Widespread panic in Columbus?


The lineup in Columbus changed a bit this afternoon as fan favorite and original Blue Jacket Geoff Sanderson was dealt (again) to the Phoenix Coyotes in a 5 player deal.

Jackets fans may be wondering just what is going on because for the last 2 months they were told things were going to be different this year, and the team was primed for a playoff run. After 2 games, that assessment appears to be way off.

The indecisiveness of the coaching staff and front office can be traced back to Rick Nash's injury in training camp. Nash suffering a high ankle sprain after being ridden like Sea Biscuit into the boards by Derek Reinhart (who is nowhere to be found in the Blue Jackets organization), the Jackets were knocked to the ice quicker than an Al MacInnis slapshot. You would think that protecting your brand new $27.5 million dollar investment would be a high priority, but apparently not as fans were treated with the comment by coach Gallant, "we are not going to put a yellow jersey on Rick, or anything like that, because we need to get used to the hitting after such a long layoff." Earth to CBJ front office and Coaching staff: Rick Nash makes his living in front of the net. The poor guy does not need to get used being hit, as he is going to have his butt kicked 82 nights in the coming year, so perhaps lay off of him a bit in practice.

The organization now reeling from another spate of horrible luck, was hit yet again as the ENTIRE team contracted the flu which undoubtedly played a factor in their poor pre-season performances (see the 9-0 loss to Detroit, and the 7-2 debacle to the Pens).

If that were not enough, Klesla (who was finally showing the enormous potential he was drafted for) suffers an apparent hair line fracture in his leg due to an Iron Man race he was in last summer. In addition, defensive pairings did not have time to work together as Berard suffered a stomach muscle strain which limited his preseason availability to 2 games. Another mystifying move was the claiming of Andy Delmore off waivers from Detroit. I thought the defense was the one position that was the deepest to begin with?

The only bright spot of training camp was the play of young Pascal Leclaire who apparently played well enough to unseat Marc Denis for the season opener. So impressed with Pascal's play, the CBJ has turned the first two weeks of the season into an audition for a permanent gig with the big club (as well as to see if Prusek stays with the CBJ). The goaltending issue is more of sidebar distraction than actual indecisiveness of the coaching staff. Marc is the franchise goalie that needs to knock off the rust, while Pascal is making it difficult for Gerrard and the staff not to put him in between the pipes.

As the regular season approached, and the team was still recovering from the bumpy pre-season, they felt it necessary to rush Nash into the opening night line up. He played all of a period and half which caused him to miss the home opener and he will probably not be available until about the 8-10 game mark of the year (at which time the Jackets could potentially be a stellar 0-6 or 0-7).

The Jackets opened Wednesday night versus the supposed hapless Washington Capitals and soon learned they were anything but. Not that the Jackets played all that poorly 5 on 5, but struggled mightily on the power play going 0-8. Friday night vs. the Flames the Jackets struggled again to muster any sort of sustained offensive attack and fell to Calgary 3-1.

Which brings us to today's events:
Sanderson was dealt to Phoenix, along with Tim Jackman for Michael Rupp, Jason Chimera, and Cale Hulse. While the Jackets jettisoned nearly $2.5 million dollars of Sanderson's contract, plus Jackmans (figure unavailable), the CBJ took on about $2.1 million in payroll, which is savings of $400k plus, not considering what Tim Jackman made.

What the trade did was 2 things. 1. It made the Jackets bigger, which is desperately needed in the physical Central Division. 2. It gave the Jackets additional depth. They netted a young Mike Rupp who is 6'5" 230lbs, and is potentially a decent power forward. They grabbed an experienced and physical defenseman in Cale Hulse (6'3" 220). And finally they grabbed a player with blazing speed in Jason Chimera (which should offset the speed lost by the speedy Sanderson).

The trade should not be viewed as a salary dump by the Jackets, or that they are/were down on Sanderson. They were offered 3 players who could potentially come in to Columbus and help them win games. And oh by the way, maybe save a few dollars. On an individual basis Geoff Sanderson was not going to be the main reason if the Blue Jackets were going to make the playoffs this year anyway.

Now with the potentail log jam of defensemen in the organization, it should be interesting to see if Doug Maclean sets his sites on landing a scoring forward.

The Furnace