I did make it down to the Ice Haus yesterday for a little while to watch the prospects. This year’s camp lacks the star power of last year, when high picks like Brassard and Voracek were there. And maybe as a result of the new lower draft picks, no one absolutely wowed me yesterday. I did think second rounder from this year’s draft, Kevin Lynch, looked pretty good. Big body, decent skills. I was at the wrong end to see much of first rounder John Moore. Stefan Legein didn’t look as good as I remember from when he was at prospect camp right after being drafted. Trent Vogelhuber looks to have improved during his time at Miami.

Former SLU Saint Brock McBride is in camp as a tryout. He was a valuable player for St. Lawrence the last few years, and is one of those small, speedy and tenacious players I always like. So of course I’m pulling for him to at least get a contract offer from Johnstown or Syracuse after this.

I’m planning to go back down again today and watch some more. And of course today is free agent frenzy day. Not expecting big waves out of Columbus, given the focus on signing Nash, but as always it will be fun to watch and see what happens.

Okay, first things first. There was too much going on today at work and I forgot that I intended to carve out time to go to the prospect camp. So I suck. Will try to get there tomorrow.

We did learn today that Ole-Kristian Tollefsen is not being extended a qualifying offer, so his days as a Jacket are over. On the one hand, this is a shame — he played with some real heart and toughness, and I thought of him as a poor man’s Anton Volchenkov. On the other hand, it’s hard to say this is shocking — he was out for so much of last season and was pretty much a forgotten man by year’s end. With stay-at-home defensive prospects like Clitsome and Ruth in the system on top of that, it didn’t seem like there was really a place for OKT on the team anymore.

In other news from the weekend, sounds like I’ll be losing a neighbor in Grandview, as Manny Malhotra looks to be moving on as a UFA. Again, not shocking — although he had a strong year last year and has generally been a solid NHLer for a guy who was picked off the waiver wire, Manny’s always been less than the sum of his parts as a player. That he was on the first line much of last year really spoke more to the lack of organizational depth at center than to his unique skills as a player. Yet he did seem like a good guy in the room, and was active and well-liked in the community, so we’ll miss him for that, no doubt. But life goes on.

They finally went out and drafted the first round offensive defenseman I’ve been clamoring for — John Moore from the USHL’s Chicago Steel. He’s committed to Colorado College to start in the fall, although there’s been a lot of talk he will go to the OHL instead. In any event, I wouldn’t expect to see him in a CBJ uniform in the short to medium-term future.

Jackets went defense-heavy in the rest of the draft, picking three d-men, along with a center and a RW. Bios of all the picks here.

Prospect camp goes next week. Looking forward to getting down there on my lunch breaks to see some hockey and distract myself from the awfulness of the state budget.

First off, congratulations to Steve Mason on winning the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year. Hopefully he has many more strong years in a CBJ uniform. Rick Nash also won some award I’ve never heard of, but he wasn’t on hand in Vegas to accept it. Still, congratulations to Nasher. The Awards show itself was the train wreck we’ve come to expect, so the move from Toronto to Las Vegas did not affect that. It’s good to know there are some things you can rely on year after year in this world…

One player who won’t be having many more strong years in a CBJ uniform is Jiri Novotny, who is not being tendered a qualifying offer and will thus become a UFA. Novotny was the Blue Jacket player this past season who I most often forgot was on the team. We’ve seen far worse in Columbus, but he never really stood out for me.

Dayton’s sojourn with no minor league hockey will be cut short, as the Dayton Gems are joining the IHL (the league formerly known as the UHL). They will play at Hara Arena.

HT to Tapeleg for the tweets-up.

I am not really a fan of Columbus’ alt-weekly, The Other Paper, for a whole host of reasons. But I have to admit, Lyndsey Teter did a pretty good story in this week’s issue about the arena issue. You can pick the issue up at various locations around Columbus, or if you don’t live locally, read the article here. TOP actually has several articles on the Jackets financial situation this week, including this piece on Kansas City and Balsillie and Phoenix, which doesn’t really hold any new information for people who follow the NHL regularly. They also have a piece by Richard Sheir, the local activist (now living in Vermont) who played a large role in shooting down the arena/stadium tax issue in 1997.

