Retired - Columbus Blue Jackets

[guthey]

Welcome to the new Columbus Blue Jackets forum, a place for Jackets fans to have a voice as their team looks to make some noise in the Western Conference at long last.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that I am certainly not a diehard Blue Jackets fan but that being said, I am a passionate and informed hockey enthusiast and a good fantasy hockey GM. I have multiple keepers, some of which I Co-Commish and also have been absolutely golden in one-year Yahoo leagues the last three years.

I chose to cover the Blue Jackets because of the tremendous potential I see in the team and the fans. Where was Nashville a few years? Losing in the first round to Red Wings on the heels of Dan Ellis's best series of play he likely will ever have. The Wild? Outside of the one remarkable run in 2002-2003, the Wild haven't done too much. The Thrashers? We all know where they are now. I am not suggesting that the Blue Jackets are a better team, especially historically than any of these expansion teams, but I am suggesting that they might really surprise people.

I plan to provide you with impressions of individual's game performances with overall game recaps this upcoming season, as I will have NHL Gamecenter on my laptop. I also am an aficionado of prospects, so I will do posts on Blue Jackets prospects as well. I attend Ithaca College as a journalism student in one of the few areas that in addition to the black outs for national broadcasts I also miss out on any game with the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Buffalo Sabres. However, this means I will try to provide Blue Jacket analysis and recaps as often as I can.

[4T2]

Welcome aboard man. Nice to see somebody picking up the coverage for these guys. I agree that they should be a very interesting team to watch after this off-season. Looking forward to the coverage!

Quick tip: it looks like you must have wrote this first post in MS Word and then pasted it in here. If you do that, be sure to reload the page, and edit your post or else those question mark symbols shows up instead of an apostrophe.

[loco man]

Welcome aboard!

Lets get to it!

What can we expect from Prospal, Nash and which of Moore or Savard is the better option - will either make an impact this year (2nd PP)

thanks

[guthey]

Thanks for the quick tip 4T2, I keep forgetting about that but will remember one of these days.

As for your good questions loco man:

1) Carter is an essential piece to this season will go especially for Nash and Prospal likely. All three of those forwards can produce like they have for awhile on their own but if the three can really gel or work with Umberger or Brassard than it could be a strong campaign that takes Columbus to new heights (there will be a lot more on this in my off-season moves recap coming shortly).

2) Moore compared to Savard is an interesting debate and I can see either of them winning out. I do think that with the addition of James Wisniewski could take a hit to both of their short term values. However it should be noted that I feel Savard is trending up while Moore is more stagnant in terms of their places in the organization.

Fire away more questions people and I hope to have an off-season moves recap for you soon.

[Dean Youngblood]

Welcome aboard. Good Luck.

[newper114]

awesome! welcome aboard. going to be following this thread as i have wisnewski and russell in one league and i also have mason in 2 others.

looking for big things fromt these guys. the addition of carter and wiz should help out there powerplay which i think is good for owning wiz and russell. kind of was a bit upset at first thingking ohwell there goes the chance of russell doing anything. but then reading reports that the 2 should be on the top powerplay unit and then my mindset switched to great.

russell i think can learn alot from the wiz.

thoughts on these guys if you have time?

[guthey]

The biggest news of the offseason for the Blue Jackets was without a doubt the acquisition of Jeff Carter from the Flyers for Jakub Voracek, a 1st round pick (#8 overall) and a 3rd round pick.

Breakdown: First let's start with what the Blue Jackets gained in Carter who in 08-09 had 84 points and the last two years has had 60-something points with the Flyers. He can play either right wing or center and many have him projected as a center with Columbus with Nash to start. If the two stars (something that Columbus has never been able to say before) can play well together than they will stay on the same line but it remains to be seen if the duo can't get going as the cornerstones to the top scoring line, and how long Coach Arniel will stick with it if they don't hit it off right away.

As it is stands if the two of them work out, that is great. If they can't get on the same page than Columbus' underrated new-found depth may benefit from it (more on that in my depth and new faces writeups). Either way Carter should find a way to help this team and take some of the burden of all the pressure that has been on Nash from Day One.

