Final Score

7-1. Jackets blew the 'Hawks out of the water.

I work in a bookstore in a college town, and during the first week of courses, a student who was buying books notice the 'Hawks shirt I was wearing (I wore the Jacket's shirt before and it needed to be washed). He asked me if I was a 'Hawks fan and I said I was a bigger Jackets fan. Turned out he was a Jackets fan too. Anyways, he was telling me to keep my eyes out for Tyutin, that he was going to shine. And he was right.

Awesome game guys!

But I am getting sick of that burrito song commercial. It's embedded in my head now.

Holy Crap!! We DID IT!!!

We beat the PREDS!! WE BEAT THE PREDS!!

Great game guys!!

Voracek with a goal & assist. Tyutin sounded great. Nasty Mirasty dropped them early (unfortunately I missed the first period).

And I can't hear enough of that Nationwide "smooth jazz" commercial with Jared Boll & Rusty Klesla. That is a classic.

Updates

• Hockey Night in Canada Radio was not on last night, so I think it is safe to assume that will start airing again September 29.
• It appears I will not be able to see Nikita Filatov play on Tuesday in Chicago. Seems that they are keeping him off the ice till late next week in order to mend his (hairline) broken fibula. I hope to see Voracek play though.
• The Blue Jackets prospects beat the Tampa Bay prospects last night to take 7th place in the Prospects Tourney.
• Blue Jackets: Question about playoffs nets cautious optimism (Columbus Dispatch)
• For those in the Columbus area: Free food on Friday, 12-2pm at the Nationwide Arena Plaza. You can also see Fedor Tyutin, Kristian Huselius, Nikita Filatov and Jakub Voracek.
• Blue Jackets 2008 training camp preview (Hockey's Future Website)
• Voracek yanked from prospects tourney (Halifax's Metro News - The Q blog). I'm not a communications/journalism degree-holder, but isn't this title a little too rough?
• In unrelated news, I am fighting for first place in 2 out of my 3 fantasy baseball leagues, which is amazing because I never made it any better than 3rd place, even in hockey. And baseball I know little about.

It's that time of year again...

Time for those NHL season preview magazines to hit the magazine racks. And the only time of year I can get any hockey magazines at the local Barnes & Noble.

So, in my hands, or on my hardrive, I have:

• The Hockey News Ultimate Fantasy Pool Guide 2008-2009
• The Hockey News Yearbook 2008
• The Sporting News Hockey 2008-2009
• The Official 2009 NHL Yearbook

So, what are they saying about the Blue Jackets this year?

The Hockey News Ultimate Fantasy Pool Guide 2008-2009:

The Fantasy Impact Standings:

8. Columbus: Nash & Umberger lead revamped offense.

In their Hot 100 Top Scorers, they project Nash as being #42, with 78 games played, 4o goals, 32 assists for 72 points. The only other Columbus player on that list is Kristian Huselius at #95, with 81 games played, 21 goals and 38 assists for 59 points.

In their Projected Shutouts, guess who they have on top? Yes, Pascal Leclaire with a project 8 shutouts (FYI, they projected 6 each for Giguere, Brodeur, Kiprusoff, Luongo & Lundqvist).

As for the Rookies to watch, they have Jakub Voracek at #6:

Voracek is more of a playmaker than scorer, which suits the Blue Jackets fine. They've been searching for someone to get Rick Nash the puck since he entered the league (43 points)

In their Ultimate Guide to the Teams:

The Blue Jackets are a defensive-minded squad under coach Ken Hitchcock, but rely heavily on star winger Rick Nash for offense.

A one time 40-goal man, Nash missed the milestone by two goals in 2007-08, but will get there again. Fifty goals is not out of Nash's reach, but, he needs a better supporting cast first.

Kristian Huselius will replace Nikolai Zherdev on the wing, playing with more consistency and causing less headaches for GMs.

Swedish veteran Fredrik Modin is also a strong winger with scoring ability, but has had a hard time remaining healthy.

There are solid role players, led by Jason Chimera, Manny Malhotra & Jiri Novotny. The team has high hopes for Czech winger Jakub Voracek, who will get every opportunity to earn a top-six winger spot this year.

While the Jackets are strong on the wings, they are weak at center. Neither Malhotra or Novotny are solid options for the first or second line and Rookie Derick Brassard needs time to develop.

On defense, new acquisitions Fedor Tyutin & Christian Backman have made the backend even bigger and tougher. Kris Russell is a few years away from handling the quarterback duties.

In goal, Pascal Leclaire has arrived as the No. 1 man. As the team improves, so will his numbers.

And finally, on the page about penalty stats, a photo of our very own Jared Boll fighting!

Next magazine up: The Sporting News Hockey 2008-2009

Breakfast burritos with Columbus Sports Icons - Sports

Breakfast burritos with Columbus Sports Icons - Sports

Also presenting his case was the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Scott Howson. He had a chance to discuss his free agency moves.

"To get good players, you have to give up good players and I feel like we really improved our puck handling in the back end," Howson said.

In the first week of July the Blue Jackets traded forwards Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche to the New York Rangers for defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman.

Howson also provided an update on contract negotiations with the Blue Jackets talented young goaltender, Pascal Leclaire.

"Negotiations are all about changing people's expectations, and we worked on Pascal's expectations and now he's working on ours," Howson said.

I am really hopeful to see good defense this upcoming season.

Welcome to Columbus....

• Kristian Huselius


• Mike Commodore


• Christian Backman


• RJ Umberger


• Raffi Torres


• Fedor Tyutin


• Nikita Filatov


• (and although drafted last year) Jakub Voracek

I wish you all the luck and success in Columbus and hope that you will finally get us into the playoffs very soon :-)

(still waiting on Pascal Leclaire to resign.....)