The 5-Hole, CBJ News and Notes – 10/07/08

Every Tuesday, WFNY’s The 5-Hole brings you up to date with the goings-on of the CBJ…

The Week That Was

The Jackets finished their exhibition schedule, winning two of three to finish at 4-4. Their last game on Sunday was a shoot-out win, and shoot-outs were something that plagued the team a year ago. For the 2007-08 season, they went just 3-for-11 in shoot-outs, which tied them for the worst percentage in the league. So, while just in exhibition, the shoot-out win was nice to see. The Jackets finished the exhibition season 3-1 at home, and 1-3 on the road. Here’s how the last three pre-season games shaped up:

Thursday, 10/2 in Columbus – Sabres 5, Blue Jackets 2 (Box Score)

Friday, 10/3 in Columbus – Blue Jackets 5, Wild 3 (Box Score)

Sunday, 10/5 in Toronto – Blue Jackets 5, Maple Leafs 4 (SO) (Box Score)

Some of the highlights for the Jackets:

Thursday: Rick Nash continued his rebirth as Team Captain by scoring another goal, but the highlights for Columbus were few and far between. After taking a 1-0 lead, the Jackets gave up five unanswered goals to seal their fate. The lackluster performance prompted the team to make some roster cuts a little earlier than expected on Saturday.

Friday: Newcomers Kristian Huselius and RJ Umberger continued to impress, each tallying a goal and an assist in the win. Rick Nash poured in three assists as well. Young defenseman Kris Russell had another good game as well, scoring a goal himself.

Sunday: This game was dominated by #1 pick Nikita Filatov, who scored in regulation as well as burying the game-winner in the shoot-out.  Co-rookie Jakub Voracek scored another goal and assist for the Jackets as well, as the team rallied from a 4-2 deficit late in the third period to force overtime and the shoot-out.

In other news, ESPN’s John Buccigross did his Western Conference Preview this week, and he ranked the Jackets 10th (two spots out of the playoffs) while also having some nice things to say about the club:

The vibe: Almost. Every year, I … get crushes on teams and those teams get the lion’s share of my focus. These are teams with interesting and entertaining players. … I would love to see the Blue Jackets make the playoffs. I would like to see Columbus host Stanley Cup playoff games. It would be one of the louder rinks in the postseason. But I make these predictions with no bias because ESPN.com pays me per correct prediction.

I like the Jackets’ forwards. They have speed, sturdiness and some skill. Their goalie, Pascal Leclaire, had nine shutouts in 54 games last season. The question is on defense. The Blue Jackets’ defensemen scored 10 even-strength goals last season; only the Thrashers scored fewer. Fedor Tyutin has nine even-strength goals in 250 career NHL games; but, at age 25, he should be entering his prime and some believe he has No. 1 defenseman game in him. Mike Commodore’s $3.75 million cap hit for the next five years is one of the most inexplicable contracts in recent NHL history. He’s not a power-play guy, has never been a high-minute guy and his stride will never be confused with Scott Niedermayer’s. But perhaps, as $9-$10 million is the going rate for average starting pitchers, $3.75 million is now the rate for average defensemen. Commodore seems like a good dude, so I’m ecstatic his financial dreams have come true.

The Blue Jackets play such a safe, defensive system, they don’t ask their D-men to do a lot. A reason to pick the Jackets to make the postseason is the positives that we talked about, and the fact they have over $8 million in cap room. They can add that top-level offensive defenseman who could really make them a dynamic team.

Bucci is obviously not as high on Commodore as the club is, but I guess it’s not all bad, after all!

Position Battles to Watch
We’ve detailed the battle to fill out the final defensive spots on the roster as well as the final depth spots at forward. The Jackets put three players on waivers and thus are down to 25 players in camp, and need to get to 23 by Wednesday at 3:00 PM. Because of injuries to Raffi Torres, Steve Mason, and Manny Malhotra (see below) they were able to keep two additional players at the outset, and have to make a decision about Nikita Filatov as well as forward Derek Dorsett by the deadline Wednesday, unless they move Malhotra to injured reserve as well. The Dispatch lists the following alphabetical roster based on these moves:

Forwards (13): Jared Boll, Derick Brassard, Jason Chimera, Kristian Huselius, Manny Malhotra, Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Rick Nash, Jiri Novotny, Michael Peca, Alexandre Picard, R.J. Umberger, Jakub Voracek.

Defense (8): Christian Backman, Mike Commodore, Jan Hejda, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot, Kris Russell, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Fedor Tyutin.

Goaltenders (2): Pascal Leclaire, Fredrik Norrena

Injured reserve: Raffi Torres, Steve Mason

Injury Update

Center Manny Malhotra sustained a “lower body” injury (yes, that’s vague) during the last game against Toronto. He has not been placed on IR, and will be evaluated to decide if a move needs to be made before the opener on Friday against Dallas.

Aaron Portzline also reports that: “Pascal Leclaire (ankle), Derick Brassard (neck/concussion), R.J. Umberger (hand) and Andrew Murray (thigh) are expected to practice Tuesday. It looks like they’ll be ready for the season opener.” Hopefully none of those injuries are of the “nagging” variety.

Quotes of the Week

“You can see marked improvement every time (Filatov) steps on the ice. … He’s just scratching the surface on what we think is going to be a heck of a player,” –Coach Ken Hitchcock

Up Next

The first regular season game is this Friday, October 10th in Dallas against the Stars. The regular season is finally upon us! The Jackets will have to submit their final lineup by Wednesday 10/8.

The home opener is on Friday, October 17th against the Nashville Predators.