As for what the Blue Jackets lost in Voracek is all the promising upside in the world (cue Nikita Filatov too) and a pick that ended up being Sean Couturier and a 3rd round pick (Nick Cousins). Sean Couturier while close to being NHL ready is he really that much different or better than Columbus' Ryan Johansen? I don't think he is. Even if the Blue Jackets had picked someone else, I do not believe there was anyone left on the undrafted board at #8 that would be certainly better than Carter. Even if someone turns out to be better than Carter at #8 or later, would you really trust the Blue Jackets to have picked them considering the lack of results from recent high picks (Filatov comes to mind again)? After you also factor in a varying amount of wait for the player's NHL debut with the fact that Blue Jacket fans need to start seeing a jumpstart I think the pick is fine to let go.

For Voracek, Philadelphia might work out very well for him or he might be the inconsistent tease he has always been with the Blue Jackets. Remember that even if he does generate magic with or without Claude Giroux, that Columbus gave it a long try and nothing was working for long periods of time. Philadelphia is a very different team so Voracek may get very different results.

In summary, I believe that Carter will find a way to be effective in Columbus because of his talent alone even if he doesn't develop chemistry with any linemates, he is talented enough to make things happen as a high-end 2nd threat that Columbus has always needed. He also gives more options to the PP which along with newcomer James Wisniewski (who I will highlight later) should improve the PP overall. So I believe Carter will work out and the pieces that Columbus gave up while valuable just didn't make sense with what the team needs and has patience for right now.

I'll be recapping the FA movement tomorrow but still will answer questions and discuss things with you all in the mean time.

[Shake]

Blue Jackets and Panthers all in one day I love it. Welcome board Guthey- looking forward to it.

[First Round Pick]

Welcome aboard Guthey indeed!! I finally have someone with fewer views than my Flames site We'll see if that lasts!

Good luck, and keep the info coming! Nice write-up.

[Fighting_Emu]

Awesome man! As a Nash owner from day one Ive always had a soft spot for columbus- lol!

I also wouldnt mind hearing some insight on Russell. It seems that every year I get conned into drafting him late in the draft only to be disappointed time and again. Do you have any insight on how his role has progressed? Has he gotten the opportunities and just not capitalized? Or has his development hit a snag? Or is he just taking his time but otherwise on the right path to success? He just seems to puzzle me- so much potential/opportunity- so little results...

[GMGates]

Off to the races already I see!

Great start, Yas.

I know that CBJ will be in great hands with you at the helm.

As a Carter owner, I love all the info getting tossed around already, keep it up!

[guthey]

You bring up some good points Emu. I'll be posting about Wiz, Russell and the rest of the Columbus D tomorrow morning (Eastern US, so about 9 hours or so I should be working on it). I've seen a few posts on it now and might include thoughts on the team's PP we could be seeing (spoiler: there are many potential options).

[newper114]

Awesome man! As a Nash owner from day one Ive always had a soft spot for columbus- lol!

I also wouldnt mind hearing some insight on Russell. It seems that every year I get conned into drafting him late in the draft only to be disappointed time and again. Do you have any insight on how his role has progressed? Has he gotten the opportunities and just not capitalized? Or has his development hit a snag? Or is he just taking his time but otherwise on the right path to success? He just seems to puzzle me- so much potential/opportunity- so little results...

this is why i asked about him. so much promise and nothing coming out yet. too bad i only have him for one more year in the team in my sig and then i lose him. but i am guessing most of his lack of results is from the fact that clb's Powerplay has just been lacking that big time play maker and i think carter and wiz additions might just open up alot of opportunity for a guy like russell. he seems to be the pp quaterback for sometime but he was rushed into the job without much support or mentorship. maybe with those 2 guys and nash he can find his groove...

now guthey will defently be better as i am just hoping and quessing as a russell owner. cant wait for his insight!

[guthey]

The Wisniewski Signing

The signing of James Wisniewski by Columbus brings yet another type of threat the team has sorely been missing: a strong proven PP pointman.

Wisniewski is a guy a year ago most people barely thought about with a combination of injuries and overall streaky play. It wasn't until his fifth season of playing almost exclusively in the NHL that he hit 30 points with the Ducks during the 2009-2010 season. However after signing with the New York Islanders and the early injuries to Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit, people wondered if Wisniewski was still fantasy-relevant mostly due to the team he played on.

