of a cannon roaring down the left side before firing a laser at the left faceoff dot. In game four Straka had a nice assist(right at the start) on the Oceanic's only goal in a 3-1 loss to tie the series at two. In game five in front of a national TV audience Petr had one of his best games of the season scoring a goal and adding three assists(#23 in the highlights) and was named first star(duh!), in game six Petr added a assist on the game tying goal in the series clinching overtime win. Now it's off to face the Saint John Sea Dogs for a spot in the Memorial Cup tournament, the last time the Oceanic were in the Finals it was 2005 and they were led by some kid named Sidney Crosby(probably amounted to nothing). The Dogs and Oceanic played twice this season with the teams splitting the season series with Straka scoring a goal and adding a assist. Also on the way back to Rimouski the boys on the team got Petr to join twitter you can follow him @PStrax23.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John(QMJHL)
Playoff stats 13GP 12-1 .914Sv% 2.31GAA
Mathieu and the Sea Dogs took on Chicoutimi in the last round winning in five games. Mathieu played in all five games and at least according to my Saint John source's tweets Mathieu played his best game of the playoffs in game one when he stopped 24 of 25 also picking up a assist on Stanislav Galiev's third period goal and was named first star. Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant even stated that "Corbeil was the difference"(highlights/Gallant & Corbeil post game quotes) also saying he kept them in it when the team wasn't playing real well. Game two was another strong performance for Mathieu stopping 27 of 29, game three was the Sea Dogs one loss in the series when he stopped 28 of 33. In games four and five were two more solid performances stopping 66 of 71 in the two overtime victories. With the series win the Sea Dogs are in the President's Cup Final for the third straight seasons winning it last year. As I said before the Dogs and Oceanic split the season series with Mathieu playing in both games stopping 19 of 21 in the win but allowed four in the loss in a game that was between two shutouts.

Quickly some contract updates Michael Chaput career year earned him a three year Entry Level contract whilst he could go back to Shawinigan next season I bet he's in Springfield joining a strong rookie class that already includes Sean Collins, Jake Hansen, Will Weber and Dalton Smith plus Oliver Gabriel who played games there last season. Last week the Kamloops Blazers play by play man/WHL blogger Jon Keen tweeted that Blazers Dman Austin Madaisky was close to signing with the Jackets, but I don't have a update on this.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland(WHL)
Playoff stats 10GP 2-2-4 +4 8PIM
Oliver finally got to play in every game of a Portland playoff series after missing a combined five games between two suspensions in the first two rounds. In a four game sweep of division rival Tri-City Oliver only had a assist in a game one victory when he dug the puck out from along the boards and out to Sven Bartschi. This was a fairly tight series with games one and two going to overtime but with games three and four being a bit more decisive with the Hawks winning 3-1 and 4-1.The Winterhawks are now off to the WHL Finals for the second straight year where they will face off against the good team from Edmonton, the Edmonton Oil Kings who were the top team in the WHL with 107 points. The Winterhawks were third overall with 102 points, the teams only faced off once in the regular season with the Kings winning 8-4 in October.

Mike Reilly-Penticton(BCHL)
Doyle Cup Stats 5GP 1-4-5 2PIM
Mike and the BCHL champ Vees took on the AJHL champ the Brooks Bandits in the Doyle Cup Final for a spot in the RBC Cup. Mike was held scoreless in the first three games, the Vees won games one and two letting them host games three through seven if it would've gone that far. Mike found his way back to the scoresheet with a goal and two assists and was named second star in a 6-1 victory. Mike's first assist was when his point shot went wide but Joey Benik tipped it in to make it 1-0. His second was a lot like the first when his point shot went wide and then off a nice passing play Wild draft pick Mario Lucia(I love those old video games...I had to sorry) scored. Mike's goal made it 5-1 Vees when after a bit of nice passing and taking a shot earlier on the shift Mike drilled it for his first(game highlights-Mike's goal at 6:05) of the series and first since the BCHL playoffs opening round. In the 6-1 game five victory Mike picked up assists on two of the Vees four power play goals, of Mike's five points in the finals all five were on the power play. With the 4-1 series win the Vees claimed its first Doyle Cup(celebration highlights Mike is #5) in 26 years(heres Vees play by play man Fraser Rodgers call of the end of the game). Mike and the Vees are now off to the RBC Cup which is the National Championship for Jr. A hockey(think of it like the Jr. A's Memorial Cup-same format). The Vees will serve as the Pacific representative as they take on the Humbolt Broncos(host), Portage Terriers(West), Soo Thunderbirds(Central) and the Woodstock Slammer(East-best logo IMO sorry Vees).

There you have it folks the latest update on the remaining prospects next update will also be a Memorial Cup preview, so far we know the Jackets will have Michael Chaput on the host Cataractes and a prospect on the QMJHL representative whoever that may be. As always even thought its been awhile since I did it I thank you for reading my nonsense.

Mock Draft v1.0

2012-04-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

Pick	Team	Player		Upside	Downside	Ht/Wt
1	Edmonton	Nail Yakupov	RW	All Star winger, deadly shooter, good playmaker, has a physical edge	Size and injuries are a concern	5'10, 189
2	Columbus	Alex Galchenyuk	C	Top line center with good two way play	May not have elite offensive skills, knee injury	6'0, 198
3	Montreal	Mikhail Grigorenko	C	All Star center with good scoring and playmaking skills	Effort and consistency have been a problem, huge upside but huge risk	6'3, 200
4	NY Islanders	Mathew Dumba	D	Top powerplay defenseman with a physical edge	Decision making needs work	6'0, 183
5	Toronto	Ryan Murray	D	Smooth skating top pairing defenseman	Has limited offensive upside and not very physical	6'0, 201
6	Anaheim	Filip Forsberg	LW	Top line power forward	Skating needs a lot of work to play first line minutes	6'2, 181
7	Minnesota	Radek Faksa	C	Second line power forward	Like Forsberg, his skating needs work	6'3, 202
8	Carolina	Jacob Trouba	D	Excellent two way second pairing defenseman	Decision making and discipline are a concern	6'2, 198
9	Winnipeg	Teuvo Teravainen	LW	First line playmaking winger	Needs to get significantly bigger to handle the NHL	5'11, 165
10	Tampa Bay	Morgan Rielly	D	Top pp defenseman, second pair at even strength	Defensive play is suspect, missed most of season with a knee injury	6'0, 190
11	Washington*	Griffin Reinhart	D	Physical shutdown defenseman, second pair at even strength	Consistency is an issue, limited offensive upside	6'4, 207
12	Buffalo	Zemgus Girgensons	C	Physical second line center	Offensive ability may be limited	6'2, 198
13	Dallas	Cody Ceci	D	Solid two way second pair defenseman	Doesn't have high end offensive or defensive ability, not very physical	6'2, 207
14	Calgary	Sebastien Collberg	RW	Skilled second line winger with playmaking ability	Needs to improve strength, consistency and defensive zone play	5'11, 176
15	Washington	Brendan Gaunce	C	Second or third line center, with good size and good all around game	Could improve physicality, skating needs work, can improve puck skills	6'2, 215
16	Ottawa	Matt Finn	D	Hard working second pair, two way defenseman	Could get bigger, skating needs to get better, puck skills need work	6'0, 195
17	Columbus**	Pontus Aberg	LW	Creative, two way second liner with a good shot	Needs to get bigger, passing needs work	5'11, 194
18	San Jose	Derrick Pouliot	D	Second pairing puck moving defenseman	Undersized, suspect defensively, and can be careless with the puck	5'11, 186
19	Chicago	Olli Maata	D	Stay at home second pair defenseman with a good first pass	Skating needs improvement and has limited offensive skills	6'2, 202
20	New Jersey	Hampus Lindholm	D	Great skating, two way defender	Offensive and defensive upside are question marks, needs to bulk up	6'2, 196
21	Tampa Bay***	Malcolm Subban	G	Starting goalie, quick pads and glove, solid rebound control	Inconsistency and injury concerns	6'1, 188
22	Philadelphia	Tom Wilson	RW	Bruising power forward, probably on the 3rd line, chance of 2nd	Skating needs a lot of work, puck skills are limited	6'4, 203
23	Buffalo****	Tomas Hertl	C	Offensively skilled second liner with decent grit	A poor skater and questionable defensively	6'2, 198
24	Pittsburgh	Brady Skjei	D	Good skating, two way second pair defenseman	Is inconsistent, not physical, and may be limited offensively	6'3, 200
25	Florida	Stefan Matteau	C	Hard working, intelligent two way second/third liner	May not have the offensive skill to play top six	6'2, 210
26	Phoenix	Ville Pokka	D	Defensive oriented second pair defenseman, with a chance of offensive upside	Offensive ability is debatable, skating needs work	6'0, 196
27	Boston	Scott Kosmachuk	RW	Hard working, physical second liner with some offensive punch	May not have top six skill, size may decrease impact of physical play	6'0, 185
28	St. Louis	Mike Matheson	D	Good skater, offensive minded second pair defenseman	Needs to add size and improve skill to be an NHLer	6'1, 178
29	NY Rangers	Ludvik Bystrom	D	Intelligent, mobile, second pair defenseman	Not physical, offensive skills need improvement	6'1, 208
30	Vancouver	Scott Laughton	C	Strong, gritty two way center with a little offensive punch	Probably not a top six player, needs to bulk up	6'0, 177

Honorable mention
Andrei Vasilevski, G, 6'3, 204
Colton Sissons, C, 6'1, 189
Anton Slepyshev, LW, 6'2, 187
Martin Frk, RW, 6'0, 204
Slater Koekkek, D, 6'2, 184
Dalton Thrower, D, 5'11, 189
Phil Giuseppe, LW, 6'0, 176
Damon Severson, D, 6'2, 200
Tanner Pearson, LW, 6'0, 198
Mike Winther, C, 5'11, 175
Nic Kerdiles, LW, 6'2, 201
Chandler Stephenson, LW, 5'10, 192
Erik Karlsson, C, 6'0, 162
Nikolai Prokhorkin, LW, 6'2, 191

* via Colorado
**via Los Angeles
*** via Detroit
**** via Nashville

Note: The draft order reflects the first round seeding. A new version will be posted at the end of each round reflecting the updated draft order.

CBJ Prospect CHL 2nd Rd/BCHL Finals Recap

2012-04-21T08:22:00.004-04:00

Hello all back again to recap the only players in the Blue Jackets organization still playing. With all five remaining series being played last night I'm running late so let's get going.

Dalton Smith-Ottawa 67s(OHL)
Playoff Stats 13GP 1-3-4 -3 40PIM
Dalton and the 67s took on the Barrie Colts in the Eastern Conference semifinal winning it in seven games after trailing in the series 3-1. Dalton was quiet through games 1-5 picking up only a assist in game two. But in games six and seven Dalton came to life. In game six Dalton had 2/3rds of a Gordie Howe hat trick picking up a assist and laying a beating on Bulls forward Anthony Camara. Camara came down the wing battling with 67s Dman Jake Cardwell who after his shot brought Camara down, when Camara got up he gave Cardwell a stare down that's when Dalton stepped in earning the decision with two big rights. In game seven with the Colts leading 1-0 Dalton scored his first of the playoffs when he went to the front of the net and banged home a rebound from a scrum in front. Now it's onto the Eastern Conference finals to play the top seed Niagara IceDogs. The Dogs road to the finals has been a little easier than Ottawa's first beating Oshawa in six games then dispatching the Brampton Battalion in four games. The teams faced off four times in the regular season with Dalton missing one because of his early season suspension. Dalton didn't have any points in the three games he played in, the Ice Dogs won the season series 3-1.

Brandon Archibald-Saginaw Spirit(OHL)
Final Playoff Stats 12GP 3-4-7 E 14PIM
Brandon and the Spirit took on the mighty Lindon Knights in the OHL Western Conference Final losing the series 4-2 which is probably two more games than most people thought it would last. Brandon Archibald had a strong series finishing with two Goals and a assist, the assist came in a game one loss then in game two Brandon scored probably one of the prettier goals of his career. With the game tied at two the Spirt had a two on one break and Garrett Ross just caught a glimpse of a trailing Archibald who fired a wristshot past Knights goalie Michael Houser. Games three and four Brandon was held off the scoresheet before scoring off s blast from the point in game five overtime loss then not earning a point in game six. Brandon is among the prospects the CBJ must decide on or he'll reenter the draft pool and as I said in my prospect pool piece I just don't see it happening.

Lukas Sedlák-Chicoutimi Sagueneens(QMJHL)
Playoff Stats 13GP 5-2-7 -2 10PIM
Lukas and the Sagueneens were probably big underdogs going into its second round series with Memorial Cup host Shawinigan but that's why the playoffs are the best time of the year. It took them awhile but the eight seed Sags knocked off the second seed Cats in seven games forcing them to sit for a month before the Cup starts. Lukas scored his fourth goal in a game one victory then going scoreless and being a -4 in two straight Cataractes victories. I. Game four Lukas scored again when he was right on the doorstop and scored into a pretty much empty net as Shawinigan's goalie was down and tangled up when the Sags scored something set off a bit of a scrum, Lukas added a assist in a game five loss before winning in games six and seven. Lukas won 58% of his faceoffs in the series and is currently winning 57% of his faceoffs in the playoffs. Again you gotta love the playoffs "oh you knocked off the 2nd best team in the league good job now go play the best team and you only have two days off!"(wonder if they even got to go home?) Thats right folks for the second straight round we have a prospect matchup as the Sagueneens will play the Saint John Juggern... I mean Sea Dogs. Now this could be a good series as the Sags won the season series 2-1 with one win being a shootout game that Lukas missed. The one win was one of only three times Sea Dogs goalie and CBJ prospect Mathieu Corbeil was pulled it was also one of Lukas' best games as he had a goal and three assists.

Petr Straka-Rimouski Océanic(QMJHL)
Stats 11GP 4-4-8 +2 4PIM
Petr and the Oceanic also pulled off a stunner beating the third best team in the Q the Blainville-Brosiand Armada in seven games. Pete had one of his best games of the season in game one scoring a goal and two assists and was named first star. In games two through five Petr was held scoreles with three of those games being losses. Then in game six with the Nics trailing 1-0 Petr got the puck behind his own net and raced up the rink before unleashing a laser just above the faceoff circle, game seven Petr was scoreless again. In the next round Rimouski will take on the Halifax Mooseheads, the two teams played three times in the regular season with Halifax with the Herd winning two with Petr having two assists and was a -3.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John Sea Dogs(QMJHL)
Playoff stats 8GP 8-0 .911Sv% 2.25GAA
The Sea Dogs took on the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the second round after the Drakkar shocked the fourth seed Victoriaville Tigres. The Dogs sent them back to Earth sweeping them and outscoring them 29-10. Mathieu Corbeil started all four games stopping at least 20 shots in each game. Corbeil stopped 20 of 23 in games one and four and stopped 24 of 26 in game two. The most shots he faced in the series was game three when he stopped 29 of 31. In the next round Saint John will play Chicoutimi in the next and as I said above the Sagueneens had Corbeil's number. After Corbeil earned his third shutout of the season in the teams first game this season making 14 saves, in the next game Corbeil only made it into the second period when he allowed four goals on 17 shots. The next game was a 4-3 shootout loss in which Corbeil made 25 saves but allowed two goals on three attempts.

Michael Chaput-Shawinigan Cataractes(QMJHL)
Final Playoffs Stats 11GP 4-8-12 +9 2PIM
Michael and the Cataractes took on the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the second round losing in seven games. Michael got off to a great start picking up four assists in a game one overtime loss before going scoreless in game two. The next game started a three game point streak when he had a goal and two assists two being Cat wins. Michael was then held scoreless in games six and seven both Shawiningan losses. Michael had a rough go at the faceoff dot in the faceoff dot winning only 46% of his draws way down from regular season numbers when he won 62% of his draws. Unlike most of the prospects when theyre eliminated they get to hit the pool or the links for Shawinigan its a week off then back to practice as they host the Memorial Cup earning a automatic bid.

Austin Madaisky-Kamloops Blazers(WHL)
Final Playoff Stats 11GP 0-7-7 +2 12PIM
In probably the most exciting series of all the playoffs involving a Jacket's prospect the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks faced off in the Western Conference semifinals. The Blazers were let the Hawks get off to a 3-0 series lead before roaring back and making it a seven game series. Austin was held off the scoresheet in the three losses before picking up a assist in game four the Blazers first win on Bronson Maschmeyer's first of the playoffs, the Winterhawks were up 4-1 after one before giving up four straight goals for a 5-4 win. Game five was the only win that was all Blazers winning 7-2 with Madaisky having his second career three point playoff game earning three assists(#23 in the highlights). Game six sounds like a hell of a hockey game the Winterhawks looking like they'd be moving on when they led 5-2 after two, well nobody told the Blazers as they scored 5 straight third period goals to win the game 7-6. Austin was held scoreless in games six and seven both Blazer losses. Here's Austin's comments a few days after game seven loss including a update on if he's had any talks with the CBJ about the contract, if you follow me on twitter you know I've been saying we should for awhile we should sign Austin because eventually he'll help the power play with 11 of his 13 goals being on the power play.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland Winterhawks(WHL)
Playoff Stats 6GP 2-1-3 +1 8PIM
This will be a fairly short post as Oliver was suspended for games 2-5 when he ran over(only video that had audio and video) Kamloops goalie Cole Cheveldave in game one. When Oliver returned in game six Oliver scored his second(1:15 in) of the playoffs when he and his linemates started a three on two with Gabriel finihsing it when his shot trickled past Cam Lanigan. With a game seven victory for the Winterhawks its off to the WHL Western Conference Finals to take on division rivals the Tri-City Americans. The Americans better keep a close eye on Oliver as he had four goals and five assists including a hat trick in the team's six regular season matchups that Oliver played in scoring in the Hawks four wins but being held scoreless in the two losses earning a game misconduct in the last game.

