Talking Jackets After an Embarassing Home Loss

How Should Jacket Fans Respond to Another Lost Season?

After an optimistic offseason, with big acquisitions, there were big expectations for this year’s Blue Jackets…well, “big” by Jacket standards. Be competitive and push for a playoff spot.

Of course, by the end of November the Jackets had already sealed their season’s fate. It would be another lost season. No playoffs, no young players taking that “next step,” no coach or GM solidifying their place and the direction of the team, just more trade rumors and coaching/GM firing rumors. The 2011-2012 season is another lost season, without a step forward, and without a sniff at the playoffs.

The calls for trades and cleaning out of the front office are loud and clear. Here is a quick look at the moves that brought us to this point, with some actual Scott Howson defense thrown in as well as some thoughts on moving forward.

Where to start with this team?

How about with Brendan Shanahan. His 13 game suspension of James Wisniewski was completely ridiculous, and left the Jackets to start the season without their best defenseman, not to mention their huge free agent acquisition. Then again, this was part of the new rules of the NHL where punishments were going to be swift and severe, so we had to accept it….until the season started, and worse headshots and dirty hits began happening every night, and no suspensions even came close to the one that came down on the Wiz. I feel like something needs to be publicly said about this, and the Jackets need to make a public complaint to the league. Jordan Tootoo, a known dirty player and “repeat offender” if you will, runs a goalie coming off a concussion and gets 2 games? That’s fine with me, but by that letter of the law, the Wiz deservedly no more than a couple of games either. It is a huge problem that Shanahan made an example out of Wiz, then as soon as the regular season started did away with such lengthy suspensions, leaving the Jackets the only real team to suffer significantly from his new reign of incompetence.

Now that I have that out of the way, it’s time to move my attention to Scott “hot seat” Howson.

I honestly don’t think he has done that bad of a job, and feel for him a bit. While I wouldn’t be opposed to someone like Ron Hextall coming in and taking over, I also don’t want to sit here and blame Howson and call him a terrible GM. Let’s break down a bit of recent history here:

• Signing James Wisniewski and trading for Jeff Carter.

These moves deserve an “A” grade, and I don’t think there is any question about it. The two biggest needs for the Jackets were a number one center, and a number one defenseman. Howson landed the best defenseman on the open market (and I don’t want to hear complaints about the contract – he did what it took to land him) and managed to land a legit, number one center in his prime in a trade. It is rare guys like Carter become available, and moving the 1^st rounder and Voracek was well worth it.

The naysayers to these deals can just easily point the team’s record, and that is a legit argument. At the same time, the Wiz suspension and the Carter issues with his foot couldn’t have been predicted and were brutal to the team’s start. Carter has underwhelmed, but there have definitely been flashes of chemistry and brilliance between him and Nash that hopefully will grow and develop over the rest of the season. But again, I do not fault Howson for addressing his team’s two biggest needs this offseason.

• Re-signing RJ Umberger.

How can anyone argue against this move? RJ was the team’s leader, one of its best and most consistent all-around players, coming off a career year. Had shown loyalty to the team and was committed to winning. Definitely a core guy you want to lock up, which Howson did….and Umberger responded by getting off to the worst start of his career, and his having an awful season (having a great game against   Montreal doesn’t undo that). I put that on RJ and Arniel, not Howson.

• Signing Vinnie Prospal and Radek Martinek

Vinny has been the best and most consistent Blue Jacket and leads the team in scoring. Got him for cheap on a one year deal. Again, a great move by Howson. Martinek looked terrible in early season play but signing him made sense, as he would be a veteran presence to shore up the blue line. He’s been lost for most of the season with a concussion, so hard to grade this move.

• Letting Mathieu Garon walk, and signing Curtis Sanford and Mark Dekanich to back up Steve Mason.

This is the move that had Howson on the firing line, the move that no one in the hockey world could understand. Mason had been horrid last season, and the goalie market had viable guys like Jose Theodore and Tomas Vokun available. No one could have predicted the year Mike Smith is having, but even he at the time of free agency would have seemed like a better backup option than two guys who weren’t even at the NHL level last season.

I was definitely in the camp that believe Howson’s failure to address the goalie position this offseason should be enough to have him out the door.

…and then Curtis Sanford happened. The fact that Dekanich hasn’t played yet because of injury and Sanford was out with injury I can’t really put on Howson. The fact is, Sanford has been lights out since arriving and has given the team strong goalie play and a ton of confidence. So how can I fault Howson for bringing in a goalie that has been this good? Can’t blame Howson for Sanford’s groin injury earlier in year and the argument that Howson failed to address the goalie situation is hard to make.

