The Intriguing and Injured AFC North
September 30, 2008Don’t Call It A Comeback!
September 30, 2008Every Tuesday, WFNY’s The 5-Hole brings you up to date with the goings-on of the CBJ…
The Week That Was
The Jackets are in full-swing with their exhibition schedule. Their first two games were last week, and they played three more over the weekend and on Monday night, winning two. Their exhibition record now stands at 2-3.
Their record also reflects some of the normal trends in pre-season hockey: they have won their two home games, and dropped their three roadies. In the NHL, most clubs don’t send many of their starters on the road for pre-season games, but play most of them while at home. Here’s the Jackets’ weekend/Monday run-down:
Friday, 9/26 in Columbus – Blue Jackets 4, Predators 3 (Box Score)
Saturday, 9/27 in Nashville – Predators 3, Blue Jackets 1 (Box Score)
Monday, 9/29 in Columbus – Blue Jackets 7, Blackhawks 1 (Box Score)
Some of the highlights for the Jackets:
Friday night: goals were scored by newcomers RJ Umberger and Kristian Huselius, and rookie Jakub Voracek tallied another goal and an assist for himself. Defenseman Kris Russell added two assists.
Saturday night: while there was not much encouraging on the offensive side of the puck, the team did out-shoot the Predators 19-0 in the second period. “That was the best period we’ve had effortwise in the preseason,” coach Hitchcock said after the game.
Monday night: in a bevy of scoring for the Jackets, Rick Nash scored two goals and added an assist. One of the big stars was new defensemen Fedor Tyutin, who also had a goal and two assists. The other defenseman to come over from New York with Tyutin–Christian Backman–also scored a goal. Huselius scored another goal and notched two assists himself. Free agent Raffi Torres also added a goal, but as we’ll discuss later suffered an unfortunate fate. Blue liner Rostislav Klesla scored a goal and poured in two assists as well.
The Jackets are also creating more effective scoring chances, which has long been their Achilles-heel as a team. Through five games, they are +3 in goals (16 to 13) while being -5 on total shots on goal (131 to 126). This is skewed somewhat by the 7-1 win over Chicago, but is still an encouraging stat. Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius seem to be meshing together quite well (see quotes section below) on the new #1 scoring line, which is very encouraging. The new #1 line (with rookie center Derick Brassard) has been called “scary-good” in practice thus far.
Position Battle to Watch
This is more of an abstract “position” so to speak, but one of the things the Jackets are hoping to improve upon this year is their power play, which ranked 26th in the league last season. The team brought in Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman in hopes that they might lead the charge of running the point on the power play (in other words, setting up the plays and launching some shots from the back line as the puck is cycled around during a power play). So far through five exhibition games, not much has been resolved. Backman and Kris Russell are decent passers, but have trouble getting shots on net from the point, which is a primary requirment of that position. Rostislav Klesla has played the position before, but never really looks comfortable in doing so. Tyutin ran the point on the second power play line in New York last season, but was uninspiring. Coach Hitchcock feels finding the right player there is a top priority: “This is a big week for us. We’re looking to find the right mix back there, and with three home games, we’re going to have a pretty good opportunity. On any good power play, the shots always come from the top.” The Jackets did manage two power play goals on Monday night, but this will most likely remain a work in progress. Stay tuned.
Injury Update
Bad news came Monday night during the victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Winger Raffi Torres, making his debut, was lost for six weeks after separating his right shoulder during a fight, of all things. Torres was going to play a big role in allowing the Jackets to run out a checking line that could still offer up some scoring on offense, evidenced by Torres scoring a goal on a nice pass from center Michael Peca. This took a huge hit with his loss.
#1 pick Nikita Filatov finally got his chance to skate with the club on Sunday (9/28). Recovering from a broken fibula, he played mostly left wing in practice. Aaron Portzline reports that he “is remarkably light on his skates” and that he “[stood] out because of his skill.” Finally, some good news for Filatov!
Quotes of the Week
When asked about free agent winger Kristian Huselius:
“You have to put your stick on the ice and keep it there, because the puck is going to be there. It’s like playing with (San Jose Sharks center) Joe Thornton, like I did during the lockout and at the world championships. You dump the puck to them, and you know they’re going to find you. It’s going to be there.” –Rick Nash
“We’ve never had anybody like him in our organization. Nobody even close, really.” –Coach Ken Hitchcock
Up Next
The Jackets have a bit of a break after playing five games in seven days. The remaining exhibition schedule:
10/2 – BUFFALO
10/3 – MINNESOTA
10/5 – @Toronto
The first regular season game on Friday, October 10th in Dallas against the Stars, and the Jackets’ home opener is on Friday, October 17th against the Nashville Predators.
2 Comments
cant wait for hockey season to start. maybe this is the year, the jackets finally make the playoffs.
although i still think they need another playmaker up front to help nasha nd shoudler some of the burden.
I think they’re hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Brassard on the #1 line, as Huselius so far has been as-advertised and Nash is a beast when he has people to get him the puck. Umberger isn’t a #1 center, so he belongs on the second line anyway.
Speaking of which, Voracek has looked very, very good in pre-season so far. He could have a poor-man’s-Zetterberg kind of rookie year (comparing to Zetterberg’s first year, not last year, of course).
The biggest key will be staying healthy as a team. Losing Torres hurts, and with Mason down they can’t afford to lose LeClaire for any long periods of time this year.