Mike Reilly-Penticton Vees(BCHL)
Final BCHL Playoff Stats 15GP 1-8-9 10PIM
Mike and the Vees took on the Interior Conference Champion Powell River Kings for a chance to win the BCHL's Fred Page Cup. After taking six games in the first round, five in the semifinals finally earning a sweep against the Kings meaning the next round will take three games...oh wait. The series was pretty tight with each game being a one goal affair including one going to overtime. Mike had three assists in the series picking them up in games one, three and four. Heres a celebration video that includes the trophy ceremony, Mike is number 5 on the Vees. Now that they've won the league title its on to another cup final as the Vees will now try to win the Doyle Cup, the Doyle Cup is a matchup between the BCHL champs and the Champions of the AJHL for a spot in the RBC Cup(sounds like a Junior A Memorial Cup. The AJHL champion is the Brooks Bandits, the Doyle Cup could have the wackiest series set up ever as games 3-7's host wont be set until after games one and two. Brooks hosts games one and two, now if a team goes 2-0 the next five will be in Penticton while if the teams split game three will still be n Brooks then with games 4-7 taking part back in B.C.

Well there you have it folks how the second round worked out for the Jackets prospects. On a side note Hockey's future released its Blue Jacket's prospect Awards now I agree with most of these the only one I disagree with is the Kevin Lynch having a breakout year, prove me wrong Kevin.

AHL Season Recap/NCAA Recap

2012-04-17T08:49:00.007-04:00

Back again all for a final recap of the Blue Jacket's NCAA and AHL prospects. I decided to take last week off so I wouldn't be talking about two games each week and I could put a bow on these two groups.

Two weeks ago the Falcons loaded up there Delorean bus and were off to Canada and into THE FUTURE!!! All right I kid but the Falcons were off to pretty much as far East as you can get on Canada and a hour and a HALF ahead of Springfield. The Birds were off to take on the Ice Caps for two of the teams three meetings in the Falcons last four games. On Friday night it was a 6-3 Falcons with Andrew Joudrey and Nathan Longpre scoring two goals. Cody Goloubef scored his first goal of the season late in the third period, Nicholas Drazenovic had three assists with Paul Dainton making 26 saves in the win. On Saturday in the rematch it was a 4-3 Ice Caps win Sean Collins had his first pro multi point game with a goal and a assist. Collins' goal was a give and go with Ryan Garlock and then picked up his own rebound to score his first pro goal. Ryan Garlock also had a goal and assist with Paul Dainton making 31 saves in the loss.

Midway through last week the Falcons got some bad news that a Portland Pirates win eliminated the Falcons playoff contention meaning the weekend would only be for pride and getting some young guys in the lineup. On Friday night the Adirondack Phantoms came to town in a must win and well they didn't(haha) losing 4-2. Coach Rob Riley(more on him later) rested a lot of his regulars with four players making their pro debuts. Two of the four were fresh from the NCAA with Will Weber and Jake Hansen making their pro debuts after signing entry level contracts, with fellow Jackets prospect Trent Vogelhuber playing his first game after signing a amateur tryout deal and Cam Atkinson's buddy Daniel New also playing on a tryout. New was the only one of the four to pick up a point when he had a assist on David Savard's third period goal in a 4-2 win. Nicholas Drazenovic had another three assist game with AHL signed only Wade MacLeod scoring two third period goals. MacLeod led the players only signed by the Falcons in scoring with 29 points in 66 games. Game 76 started with the old but ended with the new Falcons veteran Alexandre Giroux scored his 368th AHL goal in his 771st game. I point out those HUGE numbers because the next two goal scorers only had a assist and five AHL games going into Saturday night. Daniel New followed up his first career assist with his first career goal also adding a assist on Giroux's goal. The next goal scorer was the youngest guy in the locker room as 19 year old Boone Jenner(teehee sorry Boone) scored his first pro goal when "the kid line"(Hansen-Collins-Jenner I'm guessing) combined on a goal(30 seconds in but all the goals from the game) after Collins got it out of the corner and Hansen caused it to go along the front of the net so Boone could bang it home. Falcons all time wins leader Manny Legace got the start but being the classy guy he is(we forgive you for those Red Wings years) decided to give the game over to rookie netminder Mike Clemente for the second half of the game.

As I said the Falcons missed the playoffs for the 9th straight year but this is probably the closest they've been in awhile as this was the first time the Birds have been over .500 since 1998 with a record of 36-34-3-3. It was a rough year with so many players spending time in Columbus and like the Jackets having many injuries, the Falcons had 45 skaters and seven goalies play for the team. Of the 45 17 were CBJ draft picks with Cam Atkinson leading the way with 44 points in 51 games(29-15-44). The team's leading scorer was UFA to be Martin St. Pierre with 64 points in 73 games scoring 11 goals and adding 53 assists the fourth highest total ever for the Falcons the 53 assists were third in the league. As I said earlier I have to touch on head coach Rob Riley as on Tuesday it was announced his contract would not be renewed. Now it only says as head coach of the Falcons, Riley could stay on as a scout which is what he did before going behind the bench. Now I have no problem with this because if it probably wasn't for Riley's scouting report the Jackets may have never drafted a lil fella from Greenwich, CT who ll hopefully be scoring a lot of goals for us in the future(with all that do I really have to say who it is??) As for next year other than the few that signed ELCs I mentioned above(Collins, Weber and Hansen) there are not many players signed for next season. The only players under contract for next year are Cody Bass, Anton Blomqvist, Matt Calvert, Oliver Gabriel(rookie I think), Tomas Kubalik(could make CBJ), Dalton Smith(AHL rookie or OHL), Steven Delisle, Cody Goloubef, Dalton Prout, David Savard, Allen York and Andrew Joudrey. Now the Jackets do have quite a few RFAs that could also be brought back fairly easily.

Seth Ambroz, Jake Hansen-Minnesota(WCHA)
Final Season Stats SA-41GP 5-3-8 E 53PIM JH-43GP 16-22-38 +19 58PIM
Two weeks ago was the Frozen Four held in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida hosted by the University Alabama Huntsville who almost folded there program(Awkward!). The Gophers made its first trip to the Frozen Four since 2005 and well it was a short stay. The Gophers ran into the buzzsaw that is the eventual champs the Boston College Eagles losing 6-1 with Jackets prospect Jake Hansen scoring the team's only goal(i cant find video of the goal anywhere, here's the press conference). This was the last game for Jake at Minnesota ending his career with him scoring 77 points in 149 games(36-41-77) the leading scorer among the current roster. This was a career year for Jake which as I said numerous times this season led to Jake earning a pro contract(see above). As for Seth Ambroz he'll be returning to Minnesota next season as a sophomore, the Gophers are losing seven seniors and as of this writing it looks like no one is leaving school early to join the NHL. Now in a quick human interest style story Seth got to take part in a home run competition against the Minnesota Twin's Mascot T.C. and he kicked that Bear's butt knocking three home runs into Target Fields bleachers.

As for the Jackets NCAA prospects seven will be back on campus with another joining the college ranks not counting whatever may happen at the draft. Seth Ambroz as I said will be one of seven sophomores to be counted on with the team only having one senior next year that being Dman Seth Helgeson. Joining Ambroz will be BCHL star Dman Mike Reilly who's still playing in Penticton with the Doyle Cup starting Friday. Kevin Lynch will be one of five seniors at Michigan next season who'll have to pull a Jake Hansen/Sean Collins(Career year) to earn a contract after be the normal second round draft pick(draft pick graveyard). TJ Tynan will head back to Notre Dame(probably for the final season just saying) as one of 12 juniors and will remain part of the Irish's dynamic duo combining with Anders Lee. Tynan won the Irish's MVP(acceptance speech watch it the guy is loud on the mic) award this season and will only need five points to reach 100 career points,so probably within the first two weeks of the season. Thomas Larkin will play his senior year at Colgate probably serving as a captain after sharing with two other players this year. Drew Olson will be one of six seniors on the Bulldogs going for one last chance to win a second national title. Now to Martin Ouelette I don't know what to say about Martin other than... have you thought about transferring cause kid I don't see you getting on the ice much unless you have a real good summer. I say this because Martin served as fellow sophomore Dan Sullivan's back up most of the year only playing in nine games starting five and winning only one.

So there you have it folks the final season recap of the Jacket's AHL and NCAA prospects, I should be able to get to work on the second round recap fairly soon with three game sevens going on tonight and another tomorrow.

CBJ CHL Prospect 1st Round Playoff Review

2012-04-04T07:26:00.008-04:00

With the Canadian Hockey League's three leagues finishing up there first rounds on Monday it's time to see how the Jacket's prospects did. Overall of the nine teams with a prospect eight moved on with only Boone Jenner and the Oshawa Generals being eliminated. As for the next round we have two matchups in which both teams have a Blue Jackets prospect including the WHL Western Conference Semifinal.

Boone Jenner-Oshawa(OHL)
Final Playoff Stats 6GP 4-7-11 +2 10PIM
Boone and the Generals had to take on the best team in the OHL Eastern Conference the Niagara Ice Dogs, the Gens gave the Dogs a scare when they won games three and four but ended up losing the series 4-2. Games one and two were all Ice Dogs outscoring Oshawa 14-3. Game three became the Boone Jenner show(game highlights from Niagara site) with him being part of five of the Generals six goals. Boone had a hat trick and two assists and was named third star in the win. Game four was another good night for Boone with him collecting a goal and two assists in the game four victory tying the series at 2. In game five Boone added three assists to his total with the secondary assists on all three General's goals, Boone would be held scoreless in the game six loss ending the Gens season. Boone's 11 points in this years playoff almost matched his 12 he had last year in 10 games. Boone is now finishing the season with the Springfield Falcons on a amateur tryout for the teams last five games.

Dalton Smith-Ottawa 67s(OHL)
Playoff Stats 6GP 0-1-1 -2 23PIM
I thought Dalton would have a big series against Belleville because of his regular season success but as usual I was wrong. In the six game series with the Bulls Dalton only had a assist in a game two victory. Dalton was back to his old physical self picking up his first major penalties since December when he fought Traverse City teammate Adam Payerl(who I think we should've signed) then in game five Dalton got in a little trouble. In the first period Dalton checked Bulls forward Daniil Zharkov(wasn't he the villain in Flash Gordon?) and I mean he drilled him, Zharkov would lay on the ice for a bit while Dalton mopped the floor with Luke Judson who stepped in after the hit earning a instigator. Now Dalton did receive a checking to the head penalty and the game misconduct that went with it but luckily he escaped suspension which was the right call. Dalton played in the game six victory helping the 67s advance, now they will face off with the Barrie Colts who made a massive turnaround this season going from 34 points last year to 85 this season. The Colts had the 67s number this season winning the season series 3-1 with two wins coming in a shootout and in overtime. Dalton played in all four games having two goals and two assists.

Brandon Archibald-Saginaw Spirit(OHL)
Playoff Stats 6GP 1-3-4 -1 10PIM
Brandon and the Spirit took on the Sarnia Sting and top draft prospect Nail Yakupov in the first round winning the series in six games. Brandon matched what he scored in most months in the regular season in the six game series. Starting off with a goal in game one when he scored on the power play. After being held scoreless in games two and three both Spirit overtime losses Brandon bounced back with two assists in game four including one on the game winner. In game six Brandon had another assist on the game's opening goal. Up next for the Spirit is the top team in the Western Conference the London Knights, London swept the season series winning all four games one by a shootout. Brandon only had a assist and was a -4.

Lukas Sedlák-Chicoutimi Sagueneens
Playoff Stats 6GP 3-1-4 +3 6PIM
Lukas and the Sags were a oddity in the QMJHL playoffs winning the only series that wasn't a sweep winning in six games. Lukas scored his first career playoff goal early in game two when he drove to the net and put it around the diving Titan goalie. Through games one and two Lukas was good at the faceoff dot winning two thirds of his draws then something happened in games three and four when he won only eleven of thirty four. He still found his way to the scoresheet having two goals in the teams game three overtime loss then adding a assist in a game four win. In games five and six Lukas was scoreless but started winning faceoffs winning 62%. In the next round the Sagueneens will faceoff against Shawinigan and fellow CBJ prospect Michael Chaput. In the regular season Chicoutimi lost six of the seven losing one each in overtime and a shootout. Lukas played in five of them missing the two because of Blue Jackets training camp and the World Juniors. Lukas had a goal and a assist in the regular season against Shawinigan.

Petr Sraka-Rimouski Oceanic(QMJHL)
Playoff Stats 4GP 2-2-4 +2 2PIM
The Oceanic swept the Foreurs in the first round, games one and two were identical 8-5 wins with Pete having a goal and a assist in game two. When the series switched to Val-d' Or the series got close. In game three after spotting the Foreurs a 2-0 lead the Oceanic came back with two second period goals. Petr had a assist on the tying goal then in the overtime Petr got past the defense and scored on a breakaway(3:35) to win it in OT. Petr would be held off the scoresheet in game four. In the next round the Oceanic will play the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and there exciting as a piece of blank paper color scheme. The teams played four times in the regular season with the series being a split one of Rimouski's wins being in a shootout. Petr played in three of the four games missing a early season game at Blue Jackets training camp. In the three games Petr had a goal and a assist being named third star in the game he scored a goal.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John Sea Dogs(QMJHL)

Playoff Stats 4GP 4-0 .918 SV% 2.00GAA

You gotta love the QMJHL playoffs the top 16 teams make it and its set up like a NCAA basketball region one plays sixteen and so on. So the one seed Saint John took on the 16 seed Cape Breton Screaming Eagles a team that was 54 points behind them in the standings. Game one the Birds might have startled the Dogs with the game being tied at two after the first. Whatever Gerard Gallant said at intermission worked because the Sea Dogs broke a 25 year old record by scoring eight goals in the second(yes you read that right), the game ended up being pretty close at 13-4. Games two through four Mathieu was back to his regular self allowing only a goal in games two and four but allowed two in game three. As for the next round the Sea Dogs will face off against the surprising Baie-Comeau Drakkar, I say surprising because the Drakkar finished in 13th playing the fourth place Victoriaville Tigres most predicted this as a sweep for the Tigres but they'd be wrong as Baie Comeau swept them. Quick note in that Baie-Comeau Victoriaville series you got to see this. The Sea Dogs and Drakkar played three times in a 10 day period with Corbeil posting a 30 save shutout in the only game he played in.

Michael Chaput-Shawinigan Cataractes(QMJHL)

Playoff Stats 4GP 3-2-5 +5 PIM

The Cataractes got the 15th place team Rouyn-Noranda and gave them just as quick a exit as Saint John gave Cape Breton. Michael was scoreless in game one but then was one of there best players scoring a goal and two assists with the assists coming on the last two goals of the game. Michael had a goal in games three and four and won 64% of his faceoffs winning 30 of 47. Michael is currently tied for second on the Cats in playoff scoring tied with three other players. Chaput and Shawinigan will play Chicoutimi in the next round, Sedlak played in five of the seven games the team played missing one at training camp and another because of a injury. In the five games Michael had two goals and four assists.

Austin Madaisky-Kamloops Blazers(WHL)

Playoff Stats 2GP 0-3-3 +3 4PIM

Austin only got to play in the Blazer's first two playoff games due to a suspension after taking a checking to the head penalty in game two. Now he did make his presence known on the scoresheet scoring three points in the first two games. In game one Austin had two assists (1:04 in both assists) in the Blazers 4-1 win, the next night just a minute twenty eight in is when he took the penalty I mentioned above. Now he was able to finish the game adding a assist in the third period. In the next round its the Portland Winterhawks and fellow CBJ prospect Oliver Gabriel in four games in the regular season the two team split the series with Madaisky having two assists in a overtime win.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland Winterhawks(WHL)

Playoff Stats 3GP 1-1-2 +2 4PIM

Oliver and the Hawks swept the Rockets with Oliver like Austin missing a game because of a suspension. Oliver scored (1:20) in the teams first game when after Penguins first round pick Joe Morrow followed his own rebound and centered it to Gabriel. Game two got a little heated with 91 penalty minutes getting handed out including two game misconducts and four 10 minute misconducts being given. After taking a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty earlier in the game Gabriel was called for slashing and was given a game misconduct. Now according to a writer I follow in Portland this was more for something Oliver said to a player not a official, whatever Gabriel said someone heard it and that earned Oliver a one game suspension. When Oliver returned for game four he added another point (4:45) when he got the puck to Morrow again who's blast was deflected by Taylor Leier. Next Round its like I said above its the Blazers and the Winterhawks for a spot in the Western Conference Final, because of getting to Portland late Oliver only played in two of the four regular season games playing in a split. Oliver had two goals in the Winterhawks victory being named first star.

Mike Reilly-Penticton Vees(BCHL)
Playoff Stats 11GP 1-5-6 8PIM

It was BCHL Coastal Conference Final for the Vees with them taking on the Merritt Centennials, in the five game series the Vees ended up on top by winning it 4-1. Mike only had two assists picking up one each in games two and five with both being on the power play. With the win that gives the Vees a spot in the Fred Page Cup championship(who??), Penticton will face off against the Powell River Kings the teams only met once in the regular season(being in different conferences and all). In the one game against the Kings Mike had a big game scoring a goal and adding three assists and was named second star in the 7-4 victory.

Well thats it for the first round folks the next round kicks off tonight with every prospect being in action. Ill be back after round two with updates on all the prospects with as many a five possibly moving barring upsets.

March 26-April 1 AHL/ECHL Review

2012-04-02T15:34:00.006-04:00

Back again folks and with another small change of schedule with Penticton's Conference Semifinal starting this week Im gonna inlcude the Vees with the CHL when I do the first round update which should be out later this week.