Of course, being The Other Paper, they would be remiss if they didn’t print some snarky and wrongheaded article that makes me wonder why I bother to pick this rag up on Thursday, so we get Steph Gregor on how the small turnout at the R Bar — “the town’s favorite hockey so-called hotspot” — to watch Pittsburgh and Detroit in June shows “a lack of support for the Jackets.” There is some decent discussion in the piece by Jacket Backers members among others, but my TOP annoyance meter was already about a 10.5/10 by that point…

Still, worth picking the issue up or checking it out online. I’ve often lamented the lack of CBJ coverage by the non-Dispatch media in town, so it is good to get some other voices.

Not much new news on the arena front. I’ve been tossing around in my head what all this means for Grandview Yard, which is being developed by Nationwide. This project is near and dear to my heart wallet as a taxpayer and resident in Grandview Heights, which is counting on GY to shore up the city’s tax base, which took a big hit when Big Bear folded a few years ago. The project already seems somewhat chimeric (no relation to Jason) given the state of the economy locally and nationally, and has been the subject of dispute between Columbus and Grandview. I haven’t really crystallized any ideas about how the CBJ situation affects Nationwide’s development of GY, or vice versa, but it feels like it matters.

And although I won’t be out where Steph Gregor can see me doing so, I do intend to watch Game Five between the Pens and Wings tonight.* So I’m a true Jackets fan!

* flipping between that and the Crew game, of course.

(for me, at least)

OSU women’s hockey schedule has been released, and at last the Skating Saints are making a trip to Columbus! I haven’t had a chance to see them play here since I moved to Columbus, so I am pretty excited for this.

Breaking news in the Dispatch!

Gotcha!

The Jackets held a town hall meeting last night to make their case for public money for the arena to invited bloggers and others. I wasn’t invited. Which is fine. Sitting at Nationwide Arena getting the full Rod Bryden treatment wouldn’t be my ideal Tuesday night. And I don’t even know if anyone in the CBJ front office is aware of this little blog. But given recent events, I can’t help but wonder if my mild criticism of the sin tax plan (see below) ruled me out? For what it’s worth, Dispatches from Columbus was not invited either, and that blog has also expressed skepticism about the Jackets’ message.

Coverage I’ve seen so far from people who were there:

• Eric Smith at Hockeybuzz
• A very detailed set of minutes from Light the Lamp
• Andrew Miller from Elephants on Bicycles
• Bethany
• Walker Evans from CU was there, but hasn’t posted about what happened yet

No disrespect intended to those who were invited, or those who support the idea of the county buying the arena. Reasonable people can disagree on public funding, and bloggers are free to take whatever positions they want on their blogs. Supporting the public plan does not mean they are patsies of the Jackets’ ownership. And I do read and enjoy all of the blogs listed above. But given the team’s propensity over its history to try and control the public message, I can’t help but wonder if they chose to invite people who had already written positively about the plan, or otherwise indicated they would probably be supportive.

No big shock here: the sin tax for Nationwide Arena plan is likely dead in the water, and now the politicians and the Jackets owners are looking for a “Plan B.”

I did re-read High Stakes this weekend, as I said I would. It didn’t really give a lot of new insight into this situation, except maybe raising the question that the Dispatch is exploring today — was Lamar Hunt right all along?

In happier news, the Hockey News draft preview is out. Picked it up last night at the Kroger at Chambers and Northwest. Looks like Ryan Ellis might be right in the Jackets’ sweet spot…some might be a little reluctant to pick another undersized defenseman after watching the continuing process of Kris Russell becoming an NHL player, but this kid did look quite good for Windsor in the Memorial Cup.

I’m also told there are some hockey games still being played somewhere. Anyone else hear this crazy rumor?