I personally believed that he was last season right near the end of his stint with the Islanders when I picked him up in my one-year league team that needed some more production from the blueline. If my stamp of approval isn't enough his 21 points in 32 games with the Isles should have convinced most in need of offensive numbers from their defensive pairings but if that still didn't his next 43 games with the Canadiens saw him put up 30 points.

However none of this is the main story now that people believe Wisniewski is an above-average to maybe lower end of the high-end offensive defensemen after this year is done. There are good reasons to believe that these lofty expectations for someone with the history I just described seem warranted: the Islanders gave him the opportunities he never had with the Blackhawks or the Ducks and the Canadiens gave him the responsibilities with better talent he never had prior either. The end result is that Wisniewski's responsibilities and surrounding talent increases again as he has always responded well to the expectations throughout his career once they were placed in front of him.

The lowest rung of the bar I'm setting for him to reach to be "worth it" is 40 points which might sound lenient to most but consider it is a new team and if either Nash or Carter get hurt than it still better than where he was but still the way this team is built is very different than either of the teams he played for in 2010-2011. The Canadiens lacked the scoring that the Blue Jackets should have now but had a rock solid young goalie during the year (except the preseason) and a good defense allowing Wisniewski to be more offensive than worry about his defensive assignments. The Islanders are more like the Blue Jackets with shaky goaltending (though both teams might simply out-score opponents now if all goes right) and general lack of expectations. Expectations are still pretty low in New York for the Islanders but not for the Blue Jackets who must get to the playoffs to prove that the investments made have been worth it.

The highest point total I see Wisniewski realistically achieving is 55 points for his first season with the Blue Jackets unless everything runs perfectly from the start for them. Expect more PP points and the goals to assist ratio to favor assists from the man they call Wiz.

Russell & the PP Units

On the other end of the spectrum is Kris Russell that while both he and James Wisniewski are under six feet tall aka under-sized defenders for the modern NHL, Russell isn't as physical as Wisniewski. However both have, in the earlier seasons of their career, hovered in the low-20s range in points. The toughest thing for Russell is that some times he is effective as an offensive blueliner and other times for whatever reason he can't generate production or chances either through a rush or a cycle.

Finally having someone who plays defense and has grown to understand the offensive side to the game like Wisniewski has could do wonders for Russell (no offense intended to Fedor Tyutin's 27 points last year that led the offense from the backend for the Blue Jackets). It does mean that Russell may move to the 2nd PP unit with likely Clitsome or maybe even Nash manning the point for top unit with at least Carter as a marquee scorer off the halfboards. I believe Russell will benefit long term regardless since he wasn't making progress without someone modeling and teaching him how to be a PP quarterback. Even on the 2nd unit this year I would be surprised if his numbers go down and with Carter and Prospal probably bumping at least one person off the top unit that means more talent of the R.J. Umberger, Derick Brassard or Antoine Vermette variety goes down to the 2nd unit. Something that should not be underrated as a boost for the 2nd PP unit is the eventual emergence of youngsters Tomas Kubalik, Ryan Johansen, Cam Atkinson and Maksim Mayorov with two of that four likely making the roster (I will highlight these players later).

How good will Columbus PP be? That my friend is a million dollar question for a fantasy GM. If you knew that they were going to be great you could really invest relatively cheaply still in their top players which, outside of Carter, Nash, and Wisniewski shouldn't have too high of a price tag relatively. If they are destined to fail now would be a great time to sell. My advice is if you feel strongly one way follow your gut feeling if you get a good offer involving Blue Jacket players since it is hard to really say just looking at them on paper.

John Moore and David Savard both have pretty good upside and are close but now have a much harder time cracking the lineup let alone getting on to a top PP unit. Expect one or both of them to at least get a cup of coffee/short appearance but they will need to really "wow" Columbus' management to get on to a PP unit. Even if one sticks, I won't set expectations that high to start the season until they force their way up the depth charts.

[Chico Resch]

Welcome aboard!

Love the actions on your part.

Mason now has a reason to be concerned with Dekanish brought in. I think he's on a VERY short leash.

Thoughts?