Starting off in the AHL it was the Falcon's final three in three of the season with a home game eing sandwiched between two road games. Starting off on Friday in Bridgeport it was a rough one with the Falcons losing 6-2. Falcons goalie Paul Dainton got the start and didnt even make it 10 minutes in allowing three goals on 10 shots in only 6:58 of action. Mike Clemente came in and faired a little better stopping 23 of 26. Matt Calvert continued his strong play of late scoring his 17th goal of the season with Ryan Garlock scoring the other goal. Saturday it was back to the nest and the return of a old familiar face as Manny Legace made his first start since March 10th earning his 12th win of the season making 22 saves. Nick Drazenovic had his first two goal game of the season and has 10 points in his last 10 games with seven goals and three assists. Maksim Mayorov scored the other goal in a 3-1 win over Providence with Dane Byers having two assists. Sunday afternoon it was off to Worchesster to take on the Sharks with Legace getting the call again and again winning with the help of a AHL veteran picking up his first two goal game of the season. This game it was Andrew Joudrey picking up his first two goal game to give him 11 on the year. Joudrey's first goal of the night was a little bit special for one Falcon as just signed Sean Collins picked up his first professional point when he had a assist (start of the highlight...I have no idea why theres no sound) on Joudrey's first goal when Sharks goalie Harri Sateri let out a rebound that Joudrey just tapped in. Alexandre Giroux added his 25th goal of the season and the 365th of his career. Joudrey would add another goal late in the third to seal the deal. Seven Falcons had multiple points last week with Dane Byers, Nick Drazenovic and David Savard having three points with Savard and Byers having three assists while Drazenovic added a assist to go with his two goals. Joudrey was the only other mutliple goal score while Brent Regner and Martin St Pierre had two assists. Matt Calvert is on a eight game point streak with a goal and a assist before missing Sunday's game with a injury. Just announced today(4/2) the Falcons offense could be recieving a boost as 2011 second round pick Boone Jenner will be joining the team on a Amateur Tryout for the rest of the season.

In the ECHL it was the final week of the regular season for the Express and even if they went 3-0 they would need a bit of help to make the playoffs. The Express went 2-1 last week which wasnt quite enough as they only missed making the playoffs in its inagural season by losing a tiebreaker for wins in the season. Steven Delisle was the only player to score last week scoring his first pro goal of his career also adding a assist in a 4-2 win over Cincinnati for his first career multi point game. Steven Delisle was the only Jacket prospect that spent the majority of the season in Chicago with Taylor Ellington coming over at the trade deadline and Allen "The World Traveler" York being all over the place. In 38 games Delisle had a goal and three assists for four points on the season with three coming in the last two weeks. Ellington had 11 points in 17 games and was second among Express defenseman with 33 points in 72 games splitting the season with Chicago and Kalamazoo. York went 4-4-1 in 11 appearences in Chicago with a 3.28 GAA and a .928 save percentage.

Anton Forsberg-MODO(Sweden)
Forsberg and the MODO U20 team played in a semifinal game last weeka against Linkopings HC losign 5-4 in overtime. Forsberg got the start and made 37 saves in the loss, in the third place game against Rogle losing 4-2 with backup Linus Ullmark starting that game. As for next season Im not sure what will happen with Anton theres not a capgeek for Swedish hockey(as far as I know not that I could read it) I dont know if hes signed for next season or if a CHL team could draft him in the Import Draft and maybe get him some playing time. If hes stuck behind Tellqvist again itll probably a lot like this year serving as his backup but he could play for the Sweden in the World Juniors when they are played in Russia next year.

Well this was a quick one later this week I should have the First Round wrap up of the CHL playoffs as most have moved on also including the Vees. As for next week the NCAA prospects will be finishing up as the Frozen Four gets underway with CBJ prospects Seth Ambroz and Jake Hansen playing for Minnesota. They play Boston College on Thursday in the late game, shocker folks the game with the two heavy hitters getting primetime while the two nobodies(Union and Ferris State being the early game.

March 19-25 Minor League/NCAA Prospect Week in Review

2012-03-26T15:55:00.008-04:00

The Springfield Falcons continue to fight for there playoff lives sitting only three points out of eight place with eight games remaining. Any more weekends like last week will probably doom the Falcons. Springfield went 0-2-1 last week losing to Adirondack on Saturday and Sunday after losing to Bridgeport in a shootout on Friday. Leading the way was Matt Calvert who had a goal and three assists adding to his current six game point streak in which he has three goals and five assists. Nicholas Drazenovic had his five game goal/point streak snapped in Sunday's loss. The only other players with multiple points were Dane Byers who's goal was the 100th of his professional career(99 AHL 1 NHL) and Maksim Mayorov who had two assists.

Another busy week for the Express with the team playing four games winning three of four. Taylor Ellington continued his strong play since being acquired picking up goals in the three wins. Ellington has 10 points in 14 games with the Express after having 22 in 55 games with the Wings...The Kalamazoo Wings that is. Steven Delisle found his way back onto the scoresheet for the first time since November when he assisted on Ellington's 10 of the season. Somehow I missed the fact that after last week the ECHL regular season is over and the Express are in a dogfight for eighth in the Eastern Conference tied with three other teams and only two points out of seventh. One of the games is against a team its tied with playing Cincinnati on Tuesday then playing the third place team the Kalamazoo Wings who sit in third right now.

As I said last week a slight change in schedule as this post is just about the NCAA kids plus Mike Reilly and Anton Forsberg who I found out has been playing with the MODO under 20 team so ill have a bit more on him since I have to catch up. Im gonna keep this ouick on Martin Ouelette since his stats havent changed since his last appearance in February when he got a whole whopping 5:49 of action in a 7-3 smashing of UMass. Ouelette sat on the bench in the Black Bears loss to Minnesota-Dulth in the Regional Semifinal, Ouelette played in nine games going 1-3-0 with a 3.42 GAA and a .871 save percentage. I dont see things getting better as Dan Sullivan appears to have the number one job locked in and he'll be a junior like Ouelette next season.

Sean Collins-Cornell(ECAC)

Stats 35GP 13-13-26 +3 12PIM

Collins and Cornell was the only team with a Jackets prospect to win on Friday. In the win over Michigan Collins had 2 assists(#12 in the highlights) in the win over the one seed Wolverines. Then in Saturday's loss to the surprising Ferris St Bulldogs Collins was held scoreless. In his senior year Sean had a career year setting highs in goals, assists and points. In his four years at Cornell Sean had 57 points(30-27-57) in 136 games.

Trent Vogelhuber, Will Weber-Miami(CCHA)

Stats TV-39Gp 4-10-14 +7 55PIM WW- 40GP 0-4-4 +3 69PIM

Both Trent and Will's collegiate careers came to a end on Friday in the Redhawks 4-3 overtime loss to UMass-Lowell. Vogelhuber had the only point for the Jacket prospects scoring the goal that began Miami's comeback with his fourth of the season. In four years Trent had 51 points(21-30-51) in 149 games which is sixth among players on this year's team. Will had 30 points(5-25-30) in 154 games also collecting 263 which is sixth all time.

Kevin Lynch-Michigan(CCHA)

Stats 39G 8-5-13 -3 30PIM

Lynch's trip to the NCAA tournament didnt last as long as last year's run to the title game after losing to Cornell in the opening round. Lynch had a goal called back in the first period but got redemption because he ending up scoring with 4:01 left in the third to send the game into overtime which the Wolverines ended up losing in overtime.(the goal is in the highlight above in Collins review about 2:30 in). Lynch ended up finishing tied for ninth on Michigan in scoring with 13 points in 39 games down from 16 his first two years at Ann Arbor.

Seth Ambroz, Jake Hansen-Minnesota(WCHA)

Stats SA-40GP 5-3-8 E 53PIM JH-42GP 15-22-37 +18 56PIM

On to the only NCAA prospects ill be writing about next week as the Gophers are the only team with Jacket's prospects that won its regional championship. In the Gophers two wins Seth was held off the scoresheet but was even. Jake Hansen on the other hand was a star in the game, Jake scored two goals(1:07 first goal 2:00 second goal) including the game winner. Jake scored his first goal in his usual fashion on the power play by a tip in on the power play while the second was probably the hardest empty net goal of his career. The next day it was a rematch of WCHA Final Five semifinals against North Dakota in the win Jake added to his point streak with a assist giving him seven in the last six games. Next weekend the Gophers will face off against the Boston College Eagles in one of the two Frozen Four finals.

Drew Olson-Minnesota-Duluth(WCHA)

Stats 41GP 1-7-8 +7 51PIM
Drew had his usual weekend going scoreless in the weekend split at the NCAA Regional. In the Bulldogs win over Maine Drew was a +1. The next day in a 4-0 loss to Boston College in the Regional Final Drew was even. Drew had a career highs in assists and points this season and will be one of the seven seniors returning only two being on defense.

Mike Reilly-Penticton(BCHL)

Playoff Stats 6GP 1-3-4 8PIM

The Vees played games four, five and six last week winning games five and six by a combined score of 8-2 including a 4-0 win in game six. In the game five victory Mike had two assists in the victory for his only points last week. Mike and the Vees move onto the Interior Conference final against the Merritt Centennials, in six games against the Centennials this season Mike had four goals and nine assists for 13 points.

Anton Forsberg-MODO(Sweden)

As I said above I missed something with MODO(sue me for missing something in a foreign language) while the big club was still in the playoffs Forsberg played with the U20 team on the 17th in there playoffs Forsberg started against Timra losing in overtime stopping 26 of 29 in the loss. On the 22nd MODO faced off with Farjestads Anton loss again stopping 23 of 28 in a 5-3 loss, Forsberg was given a night off with backup or starter(I have no idea) Linus Ullmark won 2-0 thus following hockey rules you give him the start and Ullmark lasted all of 2:19 before turning it over to Forsberg when Linus and his Blanket(I had to) stopped one of three shots. Coming on in relief Anton stopped 26 of 27 in a 4-3 overtime win helping MODO advance to the next round where they will face off against Linkopings HC.

There you have it folks this week's prospect week in review my next post will probably be my CHL 1st round review and it should be really positive as most have a 2-0 lead.

Stop It Right Here: The Anatomy of a Goal

2012-03-24T11:00:00.000-04:00

In the Blue Jackets victory over the Hurricanes last night, R.J. Umberger scored his first hat trick in three years, Derick Brassard was fantastic, and Jack Johnson contributed two assists, including the 100th of his career. However, I would like to take a look at the lone goal allowed by Steve Mason during his 39 save game. Before I get into the breakdown, let's take a look:

This goal was a typical hockey goal. That may sound reductive, but most goals are not the result of one great play by the offensive player or one terrible miscue by a defensive player. Instead, they come from one breakdown leading to another, then to another, with the cascade of mistakes leading to a goal. In my estimation, this goal includes eight miscues by seven different players. Let's review them in reverse order:

Mistake #8: John Moore does not tie up Drayson Bowman. After Mason makes the initial save, Moore is not able to stop Bowman. Since Moore turned sideways to get into the way of the shot, his stick is facing away from Bowman, so he attempts to use a hipcheck to knock Bowman off the puck. It didn't work.

Mistake #7: The rebound allowed by Mason. The initial save was actually quite nice, as the spot just above the pads while dropping into the butterfly can be a tough stop. However, Mason gets his glove on it, but it pops right back out to Bowman. That either needs to be caught by Mason or more likely directed into the opposite corner.

Mistake #6: Bad backcheck by Ryan Johansen. As Johansen is coming back into the zone he hustles hard at first but then lets up. Additionally, he doesn't take a man, he simply skates back in the middle of the ice. He could have provided some back pressure on Bowman, or he could have taken a couple more hard strides and gotten into the passing lane. Going back a bit further, Johansen is almost side by side with Pat Dwyer (#39) in the neutral zone. This would have allowed Moore to play the two on one slightly more aggressively.

Mistake #5: Lack of hustle from Aaron Johnson. Johnson steps onto the ice as the Hurricanes are starting to turn up ice with the puck. Johnson is parallel to Dwyer at the red line, however Johnson doesn't appear in the frame again until after Bowman takes the first shot. When he finally does appear, he is coasting. While he only could have influenced Dwyer, this would have forced Dwyer to to go the net instead of dropping high for the one-timer. This would have allowed Moore to play the two on one more aggressively, as well as changing the angle that Mason would have taken on the initial shot.

Mistake #4: Poor angle by Ryan Johansen in the neutral zone. Brandon Sutter (#16) arrives at the puck just before Johansen, but he doesn't take the body, doesn't take the puck, and leaves both Dwyer and Bowman open as passing options. Further, Johansen skated straight at the puck. If he took a wider angle, he could have taken the pass away with his stick, while using his body to prevent Sutter from cutting into open ice. Furthermore, this angle means that Johansen had to almost stop and start back instead of being able to curl and keep his speed. This allows Dwyer to get a step on him that factored into his bad backcheck. It's little things like this that Johansen needs to keep working on and are likely the reason why he has been out of the lineup as much as he has under Todd Richards.

Mistake #3: Lazy line change by David Savard (although possibly a lack of awareness by Aaron Johnson coming off the bench). In the screencap above you can see both Savard and Jack Johnson side by side coming off the ice. John Moore took the first man and jumped right into the play and stopped a Bowman breakaway. Aaron Johnson took the second man and was late enough that he didn't even appear in the defensive zone until just before the puck was in the net. If you look at the start of the video, as Ryan Russell starts up the ice with the puck, Jack Johnson can be seen along the boards furthest from the Blue Jackets bench, while Savard is in the middle of the ice coasting towards the bench. Yet both players got off the ice at the same time. A little more hustle from Savard and Moore is able to establish better gap control on the two on one and Aaron Johnson can get on the ice a second sooner.

Mistake #2: Jared Boll trying to force offense on a two on two with back pressure. Justin Faulk and Joni Pitkanen are both back and have good gap control on Boll and Russell. Dwyer is also right behind them. This is a no win situation. Jared Boll and Ryan Russell are not going to generate a scoring chance off this rush. Boll needs to recognize this sooner and spread wide. Instead, he cuts towards Russell, which allows Pitkanen to stay in the middle and Faulk is able to step up on Russell. Boll should have started towards the right corner on that rush and played the hard wrap. Instead he allows Faulk to cover two players at once.

Mistake #1: The first mistake is the biggest. Ryan Russell's turnover at the blue line is simply inexcusable. Especially for a player in a depth role such as him, and on a two on three with Jared Boll, there is absolutely no way that puck doesn't get deep into the Hurricanes zone. That is the kind of mistake that gets a player like Russell scratched or demoted. Ryan Russell has very few responsibilities when he is on the ice. He isn't a physical player and he isn't offensively talented. His job is to keep the puck out of the Jackets end. That's really it. I cannot stress how inexcusable this turnover is. This wasn't at the red line either. Russell had more than enough time to chip the puck into the left corner, fire it into the right corner, or try for a hard wrap to the far side. Instead he carried the puck right into Faulk. Boll's play didn't help, but Boll was playing the soft dump and Russell didn't even recognize that. This mistake is further exacerbated by the timing. This play came right at the end of a Blue Jackets powerplay. The forwards had changed, but Savard and Johnson were trapped on the ice for a significant amount of time and desperately needed to get off. Russell has to be aware that his defense is changing here and make sure the puck gets deep. Instead he skates it right into Faulk and the cascade of miscues begins. Let's take a final look:

CBJ CHL Prospect Season Review/Playoff Preview

2012-03-20T09:05:00.014-04:00

Hello all back again yes two posts in one week I'm a wild man. This will be one part week in review one part season review and finally one part playoff preview as all our CHL prospects made the playoffs.

Boone Jenner
Regular Season Stats 43GP 22-27-49 +12 59PIM
Boone and the Generals had four games last week going 1-2-1. Boone had a goal and 3 assists last week including a goal and a assist in a win over Peterborough. Boone ended the year with nine points in eight games in March after missing all of February with a concussion. Jenner finished fifth on the Generals with 49 points in 43 games played(22-27-49). Boone missed 25 games overall either because of injury or because of playing in the World Juniors. Jenner was named the OHL Eastern Conference's Hardest Working Player and finished second for the Best on Faceoffs award in a coach's poll. Boone and the Generals made the OHL playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference they'll now faceoff against the Niagara IceDogs. The IceDogs scored the most goals in the OHL and feature three of the top 15 picks in this years draft. Boone and then Generals only played the Dogs twice in the regular season splitting the series with Boone having a goal and a assist in the win and missing the loss due to his concussion.

Dalton Smith
Regular Season Stats 53GP 15-10-25 -8 65PIM
Dalton went scoreless in the 67s three games last week(he went scoreless in his last 12 technically but details details). It was another down year for Dalton but he was signed by the Jackets before the year so he's set for next season. The 67s won the OHL's East Division for the second year in a row and hope to last longer in the playoffs then they did last year when they were swept by the Sudbury Wolves. This years opponents are the seven seed Belleville Bulls who the 67s dominated in the regular season going 7-0-1 against the Bulls. The Bulls better watch out for Dalton on multiple fronts both physically and on the scoresheet. In the team's season opener Dalton plowed/launched a flying elbow into Belleville goalie and top draft prospect Malcolm Subban(who I think the Jackets should draft with the LA pick if we have) earning Dalton a game misconduct and a 10 game suspension. In the other five games Dalton had five goals and five assists including his first OHL hat trick.

Brandon Archibald
Regular Season Stats 67GP 1-15-16 +8 65PIM
Brandon went scoreless in the Spirit's three wins last week but showed maybe he is more of a shutdown D as he was a +5 all in a 7-1 win over first round opponent the Sarnia Sting. Im not sure what I can say about Brandon for this year again as I said maybe I shouldn't worry about points amd how he is defensively because since February Brandon was a +14(and I know a lot of you don't like +/- leave me alone it's all I've got). The Spirit enter the playoffs as the five seed which has to be impressive seeing as they only won 2 of there first 10(sound familiar) and being sellers at the deadline dealing among others 6'7 defenseman Jamie Olesniak. So the Spirt get to face off with the four see the Sarnia Sting that have(when healthy) two of the top NHL draft prospects the possible Jacket(I want us to draft him but that's me)Nail Yakupov and Alec Galchenyuk. In six games against the Sting the Spirit went 2-4 winning the last two. In the six games Brandon had 3 assists and was a +7 being a +9 in the two wins.

Lukas Sedlák
Regular Season Stats 50GP 17-28-45 +24 57PIM
Lukas returned from a shoulder injury last week and went scoreless to finish the season. Sedlák like Jenner also missed time with injuries and playing in the World Junior tournament. Sedlák was the Sagueneens leading rookie scorer and was sixth on the team and 12th in the league. Sedlák went on tear from November to January scoring 31 points in 23 games also scoring his first hat trick. According to the teams announcer that I follow Sedlák played on Chicoutimi's top line all year. In the playoffs Chicoutimi will play Acadie-Bathurst in the 8-9 matchup. The teams played twice in the regular season earning a split with the Titan winning in overtime, Lukas had a goal and a assist in the series.