1. Trading Kris Russell for Nikita Nikitin and Mark Letestu

The Jackets defense was looking like another disaster. Martinek was out and especially early on when Wiz was out; the Jackets were actually playing Aaron Johnson, John Moore, and David Savard. None of whom would see the ice for any other NHL team. After having the worse defense in the league last year, they had managed to somehow get even worse.

The Russell for Nikitin swap has been nothing short of brilliant. Kris Russell had been terrible for the Blue Jackets, a disaster at hockey, and watching him was a brutal experience. He does have some puck-moving and offensive ability, but he was a complete liability defensively and his offensive skill set pales in comparison to that of Wiz and Grant Clitsome. I am ready to start a “Nikitin for Norris” campaign as he has really managed to turn the defense around. He leads the team in minutes, plays in all situations, is defensively solid, and has been putting up a ton of points as well. Whatever Russian connection he has formed with Fedor Tyutin has also been a sight to behold, as he has really made Tytutin better. I’ve been a longtime critic of Tyutin and was dying for him to be shipped out and was devastated by his contract extension. But the Tyutin/Nikitin pairing has been solid.

Mark Letestu was another shrewd acquisition. Gave up a pick to get him, and he came in and replaced Brassard’s pathetic and uninspired play with a ton of energy and has been a regular contributor.

Again, two more good moves for Howson.

1. Ryan Johansen looks like an NHL player.

This might be the most important move of them all – Howson might have actually brought us a decent player with a 1^st round pick. Brassard is a goner, so that will go down as a bust, Voracek was traded, Filatov was a huge bust, and the streak of first round pick draft busts continually handicapping the franchise hasn’t stopped under Howson – a HUGE problem. However, Ryan Johansen has looked solid this year, and if he can develop he might really be a force in a couple years.

At the same time, Brassard, Voracek, Filatov all showed talent at the NHL level but never really developed into the kind of impact players you need to get out of the first round. So while I will be optimistic about RyJo, I can’t say he would be enough for Howson to keep his job.

It’s easy to look at the record, look at the draft busts, and suggest the Jackets clean house. If Ron Hextall could come in tomorrow, bring with him a new coach and Jonathan Bernier in goal, you wouldn’t hear a complaint out of me. The fact is running a professional sports franchise is a result based business. You need to win games. If you don’t, you’re out. And the Jackets aren’t winning games.

At the same time, looking back over Howson’s moves, and considering the time he made them – it’s hard to come away thinking he was hurting the franchise or not doing all he could to improve the team. The suspensions, the injuries to Carter, Martinek, Sanford and Dekananich really set this team back (though at the same time, it’s his responsibility to build enough depth to overcome injury). The disastrous seasons by Antoine Vermette and RJ Umberger, two captains who have been the strength of the team for years cannot be placed on him…that falls again on those two players and the coach.

I am not sold on Scott Arniel. He has a terrible record and the awful end of period and end of game play has to fall on him. But there is no question the team has been better lately, with their full roster and with a competent goalie in front of them.

Moving forward, I am fine with the Jackets playing out the season with Howson and Arniel, making some more roster moves, and seeing what develops (though I’d prefer Craig McTavish or another legit NHL coach come behind the bench).

The Jackets recently hired Craig Patrick as a “senior advisor” which is the classic move to make the media and hockey writers happy. Every tweet, most press responses to the move have been positive. I honestly don’t care, it’s just like hiring a washed up Bill Parcells to oversee the Dolphins – everyone in the media praises it because of the guys reputation from years ago. If Patrick was still a brilliant hockey mind, he’d still be in the league. I’m sure it can’t hurt to have him around and if that name gives the team to credibility, great. But I’m not sold on the move really doing much for the team. The fact that he picked Sidney Crosby, a consensus number one pick, doesn’t really mean much. Even Dougie Mac would have made that pick.

Going forward, I’ll watch the games, cheer on the team, and hope for wins. I want to see Carter scoring goals and setting up Nash, I want to see Wiz concussing players, I want to see Umberger getting back to being the hardest working guy on the ice, and I want them to give quality teams a run for their money.  If I can see the players competing hard, I can keep supporting them. But without a playoff berth, no matter what happens the season will go down as lost and another embarrassing low for the franchise. Oh yeah, and when they have a 2 goal lead with less than 2 minutes left at home, I’d prefer to see regulation wins instead of OT losses.

*** I guess I should weigh in on Allan Walsh, Brassard’s agent speaking out against Arniel. So here goes:

Walsh is a complete moron and Brassard has been atrocious this year. If I could use any word to describe his play it would be “Kris Russell-esq.”

Funny, I don’t see Walsh tweeting out and Halak and Havlat stats this year.  I wish Brassard the best playing with Filatov in Ottawa.