Find it here. Points of interest:
- Jackets start the season with a three game western trip, so we get a 10PM and 10:30 TV time right off the bat. Ugh.
- Home opener is against the Preds on October 17, so we can reasonably expect to kick off the season in front of the home fans with a loss.
- Eastern teams coming to visit: Rangers, Habs, Caps, Isles, Flyers, Devils, Sens, Bruins, Pens. So we get both Crosby and Ovechkin this season.
- Jackets going to play these Eastern teams: Isles, Sabres, Thrashers, Caps, Pens, Hurricanes, Leafs, Panthers, Lightning. So fans in those cities get to see both Christian Backman and Jason Chimera this season.
- No New Year’s Eve home game.
- Close off the season at home against the Wild. And we’re guaranteed to see hockey deeper into April for a change, because the regular season ends five days later than last year.
Single tickets go on sale September 19.
Categories: CBJ
Joakim Lindstrom to Anaheim for a conditional draft pick.
No biggie, this. Lindstrom had some skill, but he was one of those guys who just never showed enough at the NHL level to earn a full-time slot. And as he was rumored to be on his way back to Europe this season — well, even a conditional pick in the latter rounds is worth more than the nothing the Jackets would have gotten if he walked.
What’s significant is that this is one more Doug pick out the door. I’m not totally in love with all of Howson’s moves, but at least it’s going to be far tougher to blame whatever happens next season on this still being Doug’s team.
In other news that will probably pertain more to the Crunch than the Jackets, Derek MacKenzie was resigned, and Craig MacDonald was signed. Also, it appears Steve Kelly may have been signed.
Categories: CBJ · Ducks · Trades
Last day of (on-ice) development camp, and they scrimmaged in front of a packed Dispatch Ice Haus. About a third of the seating area was reserved for season ticket holders and their guests.
The scrimmage was played four-on-four, and the white team pretty much dominated. Brassard and Voracek played together, and I have stars in my eyes now thinking about the prospect of those two playing on a line together for years to come. Unsigned John Hughes had some nifty moves; he can really handle the puck — would not mind at all seeing him get a contract in Syracuse or Dayton Elmira. Even my boy steady Grant Clitsome (although I’ll never quite be able to bring myself to get a jersey with his name on it, unless he becomes like a Brazilian soccer player and just goes by “Grant”) scored a nice goal. Dorsett looked good again. Mayorov was fairly invisible. Adam Pineault and Petr Pohl took part in the scrimmage, but Tom Sestito appeared to be absent, and Ted Ruth had gone on back to Notre Dame for summer classes.
After the scrimmage, they had a shootout competition, which the Whites again dominated. The Red team was left then with the indignity of having to skate laps while the victors went to the locker room.
In other CBJ prospects news, the team signed Nikita Filatov. Now to get him out of Russia, with the KHL demanding money from the Jackets for him, even though his contract is expired with CSKA. Hopefully this will be cleared up before training camp — I’d love to get a look at Filatov skating with Brassard and Voracek.
On that note, with development camp over, free agent frenzy dying down, the draft past us, and Hitch signed to a three year contract extension, things should be quiet in CBJ-land for the next month or so. So expect my blogging to reflect that — I’ll post when something happens or the mood strikes, but I wouldn’t be expecting frequent updates. See you in September.
Categories: CBJ
I made it out for about half an hour today. I brought the camera and was primarily focused on taking pictures, so I wasn’t particularly watching and assessing anyone’s performance. They were scrimmaging during the time I was there — first divided up into two teams of forwards and D, then forwards on defensemen.
Categories: CBJ · Photoblog
This morning’s Dispatch has a nice article about Maxim Mayorov, who’s been impressing the powers that be at development camp, and who should be in North America this fall — playing either for Brandon in the WHL, Syracuse in the AHL, or maybe even Columbus, depending on how things shake out.
In other Jackets’ news, Mike Peca is officially back on a one-year contract. I think this is a good move. Columbus will be a pretty young team this year, with a young captain, and Peca should provide some veteran leadership and mentoring for Nash. if, as has been speculated, he plays better because he’s no longer feeling the effects of the broken leg from a couple of years ago, all the better.
Categories: CBJ · Free Agents
Work and finding parking in the Arena District conspired today in my getting to the Ice Haus around 11:15, just in time to sit and wait while the ice was resurfaced. And I got a work phone call while I was there, too. All of which is to say that I probably only got to see about 25-30 minutes of actual skating this morning, so my impressions are even more limited than yesterday’s.
I thought Voracek looked a little sharper. He scored a couple real pretty goals. Mayorov, on the other hand, looked like he’d lost the plot since yesterday — quite a few errant passes, shots wide of the net, and so on, in the drills I saw.
Tom Sestito and Derek Dorsett took part in camp today. I thought Dorsett looked great — fast, good hands.
I wasn’t planning to go down tomorrow, but we’ve had a change in schedule, so it looks like I can make it. I might take my camera and try to snap a few pictures.
Categories: CBJ
Just some quick impressions from the camp this evening. As always, just my opinion:
- Voracek looked a little out of sorts. His skill was obvious, but he seemed to be making some mistakes, and looked frustrated at times. Hopefully just working out the kinks.
- Grant Clitsome looked pretty solid on defense. Nothing spectacular, but like a guy you’d count on sitting on a one-goal lead. Even if he did graduate from the great green-and-gold Satan.
- Maxim Mayorov is big and skilled. Seemed a little confused at times by instructions, which I would assume is a language issue. Maybe we can get him some English lessons with Filatov’s mother (get your mind out of the gutter!)
- Cody Goloubef has a good shot and good passing skills. Seemed to struggle a little with some of the bigger forwards, but he’s young and should fill out.
- Ted Ruth wasn’t quite as polished as Clitsome, but he seemed pretty solid as well. He was paired a lot with Goloubef — possible Jackets’ second pairing in five years?
- Unsigned free agent John Hughes looked pretty good — one of those speedy little guys I’m always a sucker for. Maybe another Geoff Platt in the making?
- Tyler Wright looked to be having fun out on the ice.
Those are my quick takes on day one…I should make it over tomorrow morning.
Categories: CBJ
Details here. No weekend sessions this year, which is kind of a drag from the spectator POV. Thankfully I do work near downtown, so I should be able to hit some of the sessions via early lunch breaks.
No Filatov, but Voracek will be there, along with 23 other CBJ prospects.
Categories: CBJ
This takes away a bit of the sting of the Zherdev/Fritsche trade. He’s put up decent numbers in Calgary in the past couple of seasons, so he should effectively fill Zherdev’s offensive spot. Of course, even with Zherdev the Jackets still needed an offensive upgrade, so I hope Howson’s got another rabbit in his hat…
Categories: CBJ · Free Agents