Petr Straka
Regular Season Stats 54GP 18-19-37 -9 41PIM
Straka and the Oceanic went 1-1 last week withe Petr earning a assist in a win over Chicoutimi. Straka bounced back from a bad second season scoring 12 more points in 13 more games but still down from his 64 point rookie season. The Oceanic will face the Val-d'Or Foreurs in the 7-10 matchup, the Foreurs won the season series going 3-1 with one win coming in overtime. Straka missed the first two games while he was at Jackets training camp both losses. In the other two games Petr had two goals and a assist.

Mathieu Corbeil
Regular Season Stats 48GP 37-10-1 .910Sv% 3.28GAA 6SO 2 assists
The Sea Dogs closed the season out with a three game win streak with Mathieu Corbeil winning two of them. Against his old team Halifax Mathieu came within 17 minutes of tying the QMJHL shutout record. Then after a night off in which his backup had a shutout setting a new Q record for shutouts by a team then in a rematch the next night against first round punching bag uhh I mean opponent Cape Breton, despite starting out slow the Dogs hung on to win 6-3. Corbeil was pulled in the third period stopping 16 of 19 but still earned the win. Mathieu made the Sea Dogs rewrite its record book setting new season records for wins(37), shutouts(6) and career wins(50). Mathieu also won the QMJHL's Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy for lowest GAA(2.38), Corbeil was among the league leaders in every star including leading the league in wins, shutouts and GAA. Mathieu helped the Sea Dogs become the first Q team to win 50 games, the regular season title and have 100 points three years in a row. The Sea Dogs and Screaming Eagles have played each other in the first round in three of the last four years. I said punching bag earlier because last year the Dogs out scored the Eagles 26-2 in of course a four game sweep. The Q does it's playoffs like a NCAA bracket with 1 playing 16 and so on with only one team not making the playoffs. They played each other 6 times with Corbeil winning 4 of them with a 2.83GAA and a .896 save percentage. The Eagles won one game in the series and that's when Saint John was decimated by NHL training camps early in the year.

Michael Chaput
Regular Season Stats 57GP 21-42-63 +39 47PIM
Chaput and the Cataractes finished the season with a weekend split with Michael having a assist in each game to give him 42 on the season adding to his career high. Chaput set new highs in assists and points in helping Shawinigan win the Telus East Dividion after coming to the team in the Lewiston dispersal draft, Chaput led the Cats in assists playing on a line with 40 goal scorer Anton Zlobin(who I think we should sign) and MAINEiacs teammate Kirill Kabanov. Michael won 62% of the faceoffs he took this season including one three game set that he only lost 12 of 63 draws or 81%. Shawinigan will play Rouyn-Noranda in the 2-15 matchup the teams split the regular season with Michael having a goal and two assists missing one of the losses at Jackets camp.

Austin Madaisky
Regular Season Stats 70GP 13-37-50 +21 85PIM
Austin and the Blazers went 1-2 last week with Austin having a assist in the win. Austin finished the season with career highs in goals(13), assists(37) and points(50) with his previous high in points being 27. Madaisky led the Blazers D in scoring and finished among the leaders in the WHL. 11 of Austin's 13 goals were on the power play. Austin came the closest of all the CHL prospects to play in every game missing only two because of a suspension in February. Austin helped the Blazers win it's first BC Division title in 10 years, the Blazers will play the Victoria Royals in the 2-7 matchup of the Western Conference. In eight games this year the Blazers won seven of them, Austin played in seven missing the last because of the suspension. In the seven games Austin had three assists and was a +6.

Oliver Gabriel
Regular Season Stats 39GP 20-22-42 +15 32
Oliver had the best week of the prospects last week scoring four goals and a assist. Starting off on Wednesday Oliver scored his 17th goal of the year in a 4-3 loss to Victoria and was held off the scoresheet in the rematch on Friday. Sunday would be the last regular season game of Oliver's WHL career as he's one of the Hawks three 20 year olds and he decided to go out in style. In the game that Seattle had to win to make the playoffs the Winterhawks of course had other ideas handing the Thunderbirds a 8-2 loss. In the win Oliver became the only Jacket's prospect with multiple hat tricks this season going with his one in January also adding a assist and was named first star. Oliver started the year out in Springfield with the Falcons but was sent back in late November to get some playing time and boy did he playing a pivotal role on the third line scoring career highs in goals, assists and points for the second year in a row. In his WHL career Oliver played in 171 games scoring 109 points including 74 over the last two years. Oliver and the WInterhawks will now play the Kelowna Rockets and there little green lizard logo(its something to do with like a local loch nessesque legend). The Winterhawks swept the Rockets in the regular season with Oliver playing in two of the four games scoring a goal.

Well there you have it folks a week in review, a season review and a playoff preview all in one big post. As I said in my earlier post the schedule will change for these posts as I'm going to start waiting until each round is over before doing a write up so to keep up to date follow @CBJprospects and as always thanks for reading my nonsense.

March 12-18 Prospect Week in Review Part 1

2012-03-19T15:04:00.004-04:00

Hello all first things first a small change of schedule, starting next week ill have the review for the two pro development leagues(AHL, ECHL)then a update on players in the NCAA tournament and finishing with how Mike Reilly and Anton Forsberg are doing in there playoffs.

Starting off in Springfield another weekend of three in three for the Falcons and with Allen York traveling with the Blue Jackets and Paul Dainton dealing with family issues the Falcons needed a goalie they signed Brown University goalie Mike Clemente who went 2-0 including picking up his first career shutout in a win over Connecticut. The Falcons went 2-1 last week with the loss coming to Providence on Sunday. Nick Drazenovic led the Falcons in scoring last week with goal in each game also adding two assists. Matt Calvert also had four points including a goal and a assist against Providence and has six points in his last five games. The only other players with multiple points were Martin St. Pierre with two assists against Portland and Dalton Prout had a goal and a assits and Brent Regner had two assists to continue to lead Falcons Dmen in scoring. As of this writing the Falcons were only a point out of eight place somehow being in 10th place despite having more wins than 9th.

Onto Chicago heres Jacket's defenseman prospects Steven Delisle wearing the Express' St Patrick's Day jersey. In four games last week the Express went 1-2-1 with Delisle being held off the scoresheet and Taylor Ellington adding to his season high five game point streak. Ellington had his first multi point game when he had two assists in a overtime loss to Trenton.

Quickly for the non scoring prospects sorry folks I had this all written out then out of nowhere I lost pretty much the whole thing. Thomas Larkin was scoreless in the Raiders two losses ending his season with 14 points in 37 games. Thomas was named third team all league during the leagues award banquet. Martin Ouelette did his usual in the Black Bears win against Boston University then a loss to Boston College. Maine will play Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Both Trent Vogelhuber and Will Weber went scoreless as the Redhawks lost to eventual champion Western Michigan then beating the suprising Bowling Green in the CCHA tournament. Miami will play UMass-Lowell in the NCAA Tournament. Kevin Lynch went scoreless in a opposite weekend of the Hawks beating the Falcons then losing to the Broncos. Lynch and the Wolverines are the top seed of the Midwest regional and will play Cornell. Seth Ambroz was scoreless in the Gopher's loss to North Dakota he and Jake Hansen will play Boston University in the first round. TJ Tynan was named first team all CCHA at the leagues award banquet. Tynan will enter needing five points to break the 100 point barrier.

Sean Collins-Cornell
Cornell had a little better weekend than Colgate losing to Harvard in a semifinal then winning the consolation game against Colgate. Collins had a point in each game picking up a assist(5:00 in) in the loss. Then in the consolation game Collins scored his 13th goal of the season late in the first period. Collins will face the top seed Michigan in the first round of the tournament in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Jake Hansen-Minnesota
Hansen and the Gophers got off to a hot start leading 3-1 before losing the game 6-3. Hansen scored his 13th goal of the season just five seconds into a power play when he tipped a Erik Huala point shot. Minnesota will be the home team for the West Regional as its being held in St Paul at the Xcel Enery Center.

Drew Olson-Minnesota Duluth
Drew and the Bulldogs lasted a bit longer than the Gophers but only because he played in the longest Final Five game ever losing to Denver in double overtime. Olson had two assists one on a Bulldogs goal the other on a Pioneers goal. Olson was trying to ring the puck around when it bounced off the ref and it was off to the races for a Denver goal. But Olson did have a assist on Jack Connolly's third period goal. Drew and the Bulldogs will play Maine in the first round of the playoffs in Worcester.

Mike Reilly-Penticton
Mike and the Vees started the playoffs last week, and after winning 54 of 60 games people probably thought this would be a quick series and it could still be one but itll at least take 5 games. Friday night went as expected with the Vees winning 6-1 with Mike picking up a assist on Steven Fogarty's first period goal. Saturday night the Vees came back from being down 2-0 to tie the game but lost in overtime to make it a 1-1 series.

Anton Forsberg-MODO
Anton hasnt made it into any of the five MODO playoff games and I dont see him making it into any of the few that may remain. MODO was down 2-0 then won the next two to make it 2-2 before losing game 5.

As I always say I thank you for reading my nonsense and again apologize for being so quick. Next ill have to work on the CHL prospects season review/playoff review as all nine made the playoffs four as division champs.

The State of the Blue Jackets Prospect Pool

2012-03-18T18:25:00.006-04:00

The Hockey News Future Watch issue came out recently and with me being the CBJ fanbase's resident prospect guru(geek if you wanna be a jerk bout it) it got the little hamster wheel in my head spinning about what we have coming down the pipeline. The farthest I could go back in past Future Watch issues is 2009 when the Jackets had a A- which put the Jackets among the top 7 teams. In 2010 the team dropped to 10th with a B grade keeping that grade also in 2011. This years issue is when it gets ugly dropping to 24th with a C+. After this season the Blue Jackets prospect pool takes a beating with nine of the 21 prospects Ive been keeping track of all season needing to be signed or they become a free agent or reenter the draft. Now of course the team cant sign all nine that would put the team way over the 50 contract limit and lets face it most haven't done enough to earn a contract with the team. The nine are made up of players picked in the 2010 draft or are from other drafts and are seniors finishing there college careers.

THE NINE
D-Brandon Archibald(10 Draft)
C-Michael Chaput(10 Draft Philadelphia pick)
C-Sean Collins(08 Draft NCAA SR)
G-Mathieu Corbeil(10 Draft)
RW-Jake Hansen(07 Draft NCAA SR)
D-Austin Madaisky(10 Draft)
RW-Petr Straka(10 Draft)
RW-Trent Vogelhuber(07 Draft NCAA SR)
D-Will Weber(07 Draft NCAA SR)

Now of course this is me just throwing out my opinion(but isn't that what blogging is all about?) of who should and shouldn't be signed. Of the nine I think five should be signed, those five are Michael Chaput, Mathieu Corbeil, Jake Hansen, Austin Madaisky and Will Weber. I say these five because they do what prospects should do fill a need. Remember what Antoine Vermette and Sammy Pahlsson did well? Win faceoffs and that's one of the things Michael Chaput does best finishing in the top 10 in the Q in faceoffs win(they do wins instead of by percentage..that make no sense to anyone else?). Chaput won 62 percent of the faceoffs he took this season and set a career high with 63 points in 57 games. Given some time in the AHL which he could play in next season or go back to Shawinigan to count as one of the team's three 20 year olds I see Michael as a third line center with skill As for Mathieu Corbeil my main and only reason is...HES A GOALIE AND WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN TERMS OF GOALIE DEPTH NEXT SEASON!!!! Sorry for shouting but for next season the Jackets have Steve Mason and Allen York under contract and that's it, now I've thrown out the idea of resigning Mark Dekanich on a two way deal and people didn't disagree with as much as I thought they would and now the possible resigning of Shawn Hunwick throws a small monkey wrench into this line of thinking. Corbeil is 6'6 and is among the QMJHL leaders including winning the QMJHL award for lowest GAA now I know Corbeil has played for a juggernaut in Saint John but we all know the NHL is going bigger in net and 6'6 is exactly that. Now for Jake Hansen if you wouldve asked me before the season if the CBJ were gonna sign Hansen before the season i would've laughed in your face but as the old cliche goes "that's why you play the games". Going into his senior year Hansen had 39 points in 106 career games but like most athletes when they need a contract they have a career year. In 40 games this year Jake has almost matched his career total with 34 points and he still has to play in the NCAA tournament. Hansen could help the always anemic Jackets power play since almost half of his career goals are on the power play, it seems like most of the goal highlights of Hansen are him putting his 6'2 frame in front of the crease and scoring on a tip in. Austin Madaisky was amongst the WHL leading D scorers all season finishing with career highs in goals, assists and points almost doubling his previous high of 27 with a 50 point season. Now could his success be because the Blazers were one of the best teams in the WHL well its possible but Austin had 27 points the previous two season one that included being traded midseason and suffering a spinal injury last season. Austin will also help the Jackets power play with 11 of his 13 goals being scored on the power play. Austin could also go back to the WHL and play as a 20 year old. Last but not least is Will Weber, Weber is a rarity among the Jackets defensive prospects as in he's a true defensive defensemen. Weber will not score much but if you want to score Will's gonna make you pay for it. Only scoring 30 points in 154 games he's put up 263 penalty minutes which is sixth among RedHawks all time. After some time in the AHL Will could be a physical presence on the Jackets blueline.

For the four I don't think will get signed I'm not gonna bash them it just didn't work out, two of them are seventh round picks where the odds of picking a NHL player are slim to none...unless you're the Detroit Red Wings(author curses quietly and weeps). Recently the Jackets/Falcons have shown why I should stick to playing GM on Xbox 360 as two of the four I didn't think should be signed(I've been working on this a few days) have been signed by the teams. Both Sean Collins and Trent Vogelhuber the two seventh round picks were signed to ATOs with Collins also signing a two year entry level contract. Another is a second round pick or the round I call(cue horror music) the draft pick graveyard. In two years since being drafted he hasn't scored as many points as he had his draft year. As for Brandon Archibald I kinda feel bad writing this, the couple times ive talked to him seems like a nice kid but his stats won't wow you even though he has almost as many points after being drafted as before. It's just I don't see him better than any of the prospects we have.

As for next season starting off in Springfield and going off capgeek's contract years of the players currently on Springfield only three forwards, four defensemen(one in Chicago)and a goalie are signed for next season. Those players are Matt Calvert, Andrew Joudrey and Tomas Kubalik at Forward, Anton Blomqvist, Steven Delisle Cody Goloubef and Dalton Prout on defense and Allen York as I said above. Now seven players on Springfield are RFAs so most of those could be brought back. Three of those seven have played some with the Jackets this season those being Dane Byers, Maksim Mayorov and the fanbase's early season fan favorite Cody Bass. As for rookies other than the ones we need to sign above Oliver Gabriel will be back after starting the year in Springfield before being sent back to Portland and Dalton Smith who could play in Springfield or go back to the 67s. Now with Boone Jenner signing lately he'll be in the same boat as Ryan Johansen this season having to either play in Columbus or going back to Oshawa probably serving as captain for the second straight season.

As for the unsigned prospects the Jackets will have 9 also adding at least 8 new prospects barring any trades. Those 9 are Seth Ambroz, Kevin Lynch, Lukas Sedlák and TJ Tynan at forward. Thomas Larkin, Drew Olson and Mike Reilly on defense and Martin Ouelette in goal. Most of these guys are in the CHL the exceptions are Larkin and Lynch who will be seniors while Tynan and Ouelette will be juniors and Forsberg will still be in Sweden unless goalie coach Ian Clarke has his way. Another thing about next year is ill finally be able to compare Mike Reilly with the other prospects, Ive had a hard time this season since the BCHL is a step below the WHL and most players are playing there to keep there NCAA eligibilty. So scoring a lot in the BCHL might not equal success, heard of Kyle Turris playing in the BCHL made him the third overall pick but id say he's still trying to realize that potential if he ever does. Ambroz could see a bump in ice time as Minnesota is losing five senior forwards including Jake Hansen who normally was a line above Ambroz when they post the line sheet. Ambroz and Reilly will be teammates at Minnesota next season.

As for what we need to look for in the draft I think we need a little bit of everything and if you follow me on twitter you know my take on this trading the 1st or 2nd pick nonsense. But if you want to put a priority on things I'd say we need to add at least three defensemen of varying playing styles, a goalie in rounds two through four no more seventh round picks like the last two years in fact maybe two goalies. Last but not least and I harped on this earlier this season a true goal scorer I mean outside of Cam Atkinson and possibly Matt Calvert the Jackets don't have a true goal scoring threat. Now if the Jackets draft who I want them to pick if we pick first that'll help fill this need and will more than likely play in Columbus next year. I say this because you have to go back to when Erik Johnson was selected that the 1st pick didn't play after being drafted.

So like I said this is just my take on the Jackets prospect pool. I plan on attending the NHL draft in Pittsburgh so I'll have on the spot updates and I'll probably see some of you at the Draft Lottery Tweetup at BW3 on April 10th.

March 5-11 CBJ Prospect Week in Review

2012-03-13T15:14:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay folks lets get on it, oh those wacky Springfield Falcons first they go 3-0 dominatating weekend then a 0-3 getting smacked around weekend and last week...a little of both. Starting off in ManchVegas(Manchester no idea why its called that) it was a 3-0 loss for the birds. Saturday's game was a little wacky almost doing a Blue Jackets impression. After roaring(squawking? nevermind)to a 4-1 first period lead the Crunch then came back to make it 5-4 ill goaltender Manny Legace pulled himself turning things over to Paul Dainton. With 1:53 left in the second the Falcons were awarded a penalty shot and it was Cody Bass that got to take the shot...wait a minute CODY BASS??? the same Cody Bass that was here earlier this year? Well the Crunch's goalie mustve fell asleep cause Bass converted the chance to give the Falcons a 6-4 lead. The Crunch scored later but that was it as Springfield won 6-5(goals from the game). Next night it was time for some bird on bird violence as the baby Penguins came to town. It was a back and forth affair ending in a shootout loss for the Falcons. But in the second period when ex NHL goon Steve MacIntyre decided to lose his damn mind attacking anything wearing white including the six inches shorter and 65 pounds lighter Falcon's goalie Paul Dainton. MacIntyre earned a match penalty and a four game suspension for the incident.

Onto Chicago seems like every team in the Blue Jackets organization can find a free agent goalie...except the Blue Jackets that is. With Allen York recalled the Express signed Vermont goalie Rob Madore who won 41 games for the Catamounts(only 13 his JR,SR years though). Madore set a Express record for most saves in a game when he made 41 saves in a 5-2 loss then stopping all 26 in his second career start in a 2-0 win. Taylor Ellington played in both games picking up a assist in the win giving him two points in six games, Steven Delisle only played in the shutout win.

In the CHL it was either score a point or nothing at all, Lukas Sedlak missed all three of the Sagueneens games dealing with his shoulder injury from last week. Brandon Archibald and the Spirit split its two games last week with Archibald having no points and was a +1. Dalton Smith and the 67s went 1-2 with Smith being held off the scoresheet and was a -3.

Boone Jenner-Oshawa Generals(OHL)
Stats 39GP 21-24-45 +12 55PIM
Somehow Boone and the Generals only had one game last week the fewest of any CHL prospect all season. It was a game against the Brampton Battalion the same team that knocked Boone out of the lineup for 12 games. In the 5-2 win Boone had a assist according to twitter since I cant find a highlight it was off faceoff win.

Petr Straka-Rimouski Oceanic(QMJHL)
Stats 52GP 18-18-36 -9 39PIM
The Oceanic went 1-2 last week Petr was held off the scoresheet in the team's first two games. Petr had a rough night in the Oceanic's loss to Chicoutimi when he was a -4 after the first period. Then on Saturday against Blainville Petr scored his 18th goal of the year and was named third star in the loss.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John Sea Dogs(QMJHL)
Stats 46GP 35-10-0-1 .911Sv% 2.38GAA 6SO
It was a rough week for the Sea Dogs as they went 0-1-0-1 with both losses being to teams with a fellow Jackets prospect. On Friday it was the Lukas Sedlak-less Sagueneens with a 4-3 shootout win Corbeil made 25 saves in regulation but then stopped one of three in the shootout. The on Sunday it was a battle of the QMJHL's best as the Dogs traveled to Shawinigan. Mathieu had his worst night in awhie being pulled for the first time since late December. In just under 43 minutes Mathieu stopped 30 of the 35 shots he faced with backup Sebastian Auger allowing a goal on 14 shots. According to the local blog that I talk to a lot the Dogs radio announcer said that Mathieu was nursing a minor hand injury he suffered at practice.

Michael Chaput-Shawinigan Cataractes(QMJHL)
Stats 55GP 21-40-61 +40 45PIM
Michael and the Cats went 2-1 last week with Michael scoring in the wins and not scoring in the loss. In the team's win over Rouyn-Noranda Michael scored his 19th goal of the season and won 13 of 24 faceoffs. Then on Friday when he got the chance to shine on national television Michael went scoreless but won 13 of 27 faceoffs.
Sunday was the big game as it was a battle of the top two teams in the Q. Michael scored a play of the week goal when he was the trailer when Anton Zloin outskated a Sea Dogs player and Chaput deposited past(2:52 in the video) hopefully future teammate(HINT HINT MR. HOWSON) Mathieu Corbeil. With a goal and a assist Michael was named 3rd star, now here are the crazy stats in the win Michael was a +5 and won 12 of his 19 faceoffs.

Austin Madaisky-Kamloops Blazers(WHL)
Stats 67GP 13-36-49 +24 87PIM
Austin and the Blazers went 2-1 last week only having a assist in a win over the Giants. In the team's two wins Austin was a +4 and was even in the team's loss to Vancouver.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland Winterhawks(WHL)
Stats 36GP 16-21-37 +11 32PIM
Oliver and the Winterhawks like it seems like most of the teams went 2-1 last week losing to the Blazers then winning against division and regional rivals Everett and Seattle. In the win over Seattle a real squeaker at 11-3 Oliver matched his career high in assists with 21.

The NCAA playoffs are off and running with at least last week all 10 prospects being in action and for next week nine will be in action. Thomas Larkin and Colgate faced off with Qunninpiac and it was one of only two ECAC series to go all three games. Colgate will play Union in the semifinals, the Red Raiders and the Dutchmen just played each other last month with Union winning both. Martin Ouelette was the back up in the Bear's 2-1 series win over Merrimack. The Bears will play Boston U in the next round, the Bears won the season series 2-1. Both Trent Vogelhuber and Will Weber were scoreless in the Redhawks sweep of Michigan State. In the semis the Hawks will play another team from the state up north as theyll play the Western Michigan Broncos. In the regular season the hawks swept the Broncos with Vogelhuber having a assist. In the only prospect matchup TJ Tynan and Notre Dame traveled to Michigan to play Kevin Lynch. Lynch and the Wolverines were victorious with both Tynan and him going scoreless. I'll be honest I don't know if Tynan and the Irish are done for the year and wont know until Sunday when the tournament is announced. As for Michigan they get to faceoff against the surpising Bowling Green Falcons i say surprising because the 11th seed Falcons first had to beat the sixth seed Northern Michigan then the bigger task of playing the top seed Ferris State Bulldogs which the Falcons beat in three games. In the season series which was just played a few weeks ago, Lynch had a goal in the Wolverines win in the series split. Drew Olson did his usual in the Bulldogs sweep of the Minnesota St Mavericks. In the sweep Drew was a -2 the Bulldogs earned a bye in the WCHA's Final Five and will play the winner of Denver and St. Cloud St.

Sean Collins-Cornell(ECAC)
31GP 12-10-22 +2 10PIM
Collins and the second seed Big Red welcomed the Dartmouth Big Green there next game is against the Big Blue and if they win they play the big yellow(SMACK) sorry lost my head there. In the series sweep the Red swept the Green with Collins having a assist in the team's game two 3-0 win.Next up for Cornell is the Harvard Crimson(hey Ivy League how about the Bulldogs or the Lions, enough with the colors), in the season Cornell went 1-0-1 with Collins going scoreless.

Seth Ambroz, Jake Hansen-Minnesota(WCHA)
Stats SA-37GP 5-3-8 E 51PIM JH-39GP 12-21-33 +21 52PIM
The top seed Gophers got to host the lowly Alaska-Anchorage SeaWolves, the Wolves were 29 points behind the Gophers. On Friday night the Gophers beat the SeaWolves 2-1 with Hansen getting a assist on Erik Haula's game winner by passing it to the defenseman that shot haula tipped in and falling on the Wolves goaltender leaving a empty net. The SeaWolves gave the Gophers a scare on Saturday night when they were up 3-1 but then it was all Gophers as they ending up winning 7-3. Hansen actually opened the scoring when he went to the front of the net and tipped home a Ben Marshall point shot. On the weekend Hansen had a goal and a assist and was a +5, Seth Ambroz was scoreless with four penalty minutes. The Gophers also earned a bye in the Final Five as the top seed and will play the winner of North Dakota and Michigan Tech, if its the Sioux(im a nobody so I can call them that still)we can probably expect some more of this.

Mike Reilly-Penticton Vees(BCHL)
Regular Season Stats 51GP 24-59-83 42PIM
Last week was the end of the regular season for the Vees and the finished off going 2-1 yes longtime readers you read that right the Vees lost a game. The Vees started off the week beating Trail with a season high five points with a goal and four assists in a 10-0 win. Next in a win over Prince George Mike had two assists in the 8-5 win, on Saturday it looks like the Vees coach ddecided to give Mike a night off and a chance to rest up for the playoffs. In that game that was the one the Vees loss ending a 42 game winning streak and handing the team its first loss since November 5th. It was announced that Mike was named the Interior Conference's Top Defenseman and was also named to the Conference's First Team All-Star and Rookie Team. Mike's 83 points are the second most in Franchise history breaking the old mark of 82 held by Blackhawks Dman Duncan Keith and this year's WCHA Rookie of the Year Joey Laleggia. Mike and the Vees will play the Chilliwack Chiefs in the opening round of the playoffs in seven games against the Chiefs Mike had two goals and nine assists.

Anton Forsberg-MODO(Sweden)
Stats 14GP 3.05GAA .900Sv%
I got different numbers and couldnt get a true record for Forsberg so that explains his stats sorry. As for last week it was the last game of the regular season and the first game of the playoffs. In a game against Linkoping and former CBJ goalie Fredrik Norrena MODO won 5-4 in a shootout with Ole-Kristian Tollefsen doing what he does best scoring shootout game winners...wait a minute. Forsberg played the last 11 minutes after Mikael Tellqvist was ran over forcing him to leave the game. In his action Anton stopped 11 of 12 then stopping three of four in a shootout. MODO clinched the eigth spot which in North America would make them play the top seed...not in Sweden, in Sweden the top seed gets to pick between teams in fifth through eight spot second from the other teams and so on. Well the first seed didnt pick MODO but the second place team did. MODO is facing off against Skelleftea. On Staurday the teams played game 1 with Skelleftea taking a 1-0 series lead with Forsberg not playing.

Thanks for reading folks as for next week I should have CHL playoff matchups and previews ready to go.

The Potential Trading of the Number One Pick

2012-03-13T02:27:00.002-04:00

There has been plenty of discussion (or from what I have seen, more so dispair) regarding the reports that the Blue Jackets are shopping their potential first overall pick in the upcoming draft. With thirteen regular season games remaining, Columbus sits eight points back of 29th Edmonton, and thirteen points back of 28th place Montreal. While nothing is impossible, I am reasonably confident at this point that Columbus will finish 30th, and pending a disaster at the lottery, will own the 1st pick in the upcoming draft.

So why trade it? What real value does that pick hold for a team like Columbus, primed to 'rebuild' or 'reshape' this year? I think there are a couple very good reasons;

First, the Russian factor. Admittedly both Yakupov and Grigorenko are very different scenarios from former first round picks Zherdev and Filatov, but it doesn't open the door for comfort, at least from where I am standing. Yakupov is a great interview and has been suggested to have a tremendous work ethic, but recently suffered his second concussion of the season. He has also had his knee surgically repaired. Both of these injuries cause reason to be concerned about his long term health, and while they aren't going to plummet his draft value too much, will probably bring him a bit closer to the pack.

Grigorenko is an interesting option. He will have played a full year of Canadian junior hockey before entering the draft, and thus far has dominated with well over a point a game for the Remparts of the QMJHL. For as much value as playing in North America brings, I get concerned with players who come from the QMJHL because I find the OHL and the WHL to be more physical, with the WHL being the closest to the NHL style of play. With that in mind, I would still have concerns about Grigorenko's ability to transition to the NHL, and being that I have no idea what his work ethic is like, would need to get a greater knowledge of him before judging him in that regard.

The simple truth is that Columbus has been burned in the past. It is not news to anyone that treading lightly around any Russian player with a pick like this would be the smart thing to do, and if another team were willing to deal their top five pick and a current rostered player to get their hands on one, it may be the best option for the Jackets. This seems especially true considering players like Dumba, Murray, and Galchenyuk are the secondary options this year after the consensus 1 and 2 of Yakupov and Grigorenko.

From my perspective, if the 1-2 pick options were North American born, with a quality history of leadership and good health, I would be troubled by these rumours. Players like Toews, Crosby, Stamkos, and Tavares are recent top picks who have gone on to become major contributors both on and off the ice for their team. I do not remember thinking of any of them with the wildcard status I personally believe both Yakupov and Grigorenko to be, and I believe that as far as sure things go, they would not be my first choice. Kovalchuk and Ovechkin are the only two Russian born players to go first overall in the NHL draft, showing just how consistent the quality of selection is in favour of North American born players.

I want to also touch on these rumours spreading about the pick being shopped. It is probably true that Columbus is weighing the possible value of trading down, and it is also possible that they deal the pick, but try to avoid reading these rumours as "they WILL deal the pick." Just like with any asset, it is always a good idea to see what the value is, and if a team is willing to overpay to get a guy like Grigorenko or Yakupov but still provides a top 5-6 pick for the Jackets, management would be wise to consider and potentially make a trade to avoid another potential bust. Based on the experience with Russian born players in the past, can you really blame the organization for looking for other options?

What do you think? Is injury riddled Yakupov worth the risk? Do you respect Patrick and Howson's attempt to at least see what is out there?

Carry the Flag!

Johansen Needs to Earn His Spot

2012-03-05T13:51:00.002-05:00

A lot has been made of Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Ryan Johansen being benched for a handful of games down the stretch. Much has also been made of him playing on the bottom six of the roster while he is in the lineup. A quick comparison could easily be made for Johansen and Richards versus Derick Brassard under former coach Scott Arniel. I thought it would be a good opportunity to really consider what factors are coming into play.

To begin, let me point out that I was strongly against the under utilization of Brassard early in the season. While Brass was left gasping for air on the fourth line, the playmaking center made good use of his time there learning to play a more physical role and becoming a more complete player. Despite countless games full of effort, he was left watching from the press box. This is where I believe he and Johansen stand apart.

The Johan does not appear to be pouring out effort during his games on the ice. When I think about the top rookies in the league, or even watch the play of a rookie like Cam Atkinson, I watch a feverish style of hockey with great speed and effort. I recognize that Johansen and Atkinson have different traits, with Atkinson being the smaller, speedier of the two, but that should not justify the level of difference as I have seen. In fact, there have been a number of games this year where Johansen has played with a great deal of tenacity and speed, only to seemingly fall back on a similarly sluggish style of play games later. I can also cite his time with Team Canada in the U20 World Junior Championship or a number of his highlights from his junior days with Portland, where he shows a great deal of speed and tenacity on and off the puck.

Unfortunately I can't provide video examples of his mediocre play this season because this type of hockey isn't something that gets recorded and posted on youtube or NHL.com, but I can offer an explanation. Players who are standing relatively straight up, constantly have one hand on their stick, and essentially push off with one skate rather than churning (or using both legs actively) to build up speed can fall into this category pretty quickly. This style of play often leaves players in empty ice, and really only ends up leaving the skater to watch the game from the ice rather than being involved. It is a style of play that you will almost never see a limited talent player like Derek Dorsett or Derek MacKenzie play. They are both engaged in the play or fighting to better themselves positionally for a possible change in the play, and I personally don't often see them standing upright while the play is live.

It is based on a lot of what I have seen that I think it makes sense why Richards is singling out Johansen. He is a player that should be making a difference on the ice, considering his high praise from hockey analysts as being one of the top tier prospects in the league. He is also a bigger player, and a guy who should be able to function in a bottom six role better than a player like Brassard. What he appears to lack right now, is the tenacity and effort that it takes to breach the top six on a roster that has a number of vacancies. He is not a player that should be playing out the string, he is a player who needs to develop, and if he is not playing hard enough in practice or in games, he should be shown that it won't be tolerated.

With that said, I am not impressed that Johansen is taking the brunt of the logic regarding effort. He is one of a handful of players who have underachieved and underperformed this season, and I think it's time to start making examples throughout the roster, not just with the top rookie. While I think it is very good for Johansen's development to let him know that his current output is not going to be accepted, I think it is important to extend that logic to the rest of the team. How much of a shock would it be to see a player like Umberger sit a game? At this point in the season, wins are about pride more than anything, but where is the pride if all eighteen skaters on the ice aren't playing to their full capacity?

I say keep it up with Johansen, and make him work hard for his ice time, but do that to every player on the roster. Put away salary and prestige, and force every player to work for their ice time.

Carry the Flag.

2/27-3/4 CBJ Prospect Week in Review

2012-03-05T10:04:00.006-05:00

Hello all back again for the week in review and back on schedule after least week so lets get to it. It was the usual three in three grind for the Falcons with all of them being on the road. It was a rough as the Falcons went 0-3 while being outscored 12-4. Friday and Saturday were spent in Norfolk for a series with the Admirals, Friday was a 5-2 loss with Matt Calvert and AHL signee Wade MacLeod scoring the goals. The game was a testy affair that had David Savard recieveing a game misconduct for boarding and two more coincidental minors for roughing. Tempers flared up again the next night...during warmups!!! In the game it was another rough one as the Falcons as the Falcons took a 5-1 loss with Brent Regner scoring the only goal helping his season long point streak. Saturday was a little closer as the Falcons lost in overtime to the Hershey Bears with Alexandre Giroux scoring his 21st of the season and his 100th goal at the Giant Center(counting regular season, playoffs and All Star games). Paul Dainton took all three losses even though he only played the first period on Saturday. Leading the way was Brent Regner with a goal and two assists in the three games giving him points in five straight.

WHAT!!! a whole paragraph about the Chicago Express you betcha. The picture to the left features two of the three Jacket's prospects that played for the Express. Taylor Ellington made his Express debut and played in all four games last week scoring a goal in the the team's loss to Cincinnati. On the 3rd the Express lost goalie Peter Mannino to the AHL when he was called up by the Portland Pirates meaning that after 22 games the Express would have a new starting goalie and that goalie was Allen York. York started the team's last two games going 0-1-1 stopping 42 of 46 shots for a .913 save percentage and a 1.94 GAA. Also rejoining the Chicago lineup was Steven Delisle who'd been out of the lineup since January 25 with the dreaded "lower body injury" according to the team's broadcaster. Steven played in two games scoring no points with a even rating and no penalty minutes.

Onto the CHL prospects first for the ones who didnt score last week. Brandon Archibald didnt have any points in the Spirit's four games and was even with six penalty minutes including playing in a 8-7 shootout win. Dalton Smith was scoreless in the 67s three wins last week but was a +1 with no penalty minutes. Lukas Sedlak was held off the scoresheet but he had excuse on Friday Lukas left the game with a injury but returned later then he missed Saturday's game with what the people I spoke with said was a shoulder sprain.(does it count as speaking if I did it on twitter??? details details)

Boone Jenner-Oshawa Generals(OHL)
Stats 38GP 21-23-44 +10 55PIM
Thats right folks for the first time since late January we have a Boone Jenner update. Boone decided to return in front of a national TV audience as they took on the Knights. Those of you that watched when it reaired on NHL Network that Boone was held without a point in the 7-2 loss. In the next game against the Colts Boone had his first multi goal game since his hat trick on January 21st against Kingston. One of Boone's goals was a shorthanded goal his third then the next night against London he did it again scoring his fourth shorthanded goal (points are on the first two Gens goals) also adding a assist.

Petr Straka-Rimouski Oceanic(QMJHL)
Stats 49GP 17-18-35 -5 37PIM
Petr had the lightest schedule of the CBJ prospects playing only two games in the game against the Screaming Eagles Petr had no points but had six penalty minutes including something ive never seen before getting four minutes for roughing. But in the game against Val-d Or Petr had a goal and a assist(1:03 in), the goal was shot from the slot after the goalie let out a rebound and after a pass he shot it from the exact same spot as the first shot.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John Sea Dogs(QMJHL)
Stats 44GP 35-9 .914Sv% 2.29GAA 6SO
Corbeil and the Sea Dogs did what theyve been doing since January 14th and thats win. The Sea Dogs current win streak is at 17 games including three games last week. Mathieu started out the week helping Saint John win its second Rivalry Cup against Moncton making 18 saves in a 5-3 win. After getting the night off in which Saint John won 8-1 over PEI Corbeil was back in the crease against Acadie-Bathurst, Corbeil made 27 saves and was named second star in the 5-2 win. Mathieu will get to see two of his potential teammates next week as the Sea Dogs travel to Chicoutimi and Shawinigan before closing out the season against Halifax and a back to back with Cape Breton.

Michael Chaput-Shawinigan Cataractes(QMJHL)
Stats 52GP 19-39-58 +34 45PIM
Michael played in both of the Cats games last week picking up a assist in each game adding to his new career high. In the win over Chicoutimi Michael was named 3rd star with a assist. Now after dominating the faceoff dot last week Michael was human winning just 53 percent of his draws.

Austin Madaisky-Kamloops Blazers(WHL)
Stats 64GP 13-35-48 +20 83PIM
Austin and the Blazers had four games last week going 1-2-1, the week started off with a matchup in Portland against fellow Jackets prospect Oliver Gabriel a game that the Blazers lost 5-2 with Austin going scoreless. The next night it was northward bound as the Blazers headed to Everett to play the Silvertips Austin again going scoreless. When they got back it was time for a home and home with Kelowna, on Firday night in a 6-3 loss Austin had a assist. The next night it was off to Kelowna in the overtime loss Austin had a goal and a assist(assist-:20 goal 3:19 in, warning its the Kelowna feed and the announcer is annoying). A silver lining to the overtime loss is that the Blazers clinched the WHL's BC Division for the first time in 10 years.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland Winterhawks(WHL)
Stats 33GP 16-20-36 +12 26PIM
Oliver started the week off with a bang scoring two goals against Kamloops. The first goal opened the scoring when he took a cross crease pass and backhanded it pass the Blazers goaltender. The second was the infamous goal that the goaltender would "want back". Gabriel just took a backhand shot and the goalie wasnt hugging the post enough and it trickled through. With the two goals one being the game winner Oliver was named first star. The next game was against Tri-City and Oliver had a career high picking up three assists in the 6-4 Hawks win. The next two games Oliver was held scoreless. In a rematch against Tri City on Sunday Oliver felt that the Americans had a extra attacker for the whole game by which he meant the ref and he let his 291 followers know it before deleting it which was probably the smart move.

Onto the NCAA Sean Collins, Thomas Larkin and Kevin Lynch all found out who there opponents will be next week in there league quarterfinals. Collins and the Big Red will face off against the Dartmouth Big Green(ah the Ivy League where a color can be a team name). In the two games Cornell won both games with Collins picking up a assist. Thomas Larkin and Colgate will take on the Quinnipiac Polls er I mean Bobcats, the teams split there regular season series with Larkin picking up two assists in the Raiders win but was a -3 in the loss. Kevin Lynch and the Wolverines will take on TJ Tynan and the Irish, Lynch had no points in the series split. As usual Martin Ouelette was Dan Sullivan's back up this weekend as Maine had one game against New hampshire in which they won 1-0. Maine will take on Merrimack in the 4-5 matchup in the Hockey East playoffs. Ouelette played the third period of a 6-2 Merrimack rout stopping nine of 10.

Seth Ambroz, Jake Hansen-Minnesota(WCHA)
Stats SA:35GP 5-3-8 -1 47PIM JH:37GP 11-20-31 +16 52PIM
It was the regular season finale for the Gophers with a chance to win the WCHA regular season being only two points up on Minnesota-Duluth. In Friday's loss according to the guy I follow made it sound like the Gophers looked bad Both Jake and Seth went scoreless in the 4-1 defeat. Saturday night it was senior night meaning all seniors get to dress even if they havent played much this season. So that meant freshman Seth took a seat in honor of it looks like senior Joe Miller whod only played in 10 games. Jake Hansen(photos from senior night Jake is #21) was one of the seniors honored. Jake picked up his 20th assist of the year on Erik Haula's 15th goal of the year. Now if you wouldve asked me before this year if Jake gets signed by the Blue Jackets Id have said no but after a 31 point season with still im guessing a long playoff run to go I think the kid deserves a deal. Minnesota clinched the MacNaughton Cup. Minnesota will be the top seed in the tournament taking on WCHA doormat the Alaska-Anchorage SeaWolves next week. Both Seth and Jake were scoreless against the Wolves earlier this season.

Drew Olson-Minnesota-Duluth(WCHA)
Stats 36GP 1-6-7 +10 51PIM
Drew and the Bulldogs took on St Cloud St last weekend losing one and tying one costing them a chance at the WCHA championship. On Friday night it was business as usual for Drew being held scoreless in the loss. Then on Saturday in a tie with the Huskies Drew added a assist to his already career high with six on the year. Minnesota-Duluth will be the second seed hosting the Minnesota St. Mavericks the teams just faced off last month in Mankato where Olson found his scoring touch picking up three of his six assists in just that weekend.

TJ Tynan-Notre Dame(CCHA)
Stats 37GP 13-28-41 -3 36PIM
Tynan and the Irish welcomed Ohio State Buckeyes to town for a best of three series with the Irish sweeping the Bucks and ending there season. Tynan was held scoreless in the Irish's 2-0 win on Friday. The in Saturday's series clinching win Tynan picked up his 28th assist(28 seconds in) of the year when he got the puck to ex Jacket prospect Matt Rust's little brother Matt who passed it to Tynan's partner in crime Anders Lee who pretty much had a open net to shoot at. Tynan and the Irish will face off against fellow CBJ prospect Kevin Lynch and Michigan next week in the quarterfinals, in a series earlier this year the teams split with Tynan having two assists in the Irish's win.

Mike Reilly-Penticton Vees(BCHL)
Stats 49GP 23-52-75 42PIM
The Vees just keep on going there winning streak is up to 40 with 3 more last week. Mike had two goals and two assists in the wins, starting off against Merritt Mike scored his 22nd of the season when his slapshot off a faceoff to make it 5-3, Mike was named second star in the win. The against Salmon Arm Mike had a laser of a shot for his 23rd(5:25 in) of the year then added a assist on Bryce Gervais' blast to make it 2-2. Then to cloe out the week Mike had a assist in the Vees 5-1 over Chilliwack to give him 52 assists on the year. Mike and the Vees only have three games left before the playoffs begin in two weeks.

Quickly Anton Forsberg didnt appear in any of MODO's three games last week team went 1-0-2. MODO only has one game left before the playoffs begin but they are tied with ninth place Vaxjo being ahead because of having one more win, while Vaxjo has to play the top team in the league MODO faces off with one of the teams that will be relegated next season.

Next week along with its Blue Jacket vs Blue Jacket in the Q as all four of the prospects will play each other at least once, including what Sportsnet is calling the game of the week as the Cataractes welcome the Sea Dogs in a game that could determine who will be the Q's top team.

February 20-26 CBJ Prospect Week in Review

2012-02-29T15:43:00.006-05:00

Greetings Jacket fans sorry for the delay but with the trade deadline and the game last night my normal schedule is all out of wack.Starting off the in Springfield with a normal 3 in 3 weekend the Falcons went 3-0 including two wins over the top teams in its division. While not being a Blue Jacket's prospect goalie Paul Dainton was in net for all three games being the first Falcons goalie since Scott Langkow in 1998 to win three games in three nights. Dainton was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the week the first time since Devan Dubnyk in April 2008. Dainton went 3-0 with a .964 save percentage and .975 GAA picking up his first AHL shutout on Saturday against Connecticut. On the weekend leading the way in scoring was Maksim Mayorov with three goals and three assists including two goals and two assists in a 6-2 win. Other Falcons with multiple points were Dane Byers(1-2-3) and Brent Regner(0-3-3) with three points. Alexandre Giroux had two goals helping him climb the AHL goal and scoring ranks his 359 goals rank him ninth only a goal out of eight and the two points moved him into 23rd place, Martin St. Pierre had two assists to move him into ninth in the AHL with 50 points(10-40-50) in 54 games. Hopefully with the addition of Taylor Ellington I can start updating you guys on the Express. Ellington was picked up in the Sammy Pahlsson trade with Vancouver, Eliington was third among Wings defenseman in scoring with seven goals and 15 assists for 22 points in 55 games.

Onto the CHL prospects, Boone Jenner remains out of the Generals lineup with concussion symptoms as the Generals went 0-1-1 last week. Brandon Archibald and the Spirit went 0-1-1 last week with Jackets prospect Brandon Archibald being held scoreless with a even rating and five penalty minutes. Dalton Smith went scoreless in three games last week as the 67s went 1-1-1 also missing in a shootout. Petr Straka and the Oceanic went 2-0 last week with Petr Straka picking up no points.

Lukas Sedlak-Chicoutimi Sagueneens(QMJHL)Stats 46GP 17-28-45 +21 57PIM
Lukas and Sags went 2-0 last week on a quick two game road trip losing to the Armada with Lukas being held scoreless then against the Olympiques had two assists assisting on two goals of Christain Ouellet's hat trick.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John Sea Dogs(QMJHL)
Stats 43GP 34-9 .913Sv% 2.30GAA 6SO
With the Sea Dogs on the longest CHL winning streak of 15 games(quiet Penticton fans theyll catch you...next year) and only seven games remaining it appears as Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant has decided to alternate Corbeil and back up Sebastien Auger until its big game against Shawinigan that games Corbeil. In the Dogs three games last week Corbeil only started one. In a shootout win over rival Moncton Corbeil stopped 25 of 27 then stopping two more in a shootout to give him 33 on the season.

Michael Chaput-Shawinigan Cataractes(QMJHL)
Stats 50GP 19-37-56 +33 43PIM
Michael may have only scored in one game last week but he did put on a show. In the Cats 8-2 win Michael had a hat trick and a assist and was named 1st star. As I mentioned he scored in only one game but he showed why hes probably the Blue Jackets best prospect at the faceoff dots losing only 12 draws all weekend. In the win over Cape Breton Michael won 21 of 25 two days later against Halifax Chaput won 10 of 13. Michael closed out the weekend winning 20 of 25 so in other words Michael won 51 of 63 draws or 81% of his draws.

Austin Madaisky-Kamloops Blazers(WHL)
Stats 61GP 12-33-45 +22 79PIM
Austin missed his first games of the year serving a two game suspension when he recieved a cross checking major and a game misconduct in a game last week. In the one game he did play Austin had a assist giving him 33 on the year.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland Winterhawks(WHL)
Stats 30GP 16-17-33 +13 26PIM
Oliver was the busiest of all the prospects last week playing four games winning three of the four. In the three wins Oliver added to his point streak making all the way to 13 games scoring eight goals and 13 assists a for 21 points. In the games had a goal (2:55 into video) and three assists. On Sunday both the Hawks nine game winning streak and Oliver's point streak came to an end.

Onto the team's NCAA prospects last week was the final weekend of there regular season for the ECAC(Cornell and Colgate) and the CCHA(Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame) while the WCHA and Hockey East still play this weekend. Cornell went into the weekend tied with Union and defeated the Dutchmen but then lost to RPI in OT. Sean Collins went scoreless on the weekend, Cornell finished second and earned a bye playing next week. Thomas Larkin and Colgate 0-2 last week with Larkin going scoreless with six penalty minutes, Colgate finished fourth also earning a bye. As standard Martin Ouelette didnt make it into either of the Black Bears games with Northeastern, coach actually used the Bears 3rd goalie so he could play in his senior year for the first time since his freshman year. Maine has one more game to play but could clinch home rink for the playoffs in two weeks. Drew Olson went scoreless as usual in the Bulldogs wins over Colorado College. UMD will travel to St Cloud to play the Huskies for a chance to win the WCHA but Minnesota will have to stumble against rival Wisconsin. Seth Ambroz was held off the scoresheet in the Gophers sweep of Nebraska-Omaha and will face Wisconsin for a chance to clinch first overall in the WCHA. Trent Vogelhuber didn't have a point in the Redhawks home and home sweep of Ohio State. Now unlike the other teams in the CCHA that got byes the Hawks know who they'll be playing next as they will host Michigan St.

Will Weber-Miami(OH) (CCHA)
Stats 35GP 0-4-4 +4 59PIM
Weber was held scoreless on Saturday in his last regular season home game but when the Redhawks traveled to Columbus on Saturday Will did something he hadnt dont since November 19th he scored a point. In Saturday's 5-1 win Will had a assist(3:29 in) in the first period. Will's point shot was blocked by a OSU defenseman but Reilly Smith was there to pick up the rebound for his 26th goal of the season. On the weekend Will was a +5 including being a +4 on Saturday.

Kevin Lynch-Michigan(CCHA)
Stats 34GP 7-5-12 +1 28PIM
Michigan traveled to Bowling Green last week and earned a split with the Falcons. Like Will Kevin was held scoreless on Friday then on Saturday he scored his seventh(2:20 in) of the season. After a shot from the point the Falcons goalie thought he had it but slipped loose and all Kevin had to do was dive to hit the puck in.

Jake Hansen-Minnesota(WCHA)
Stats 35GP 11-19-30 +16 48PIM
Jake Hansen only had a assist in the Gophers sweep of Nebraska giving him 30 on the year which is 10 more than last year in the same amount of games.

TJ Tynan-Notre Dame(CCHA)
Stats 35GP 13-27-40 -4 36PIM
TJ and the Irish welcomed Michigan St and like most of the prospects and his teammates he was held off the scoresheet in a 2-0 win over the Spartans then scoring on Saturday. In Saturday's loss Tynan scored his 13th goal of the season and second shorthanded. Tynan tied for the CCHA scoring lead with Spartans Dman Torey Krug both had 29 points in league play. Tynan is the only prospect that will be in playoff action when the Irish host Ohio State. Tynan feasted on the Bucks earlier this year scoring a goal and three asists in the split which were the last games played in the Irish's old home the Joyce Center.

Mike Reilly-Penticton(BCHL)
Stats 46GP 21-50-71 42PIM
Mike and the Vees went 3-0 last week to make it 37 in a row last week. In the three wins Mike had a goal and two assists. After beign held scoreless for the sixth time Mike had a assist in the Vees win over the Smoke Eaters(Im not kidding thats the team name). The next game Mike had something to do with both goals in the Vees double overtime win over Merritt. Yes you read that right double overtime listen to this first they do four on four like the NHL then they go to three on three for another five minutes if no one scores its like old time hockey and its a tie. In the game Mike scored the Vees only goal in regulation in the second period then adding a assist on Travis St Denis' game winner(heres the audio of the game winner). Mike then was held scoreless in the Vees other game last week another win.

Anton Forsberg-MODO(Sweden)
Stats 13GP 4-4 .900Sv% 3.01GAA
Anton started one game for MODO last week and he stopped 18 of 22 in a loss to Skelleftea. Reading some of the translated tweets didnt sound like it was one of Anton's best games. MODO went 1-1 in the other two games last week.

As for next week like I said the playoff start for two college leagues and Ill have full updates on the second round matchups. Thanks for reading and as always follow @CBJProspects for the most up to date info on all the propspects.

A Follow-up on the Nash Saga

2012-02-29T11:09:00.000-05:00

Two days ago I wrote a pretty scathing piece upon hearing that it was Rick Nash, not the Columbus Blue Jackets management who decided that it was time for him to be traded. It was received with very mixed emotions and I had anticipated that, but I do want to clarify a number of things that brought me to my opinion and why I was as bothered as I was.

To begin, I have followed Nash for over a decade. To say I have been a Rick Nash fan is a pretty heavy understatement. I have watched him in juniors, playing for Team Canada in a number of different age groups as well as an Olympic team, and I have watched the better part of his career with the Blue Jackets. I have watched him play some absolutely incredible hockey, and I have watched him play some pretty terrible hockey. What I believe we have been watching this year, is something right in the middle, and to find out that he has even considered the idea of leaving Columbus in some form or another truly rocked me to my core.

I signed on for Nash's contract extension just like everyone else did. I wanted him here making brilliant plays and leading this team back to the playoffs, and two days ago, I went from thinking the club was simply doing everything they could to better position themselves, to realizing that it was generated by Nash himself. Now, I get the argument that Nash didn't 'demand' a trade (he offered it), but when something like this happens, there is no going back. You can't dangle a player of Nash's caliber on the trade market and then shrug it off if a deal isn't made. The moment his availability became public was the moment I knew his time in Columbus had an expiry date.

It left me to truly ponder the reasons why Nash would suggest the trade. Why he would be willing to leave a city where he is idolized regardless of his play. Here's what I've come up with:

He believes the assets he could provide would benefit the Jackets more than he would. Therein, he thinks he isn't good enough to be the Blue Jackets franchise player. He costs the team 7.8 million dollars every year on the cap, and has not been able to play to that level of quality. In his Richard year scoring 41 goals, and the 08/09 season he and Mason put the team on their shoulders, however he has not come close to matching that output nor has he been even remotely as dominant with the puck
He doesn't feel like going through another rebuild/reshape. Feel free to add my name to that list as well, but Nash has decided he doesn't want to have to work in Columbus to create a long term winner anymore.
He wants to play for contending team. A better team. He no longer wants to be the cornerstone of a franchise and wants to be a second tier player on a team already primed to make the playoffs and compete for a cup.

I really can't fathom any other excuses for him, not to suggest that these are 'good' ones. This is a guy who is basically never held accountable for a questionable leadership group, nor his poor performances of late. He is a guy who is idolized in the city, not just for his efforts as a Blue Jacket, but as a member of the community. He has truly been given everything, yet he doesn't want to honour his deal and help Columbus become a winning hockey team. The commitment he made only a couple of years ago.

These are the reasons why it cut into me so deep. We have all as fans committed to him as the franchise cornerstone for eight years, and he doesn't believe that he can deliver. I don't sympathize for him after his comments yesterday, and while I would never consider booing him, I am not going to attack the fans who feel strongly enough to do so. I will also not feel sorry for him, because he has had every chance to win here, and considering has hasn't played up to his own potential throughout, I have to think he's only been a part of the enormous on ice problem for this team.

I'd like to share some interesting perspectives on the whole situation:

Rick Nash painted as the villain in Blue Jackets saga
- Traikos at The National Post
Traikos notes that Nash's perception could change, and suggests there is some correlation between the situations of Dany Heatley and Lebron James.. And I am not so sure the puzzle pieces don't miss by much

Jackets, Nash Continue to say all the Wrong Things
- Arace at the Columbus Dispatch
This was a pretty rough shot at the handling of the entire situation, but it's a perfectly fair argument.. This comment was most profound: "The fans are the only people who are ticked off, and they will tell you why. They know a lack of leadership when it pats them, patronizingly, on the back." Sounds like Arace doesn't buy the words of encouragement coming out of Nash.

Standing Behind Scott Howson (And not to Kick Him in the Butt)
- Ross of NHL Home Ice
Ross discusses the logic behind Howson's honesty, and I agree with most of what he is saying. There is a lot of great info in this so I won't take an individual comment out - It's worth the read.

Safe to say I am not calling Nash "Heatley" or "James," and I won't be chasing him out of town with a broom, but I do feel a disconnect to him now. I wish he remained committed to the team, but he has made his decision to move on, and I'll be doing the same. The assets that will be brought in for him in trade will be substantial, and they will work to quickly reshape this team into the playoff team the fans deserve. Now all I need Nash to do is expand his list so Columbus can get the best return possible. At that point, my high opinion of him may very well return.

Carry the Flag.

The Rick Nash Mess

2012-02-28T00:11:00.001-05:00

The trade deadline completed this afternoon without the Blue Jackets finding a quality suitor for current captain and franchise winger Rick Nash. In a post deadline interview, General Manager Scott Howson acknowledged the origin of the Rick Nash trade was brought upon by the captain himself, not the team. Some would argue the decision by Howson would lead to diminished value for Nash on the trade market, but I am under the impression this will force Nash's hand, causing him to increase the number of teams he would be willing to be traded to. The revelation of Nash wanting out however, leaves confusion and dissatisfaction among the fan base, and at least in my case, a serious concern as to how Rick Nash should be managed from this point of the season until the day he is traded.

First, I want to discuss what this bit of information means to me, mostly as a fan, but simply as a viewer of the team trying to exist in a league full of history and tradition. I believe the decision by Rick Nash to demand (or I suppose 'ask') for a trade is an act of quitting on his part, and a very selfish one at that. He signed an eight year 62.4 million dollar contract extension (making him the 5th highest cap hit in the NHL) with most of the current management group in place less than two seasons ago. He committed himself to eight years of Columbus Blue Jackets with the understanding that it would be a process, and I believe fans should be furious with him for not honouring that deal. Some will argue that he 'deserves better' and has 'given the team enough' but I think he had every chance to make his luck during the last couple years with this team.

As much as I can understand the secrecy of the situation at hand, I believe that fans deserved to know that Nash was not willing to play out the contract he signed, and lead this team back to the playoffs. I found his captaincy to be seriously lacking recently, and CTF has posted a number of pieces this year acknowledging the feeling that Nash was playing well below his true potential. These pieces were not designed to spit venom on him as a person, but simply point out that his best games could still be ahead of him, pending a serious amount of effort on his part. It is that early season acknowledgement of mediocrity that solidifies my opinion that he has given up on this team.

Further on today, I believe Howson felt his decision was forced by the comments made by Rick Nash's agent this weekend, suggesting that the list of teams provided by them would not change by the summer. It seemed from the beginning to be a situation where neither the team nor Nash would admit to being the catalyst in the decision to move him, and it was up until the comments made by Resnick that both sides respected the delicacy of the situation. With that, I have absolutely no issue with Scott Howson clarifying who was driving this trade necessity, and I am very glad to know that Nash wants out, not the other way around. This move clearly removes Nash as the victim in this situation, and will make it easier for fans to not resent the team for making the move.

Where to go from here

At this point, all remaining games played by Rick Nash in a Blue Jackets jersey are hollow. With a pending trade on the horizon in likely the early off season, he is no longer the face of the franchise. He is no longer a leader of the team, and I hope the captaincy is removed. They have a very capable leader in Prospal who can take "C" for the remainder of the season, and possibly continue that position through his additional year with the team. What can begin happening at this point, is full accountability of every player in the locker room.

They have brought in pure character players in Johnson, Prospal, and Wisniewski. These are in addition to current character players like MacKenzie and Dorsett who play with full effort in almost every shift of every game. They are building the framework of a team that works for each other and plays as a full unit, rather than relying solely on certain talents to take over games. While I don't have access to Howson/Patrick's intentions on their building process, it would seem that players like Nash are not going to be a part of it. Where Nash couldn't find a linemate to make him better, I suspect the additions to the lineup will be players who make those around them better.

To the presentation of the team, I believe this is an excellent step in the right direction. There has long been commentary about the team not having an identity, and I wonder if Nash has been hindering that. Where people see him as being above many of his teammates, they can now work as a core to create their own image. With that in mind, it is not to suggest that star players will not exist on the team, considering guys like Johansen and likely soon to be drafted Yakupov appear to have top tier upsides. With the production of an identity in the next year or so, the team can open the door to top tier players who will work to fit into their system, rather than them trying to fit the system to a couple of players.

This commentary is not designed to completely remove all blame from Scott Howson and his team in hockey operations. He has taken some risks and very few have truly panned out, but I believe with the addition of a first overall pick, and the plethora of top tier talent returning in a deal for Rick Nash, he will have the quality pieces needed to really design a team worth watching. He will also be out from under an eight million dollar cap hit, among other contracts (Huselius, I'm looking at you) that have made this a cap team only on paper, rarely on the ice. I am prepared to see what type of atmosphere can be created without the Nash captaincy leading the charge, and I think based on Howson's refusal to receive less than fair value for Nash gives him through the summer and into next season before I join the group demanding a GM change.

Carry the Flag.

Johnson Acquisition Adds Confusion to Defensive Structure

2012-02-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

In one of the worst kept secrets of Scott Howson's trading career, Jeff Carter was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings last night for defenseman Jack Johnson and a conditional first round pick. If the Kings make the playoffs this year, the Blue Jackets have the option of taking Los Angeles' first round pick for either the 2012 or 2013 draft. If the Kings fail to make the playoffs, Columbus will receive the 2013 first round pick.

In terms of player value, it is reasonably close to fair market value, especially when you factor in the supposed problems between Columbus and Carter. Johnson is signed through the 2017/2018 season at a cap hit of 4.357 million, which is comparable to Fedor Tyutin's extension at 4.5 million during the same time period. He has a strong offensive upside and shows quality puck possession skills. His numbers also give him the appearance of a solid powerplay quarterback. Here are some quick stats from this year:

Games Played :: 61
Goals :: 8
Assists :: 16
Points :: 24
Plus/Minus :: -12
Penalty Minutes :: 24
Shots on Goal :: 120
Shooting Percentage :: 6.7
Powerplay Goals :: 5
Powerplay Assists :: 9
Average TOI :: 22:31

These numbers are telling of quite a few things. He will be a strong offensive addition to the blueline, with his eight goals four better than the next best Blue Jacket defenseman. He can log lots of minutes and can really produce on the powerplay. On the other side of the coin, his -12 was -4 worse than anyone else on the Kings, and he has only managed ten points at even strength (3 goals - 7 assists) which is an immediate concern to me. I have also read a number of reports that suggest his +/- over the last number of seasons is very poor in league comparison, and his CORSI rating over the last four years has been at the bottom of the Kings defensive core consistently.

Beyond his statistics, one of his major assets is his compete level, which I feel has usually been very high. He seems to have a lot of passion for the game, and I certainly expect to see Howson bring in more guys like him before the start of next season. If this move had something to do with changing the attitude in the locker room, many will argue the Blue Jackets won big time. On top of that, Johnson wasted no time saying he was excited to play for a team that wants him on the roster, and I am sure the fans will welcome that enthusiasm in the wake of all the Carter speculation.

What I believe to be the more strange part of this trade, is how similar Johnson's game is to current Columbus defenseman James Wisniewski. I personally believe a glaring need in Columbus is a quality defensive minded defenseman who can either play in, or have the upside to play in the top defensive slot alongside one of John Moore (eventually) or James Wisniewski. What we acquired instead, was another top four player with some suggested potential to be a top tier defenseman, but more often than not the defined qualities of a top four player who needs to be protected by his playing partner to avoid being scored on.

It makes me really wonder what the plan is for Columbus during the next couple months. It would surprise me to see this current defensive lineup (with the inclusion of Johnson) show up untouched in late September, and with that, I have a hard time pondering who is more inclined to be moved. Certainly Methot is serviceable as the teams lone top four defensive defenseman, leading me to think Tyutin may be playing his last season with the team.

Further, I really struggle to figure out where John Moore fits into the mix, whether he is expected to modify his game to play atop the roster with Wisniewski, or whether he will continue to build on what I happily define as the "Moorethot"experience. In either case, there are definitely decisions that need to be made regarding the logical defensive structure of the Blue Jackets for next season, and I believe that adding a player of Johnson's style only compounds that problem.

I am going to hold off full judgement of Johnson as a player until such time that I get to watch him play in Columbus, and I am excited to use the final twenty games of the season to get a good read on his abilities. I am going to do the same with Scott Howson at least until the deadline, possibly even beyond the free agency period to see what kind of plan he has and how it will impact the roster in the short term. As someone who believed that Carter needed time more than he needed a change of scenery to get over his Philly experience, I am not pleased to see him go. As noted however, I believe Howson etc have a plan, and I eagerly await the the next piece to fall into place.

Carry the Flag.

Back Up Goalies: A Risky Proposition

2012-02-23T20:18:00.000-05:00

Trade talk has been the focal point of all things Blue Jackets lately. In nearly every rumored deal a goaltender is seen coming back to Columbus. In the Vermette trade there were a few brief moments where some people thought Curtis McElhinney was actually going to tend goal for the Blue Jackets. Obviously Rick Nash is the big fish being dangled, and nearly every trade possibility floated has a goaltender being brought back. The three goalies most often mentioned have been Cory Schneider, Jon Bernier and Tuuka Rask. While all three have been very good in net with their current teams, I hesitate to think any one of them would be the answer for the Blue Jackets. Historically speaking, it has been a very risky move to bring in a career back-up netminder to be a starter. Numbers drop dramatically and in many cases the goalie flames out horribly. I took a look back at all goaltenders who went from a primarily back-up role to being a starter elsewhere, and this is what I found:

Semyon Varlamov: Played 59 games for the Capitals, sporting a .917 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average. He also had some playoff experience as a starter with the Caps. He was traded for 1st & 2nd round picks, and put up a .902, 2.90 post-trade. He also managed to lose his starting spot to J.S. Gigure.
Jaroslav Halak: Played 101 games for the Canadiens, although 45 his final year as part of a tandem with Carey Price. He put up a .919, 2.62 in Montreal. Traded for Lars Eller & Ian Schultz. His save percentage dropped slightly while his GAA actually improved with the Blues to a .915, 2.29.
Craig Anderson: 109 games as a back-up in Florida and Chicago, where he had a .911, 2.87. He signed as a UFA with the Avs for 2 years, $1.8m. He was excellent his first year in Colorado and then given away his second year. Since becoming a starter, his numbers have jumped slightly to .914, 2.78.
Dan Ellis: 111 games with Nashville and Dallas, sporting a .912, 2.64. He signed as a UFA with the Lightning for 2 years, $1.5m. As a starter he put up a 0.900, 2.76; and lost his job to Mike Smith, then traded to Anaheim where he reclaimed a role as a back-up goalie.
Ilya Bryzgalov: 69 games as a back-up in Anaheim, although he had some playoff starting experience. In Anaheim he had a .909, 2.48. After being claimed by the Coyotes on waivers he has put up a .915, 2.57 as a starter. Since leaving Phoenix his numbers have plummeted, raising the question of whether he is as good as everyone thought, or whether the system played a major role in his stellar play.
Mike Smith: In 44 games as a back-up in Dallas, he had a 0.909, 2.34. Traded to the Lightning for Brad Richards (along with Jussi Jokinen). In 118 games primarily as a starter with Tampa he had a .905, 2.85. He lost his starting job to Dan Ellis (although he won it back again, then lost it when they traded for Dwayne Roloson), and wasn't re-signed. He has since been excellent in Phoenix this year, which raises the questions mentioned earlier about Bryzgalov.
Vesa Toskala: Played 115 games as a back-up in San Jose, sporting a .914, 2.34. The Leafs traded a 1st, 2nd & 4th to acquire him. He put up an abysmal .895, 3.06, lost his starting job to Jonas Gustavsson, was dumped to Anaheim, then subesequently dumped to Calgary. Toskala is now out of the NHL.
Mathieu Garon: 43 games as Canadiens back-up, with 0.914, 2.49. Traded to the Kings for Radek Bonk and Cristobel Huet (who was still a prospect in Europe then). In 95 games with LA, Garon had a brutal .898, 3.03, lost his starting job to Dan Cloutier, and then let go as a free agent after two years.
Marc Denis: 28 games as the Avalanche back-up, with a 0.916, 2.55. The Blue Jackets traded a 2nd round pick for him, and he put up a .904, 3.01 as the starter in Columbus and later Tampa. Afterwards he started in the AHL for a couple of years, and was out of hockey at age 31.
Miikka Kiprusoff: The prime example of how trading for a back-up can be a success. While this was pre-lockout, Calgary traded a 2nd round pick for the San Jose back-up.
Cristobel Huet: Huet started in Montreal for a short time and then in Washington, although he primarily had been a back up/tandem. In Chicago he failed spectacularly when leaned on to be a full time starter. He was signed to a 4 year, $5.625m per season contract, and is still the 7th highest paid goalie in the NHL.
Andrew Raycroft, Martin Biron, Alex Auld, Ty Conklin, Manny Legace, Martin Gerber were all close, but started at some point with their prior team before going somewhere else to be the go to guy and failing miserably.

That is not a very pretty list of names. Historically speaking, it has been a terrible idea to poach another team's back-up to be a starter. Also of note, the low prices to acquire these players. Only Mike Smith was acquired for a big name player, which worked out terribly for Tampa. It is interesting to note the Lightning have acquired four of the goalies on this list, and none of them are even their current starter. Also interesting that they are the only team that has had worse goaltending this year than the Blue Jackets. Look at the goaltenders above who were a success: Halak, Bryzgalov and Kiprusoff. They are the only three who really became goaltenders anywhere near the "franchise" caliber goaltending that every team pines after. Halak was traded for a good prospect and a mediocre prospect (think Boone Jenner & Dalton Prout), Bryzgalov was acquired on waivers, and Kipper was traded for a 2nd round pick.

Judging from those players above, it's a crapshoot to grab another teams back-up and make him your starter. Two teams traded for a San Jose back-up with stellar numbers. One got Miika Kiprusoff and he carried them to the Cup finals. The other got Vesa Toskala, and even paid a much steeper price for him. In general, goalies play worse when leaned on for the starting job after being a back-up elsewhere. Some stats:

Average games played as back-up: 75gp
Average save percentage as back-up: .913
Average goals against average as back-up: 2.52
Average save percentage as starter: .905
Average goals against average as a starter: 2.81

That turns into a drop of .08 in save percentage and 0.29 in goals against average. Now let's look at the rumored goaltenders and see where they would end up if their numbers dropped the average amount:

Jonathan Bernier: $1.25m, with 1 year remaining before RFA status. Has played 43 games as a back-up in Los Angeles, sports a career .908, 2.57 numbers. Would drop to .900, 2.86 (very similar to the .899 put up by Steve Mason since his rookie year).

Cory Schneider: RFA after this season, played 56 games as the Canucks back-up. Has a .922 sv%, 2.42 gaa. He would drop to .914, 2.71 (worse than Sanford's .915, 2.52 this year).

Tuuka Rask RFA after this season. Played 100 games mostly as the back-up, although stole the starting job from Tim Thomas for most of the season in 2009-10. Sports a career .926. 2.22. Rask would end up at .918, 2.51.

Now of course their numbers aren't going to fall exactly at the average. But the Blue Jackets have been a terrible defensive team for three seasons now. These three goaltenders have been playing in front of three of the better defensive teams in the league. There is no way their numbers don't drop in union blue. Would marginally better goaltending than Curtis Sanford really be worth Rick Nash? Absolutely no way.

Furthermore, the only two I would be looking at (I wouldn't even be considering Bernier) are both restricted free agents this offseason. They Jackets could simply wait until the offseason and tender and offer sheet to either Rask or Schneider for the max level at the 2nd round compensation, which would be near $3.25m per season. Or a better idea is to tell the Bruins or Canucks they plan on placing an offer sheet but would prefer to make a trade. They could then offer them slightly more (say the Ottawa 2nd acquired from Phoenix along with the Blue Jackets 2nd), and then sign the acquired goalie for a longer term at lower cap hit. This would also stop any other goalie hungry team (cough*Tampa*cough) from trying the same offer sheet move.

Even though the numbers favor Rask, I think Schneider is the better target than Rask. The Bruins have more cap room and more impetus to keep Rask, as Thomas is older than Luongo. The age of Thomas and the future of the Bruins makes it more likely that Rask wants to stick around in Boston. Schneider will likely want a starting job this offseason. And how many starting jobs are going to be available? A couple of teams could use an upgrade in net, but really only Columbus and Tampa have wide open starting jobs for next year. If I were running the Blue Jackets, I would be waiting for the offseason to find a goaltender. I would make a play for Rask, then go after Schneider hard. If neither of those work out, I'd take a long look at Josh Harding and Al Montoya as unrestricted free agents. If I'm rolling the dice on a starting goalie, I'm not giving up Rick Nash to do it. I'm making a shrewd deal at the going rate for a back-up tender (~2nd round pick) or signing Harding/Montoya and hoping for a Craig Anderson-esque performance.

Vermette Traded to Phoenix

2012-02-22T19:59:00.003-05:00

As twitter so thoughtfully put it... over, and over and over, and over again... "And so it begins."

Antoine Vermette was traded earlier today to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for a second round pick in 2012, a 5th round pick in 2013 (that could be a 4th round pick if the Coyotes win a playoff round) and goaltender Curtis McEhlinney.

For those paying close attention to the team and media commentary throughout the league, this move was expected from the Blue Jackets. At 18-35-7 and well out of the playoff hunt, Columbus is and will continue to be sellers in hopes of retooling the roster before next season. With a team bursting at the seams with centers, it came as no surprise to me that Vermette was one of the first names on the trade list. Vermette has also been considered to be in the latter stages of a very poor year, and has not really come close to competing with his best year (not surprisingly a contract year) of 2009/2010.

I am going to take a bit of time breaking down why I believe things happened the way they did, and what we can expect for the rest of the week.

First, in terms of a player for player (or I suppose in this case picks) comparison, I think Scott Howson came out on the losing end. While picks have great potential of landing a solid player, I have not personally read any reports that suggest this will be a deep draft, and hold little hope that the 5th round pick in 2013 will net much gain either. For a 29 year old player with additional years on his contract, I had hoped the deal would land a prospect of some kind in Columbus. To be clear on this, I am not under the assumption that Curtis McEhlinney will play in Columbus or Springfield, let alone re-sign for an any additional amount of time with the organization. I believe the addition of him was simply a move to allow Phoenix to stay within the fifty player contract max.

In terms of how I believe the deal went, I would argue they broke about even. I am under the impression that of the players (especially centers) in the locker room, Vermette was one of the less valuable pieces of the puzzle, with players like Brassard and Johansen appearing to be the future top two centers of the team. With that in mind, Howson likely wanting to remove the additional three years of Vermette at 3.75 million in cap space before this summer. He could then find a less costly option, or a different style of player for that third line centerman role.

Secondary to that, Vermette has worn the "A" for various parts of the last two seasons leading me to believe that he was one of the more respected leaders on the roster. I believe this is one of a number of trades that will set the tone in the locker room and reduce the possibility of a 'country club' atmosphere that I have heard so much about over the last few months. Certainly this is nothing more than speculation on my part, but it would not surprise me, considering the comments made by Scott Howson wanting to reshape the team and move forward from this season. I think that is a strong indication of where he held Vermette on his personal depth chart, and someone who he believed was not providing enough of the right intangibles to merit a position on the roster.

I can understand the dissatisfaction regarding the deal, and the return, but I believe that it is a long process, and Columbus management has a plan that will be months in the making. I can also appreciate that few have the confidence in Howson to put together a winning hockey club, but frankly, I am not going to throw pessimism at someone who is more than likely going to be the general manager of this hockey club for the next year and possibly beyond. If moving Vermette and his 3.75 million dollar cap hit is what it takes to make room for new talent, count me in. I have been a Vermette fan for a long time and I wish him well in Phoenix, but it is time for change here.

I would love to hear your thoughts, concerns, and ideas about where the Columbus Blue Jackets should go from here. Feel free to share them in the comments section, and get ready for some more fireworks in the coming week.

Carry the Flag.

Game Recap :: Columbus vs. San Jose 2/21

2012-02-22T10:08:00.001-05:00

Amidst all the trade deadline turmoil, a record that makes most Blue Jackets fans red in the face, and directly following a shameful home loss to Chicago, the boys in union blue put on a show. In front of another 'more than they deserve' crowd of 14,625, they handed San Jose a beating. This is the same San Jose who beat Columbus 6-0 in their arena twenty days ago. The same San Jose team who went into the game 3-0 against Columbus this year. The same San Jose team currently leading the Pacific division.

But all of this didn't matter. Columbus came out firing and only let off the gas briefly in the early stages of the second period. They played with tenacity, and the fire it takes to win hockey games. The defense stymied opportunities and for the most part kept the slot void of free sticks. Mason managed 38 saves to break a Blue Jackets record, and they did all of this without gaining a point on Edmonton in the Nail sweepstakes (who also beat a team soundly last night).

There are quite a few players I want to highlight:

Derick Brassard - How about this kid. After the rocky start beneath Scott Arniel, Brassard has been on tear as Richards top line center, and is currently enjoying a streak of ten points in his last ten games, including a pair of excellent assists last night. His vision on the ice keeps getting better and better, with really only Umberger's execution causing him to miss out on a couple more points. His generosity with the puck is still a bit of a concern, but the fact that his passes are crisp and usually hit a stick leaves me less worried about it.

Further, his possession on the powerplay and breaking into the zone have increased in quality in a big way. Where he used to lose speed trying to make a move to beat the first defender, he is now using already built up speed to burst past them. He controls the puck into the offensive zone and either maintains possession while his linemates join him in the zone, or he finds an open player along the blueline to create additional space. Basically, where he was turning over the puck, is now where he is creating opportunity. This is something the Jackets are in great need of.

Jeff Carter - I don't think enough can be said about his shot. He took what appeared to be at least by his standards a weak wrister about a minute into the game and it still seemed to give Niemi fits. Scoring a hattrick, thanks in large part to some tremendous passing, will always get the crowd rolling. It was capped by a great (and very thoughtful) pass by Nash who appeared to have Greiss beat in front of the net.

While I could talk all day about his shot, I also want to point out his ability to find the open lane in the high slot. Two of the goals he scored were due in large part to his creativity in selecting a path to the net that will leave him open. A prime example is his first goal last night:

What you see here is a pass by Carter skating backwards towards the blueline to Prospal along the boards. Rather than maintaining his position at the point, Carter recognizes that at least one of the San Jose players will pressure Prospal and begins a path directly to the net. Prospal feeds him the puck and he fires an awesome wrist shot that beats Niemi clean.

Additionally, his second goal of the game was nothing short of shockingly awesome. I don't know how many players in the NHL have the presence of mind to backhand a puck through their own legs into the open net, but this is one of the first times I've ever seen it accomplished, and did it ever get me out of my seat. I just can't speak enough to the creativity and poise he has with the puck.

Rick Nash - A lot has been said about Nash needing to be the second best player on a hockey team to perform, and frankly, I don't disagree. What I saw last night from him, after momentum was on the Jackets side, was the Rick Nash I came to love watching years ago. Tremendous confidence on the puck, creative in his deking, and picking his spots to crash the net in a big way. He finished with a goal and an assist, and both were very Rick Nash-esque in their own way. Beyond that, he made some other quality passes and really just appeared to be comfortable throughout. It was a treat to watch him return to that kind of form.

Steve Mason - 38 saves against -- .927 save percentage -- I would hope people were pleased with his effort, because I sure was. He came up big at times and I personally heard a few people expect a goal and 'wow' at the puck flying off Mason and into the corner instead of going in. He was beat a few times, which was disappointing, but they were solid goals. I had a great angle of the Couture shot and it was some kind of wicked, going top shelf in the blink of an eye. This game was also Mason's 85th career win as a Blue Jacket, which gave him the all time Blue Jackets win record. If this season marks the end of his tenure with the team, I am personally glad to see him take hold of that record, and I personally hope they find a way to retain him for a few more years to give him ample time to develop behind a more prepared, older number one goalie.

Those players were standouts in my mind, but most of the team played lights out for the majority of the game. It was a phenomenal atmosphere and I really don't think anyone in the arena who has followed the Jackets all year took any of the win for granted. Some truly excellent cheering, and a major shout out to a #CBJTweetUp member who purchased a hat during his visit, only to throw it on the ice for Carter's hattrick.

Now THAT is what I call Carrying the Flag!!!

February 13-19 CBJ Prospect Week in Review

2012-02-20T09:32:00.015-05:00

Hello all back again for the week in review, in Springfield it was a usual three in three with the Falcons going 1-2. Starting off on Friday the Falcons faced off against the Connecticut Whale going into the third period it was a 3-3 tie that's when the wheels fell off Springfield ended up losing the game 6-3 with Paul Dainton taking the loss. Cam Atkinson scored his 28th of the season and Tomas Kubalik had three assists in the loss. Then it was back to Springfield to finish off the weekend. On Saturday it was a historical one for goaltender Manny Legace as he became the Falcons all time leader in wins with his 64th. Saturday it was a 4-1 win over Providence with the Falcons scoring four straight to pick up the victory including Cam scoring his 29th and Dane Byers scoring for the second straight night. On Sunday the Worchester Sharks came to town bringing a familiar name with them. In the 2-1 loss ex Jacket Andrew Murray scored his second of the season, scoring for the Falcons for the third straight game was captain Dame Byers to give him 13 on the season. On the weekend it was pretty much five players doing all the scoring with Cam Atkinson scoring two goals and two assists, Tomas Kubalik with four assists and Martin St Pierre adding a goal and three assists. Dane Byers as I said had three goals and Alexandre Giroux had a goal and 2 assists.

Boone Jenner has now missed the Generals last nine games missing two last week. Martin Ouelette did play last week but it was so short i'm just gonna include him in this. Martin Ouelette was given a whopping 5:49 of playing time stopping two of three in a 7-3 win over UMass.

Dalton Smith-Ottawa 67s(OHL)

Stats 41GP 15-10-25 -5 61PIM

After missing the 67s last five games Dalton returned to the lineup scoring his 15th of the season when he went behind the Otters net and stuffed the puck past Otter's goalie Devin Williams.

Brandon Archibald-Saginaw Spirit(OHL)Stats 56GP 1-15-16 +2 56PIM

The Spirit went 2-0-1 last week starting off with a overtime loss to his old team the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds a game in which he had no points and was a -2 then Saturday and Sunday happened. In Saturday's win over Sarnia picking up two assists for his third multi point game of the season and was a +4 on the night. The next day Owen Sound came to town and Brandon had a assist in a win over Owen Sound and was a +3. This was the first time since October 14-15th when he had points in back to back games.

Lukas Sedlak-Chicoutimi Sagueneens(QMJHL)

Stats 44GP 17-26-43 +19 53PIM

The Sags went 0-2 last week with Sedlak scoring a goal and a assist on the week. Lukas had a assist in a loss to Gatineau a game in which he won 24 of 32 faceoffs. Then when the Sags welcomed Michael Chaput and the Cataractes to town in the 3-2 loss Sedlak scored his 17th goal of the season winning 13 of 25 faceoffs.

Petr Straka-Rimouski Oceanic(QMJHL)

Stats 45GP 16-17-33 -8 27PIM

In the team's first two games both losses Straka was quiet then in a 10-3 win over Cape Breton Straka had his best game of the year. Straka had two goals(:40 2:19 in video) and two assists and was named second star. The four point game was his first since October of last year.

Mathieu Corbeil-Saint John Sea Dogs(QMJHL)

Stats 41GP 32-9 .914Sv% 2.29GAA 6SO

First a retraction last week I said Mathieu lost a win because of a player not signing his player card well he only lost the win because of a goof up with the site that keep stats for the QMJHL, the only thing lost was the two standing points they got for the win. So back to last week Mathieu went 2-0 last week giving the Dogs 11 straight wins. Mathieu stopped 21 of 22 in a win over PEI also picking up his second assist of the season. On Friday in front of a national television audience the Sea Dogs picked up a 4-1 win over Quebec in which he stopped 25 of 26 shots he faced. On the weekend Corbeil went 2-0 stopped 46 of 48 with a .958 save percentage and 1.00 GAA.

Michael Chaput-Shawinigan Cataractes(QMJHL)

Stats 47GP 16-36-52 +30 41PIM

Michael and the Cataractes went 2-0-1 last week with Michael scoring a point in all three giving him a four game point streak. In a overtime loss to Baie-Comeau Michael had a assist matching his total of last season in 17 less games. Two days later in a rematch Michael had a part in each of the goals scoring one and addin two assists in a 3-2 win over the Drakkar. To finish off the weekend in a matchup with Lukas Sedlak and the Sagueneens Michael had the game winner scoring his 16th of the season. On the weekend Michael won 58% of his draws and continues to be amongst the league leaders.

Austin Madaisky-Kamlopps Blazers

Stats 59GP 12-32-44 +24 75PIM

The Blazers played three games last while Austin two games and a couple of shifts but more on that later. On Tuesday Austin had a goal(1:42) on blast from the point then added a assist on the game winner off another blast in a win over Edmonton. Then in a loss to Red Deer Austin was held off the scoresheet. On Saaturday in a loss to Calgary only six minutes in Austin was given a five minute major for cross checking and was given a game misconduct.

Oliver Gabriel-Portland Winterhawks

Stats 25GP 13-14-27 +13 26PIM
Oliver added to his point streak with points in each of the team's three games last week including two multi point games. On Tuesday Oliver had a goal(:30 seconds) and a assist in a win over Americans. Then in a win over Everett Oliver had another goal and a assist and was named third star with his third multi point game in a row and eighth since being returned from Springfield. Then in a 11-2 win over Seattle Oliver scored his 13th of the season just 10 seconds into the third to make it 8-1.

Onto the NCAA prospects, the ones that didnt score any points were Thomas Larkin as the Red Raiders losses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Kevin Lynch didnt have any points in the Wolverines sweep of Northern Michigan and Will Weber was scoreless in a sweep of Notre Dame, he had a assist but the puck bounced off Tyler Biggs' leg before the puck was shot in.

Sean Collins-Cornell(ECAC)

Stats 27GP 12-9-21 +3 30PIM

In a tie with Clarkson Sean was held off the scoresheet but in the game against St Lawrence Sean scored the game winner his first of the season 36 seconds into overtime to give him 12 on the season.

Trent Vogelhuber-Miami(CCHA)

Stats 32GP 3-10-13 +3 47PIM

In the Redhawks sweep of Notre Dame Trent went scoreless on Friday in a 3-0 win then on Saturday Trent scored his third(:50 seconds) of the season scoring his first game winner of the season. Next weekend is big one as Miami travels to Columbus on Friday then back to Oxford for Senior night on Saturday.

Seth Ambroz, Jake Hansen-Minnesota(WCHA)

Ambroz-32GP 5-3-8 -1 45PIM Hansen-33GP 11-18-29 +16 44PIM

In the Gopher's sweep of Bemidji Jake and Seth were held scoreless but both figured into the scoring on Saturday. Jake had a assist and scored the game winner when he deflected a Justin Holl blast from the point. Seth cemented the win when he scored a empty net goal to make it 4-1 Gophers and sealed the sweep.

Drew Olson-Minnesota-Duluth(WCHA)

Stats 32GP 1-5-6 +7 49PIM

I think this is the first time ive written about Olson since I started on this site. Olson had assists on Friday and Saturday picking up points in back to back games for the first time ever then also had his first career multi point game with two assists on Saturday. So in one weekend Olson double his point total for the season.

TJ Tynan-Notre Dame(CCHA)

Stats 33GP 12-27-39 -8 32PIM

Tynan like all of Notre Dame was held off the scoresheet on Friday in a 3-0 loss but then added his 27th assist(same video in Vogelhuber update 1:08) of the season on the Irish's only goal in a 4-1 loss to Miami.

Mike Reilly-Penticton(BCHL)

Stats 43GP 20-48-68 40PIM

Mike and the Vees' win streak is up to 34 straight after going 2-0 last week. After his 17 game point streak was snapped Mike had a goal and a assist in a win over Vernon. But then was held scoreless in a win over Salmon Arm.

Anton Forsberg-MODO(Sweden)

Stats 12GP 4-3 .906Sv% 2.90GAA

Quickly another update from last week, I reported that MODO somehow got 10 days off between games but I didnt know why well I asked the team and its because the national team was playing. As for last week Forsberg made it into one of MODOs games making 26 saves in a 4-1 win over Lulea. On a off note Ian Clarke has been on a scouting trip and also he worked with MODO last year, heres a interview Ian did and it is in English

As for next week college hockey's regualr season is done for every league except for the WCHA who still have 2 weekends of action. See you next week and if you missed it I did a post with a list of all the CBJ prospects and guys on Springfield who are on twitter that I will try to keep as up to date as possible.

Blue Jackets Prospect Twitter Database

2012-02-18T16:00:00.009-05:00

Hello all, CBJProspects with a rare non week in review post. Over the weekend when Dalton Prout was sent down the CBJ @mentioned him leading to many fans discovering the blueliner was on twitter. One of those was the guy I call boss @Canadan82 which drove him to throw out the idea: Why don't I make a list of all the prospects on twitter? Well after looking at the Blue Jackets official list and noticing how many there missing I figured I better get to it.

BLUE JACKETS AND AFFILIATES
Columbus Blue Jackets
@ BlueJacketsNHL
Springfield Falcons
@TheFalconsAHL

FALCON PLAYERS
#4 Dalton Prout @Prouter8
#10 Nick Drazenovic @Drazzy1010
#13 Cam Atkinson @CamAtkinson13
#17 Sean Collins @WhougunaCollins
#18 Jake Hansen @hans_solo21

#27 Cody Goloubef @cgoloubef27
#29 Anton Blomqvist @blomqvistA (NOTE: tweets in Swedish)
#34 Dane Byers @Byzee34
#37 Matt Calvert @mattcalvert11

#38 Trent Vogelhuber @Tvogelhuber

#39 Martin St. Pierre @_M_StPierre

FALCON PLAYERS(AHL CONTRACTS ONLY)
#5 Greg Amadio @gregamadio
#19 Wade Macleod @wademacleod
#22 Patrick Cullity @pcullity
#31 Paul Dainton @paullyd31 (Account is protected)
#32 Aaron Bogosian @aabogo32

JUNIOR PROSPECTS
Brandon Archibald(Saginaw) @Archibald9210
Michael Chaput(Shawinigan) @MichaelChaput62
Mathieu Corbeil(Saint John) @mathieutcorbeil
Oliver Gabriel(Portland) @olivergabriel11
Austin Madaisky(Kamloops) @amadaisky
Lukas Sedlák(Chicoutimi) @Sedli22
Dalton Smith(Ottawa) @smitty33
Petr Straka(Rimouski) @PStrax23

NCAA PROSPECTS
Martin Ouelette(Maine) @mouelette51 (NOTE:Hasnt tweeted yet)
Drew Olson(Minnesota-Duluth) @DrOlson8

OTHER LEAGUE PROSPECTS
Mike Reilly(Penticton-BCHL) @mreilly93
Anton Forsberg(MODO-Sweden) @antonforsberg1 (NOTE:Tweets in Swedish)