Interesting Info: Part VII (All Jackets-related "tidbits" in here)
Please forgive me if this belongs somewhere else, but when THN's 2009 Future Watch issue hits the newsstands, Columbus Blue Jackets 2008 First Round Draft Pick, Nikita Filatov, will appear on the cover as the league's top prospect. Congrats!
1. Nikita Filatov - CMB
2. Cody Hodgson - VAN
3. Jakob Markstrom - FLA
4. Colin Wilson - NAS
5. Alex Pietrangelo - STL
6. James Van Riemsdyk - PHI
7. Erik Karlsson - OTT
8. Claude Giroux - PHI
9. Tyler Myers - BUF
10. Max Pacioretty - MON
1. Congrats go to Filatov, great to see prospects rated outside of our local market and the future truly does look bright.
2. A little surprised not to see Stamkos, although as Filatov points out he season "is a little weak"....has his stock really dropped that much in around 9 months?
3. Where the **** are Schenn or Doughty?. They are two of the best prospects in the league from the blue line.
I would assume that because Schenn and Doughty are playing in the NHL, they are no longer "prospects".
Also, for everyone who will read into this "ZOMG, We should call Filitov up right now!!", relax. This is FUTURE WATCH. Not Present Watch. But, that future's looking brighter every day, innit?
1. Congrats go to Filatov, great to see prospects rated outside of our local market and the future truly does look bright.
2. A little surprised not to see Stamkos, although as Filatov points out he season "is a little weak"....has his stock really dropped that much in around 9 months?
3. Where the **** are Schenn or Doughty?. They are two of the best prospects in the league from the blue line.
Stamkos, Schenn, and Doughty have all played more than some number of games, which removes them from "prospect" status.
An excerpt from Jon Buccigross's latest column on espn.com:
Bucci,
What is the deal with Jan Hejda of the Columbus Blue Jackets? Twenty-two minutes a game and a plus-21? After a plus-20 last year?
Don
Westerville
Jan Hejda -- and his butt -- are a plus-19 over 60 games so far this season for the Blue Jackets.
I asked my boy Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch to give us some inside Jan Hejda info. Aaron is one of my favorites because he can, over a beer in a Columbus bar, make the leap from alt-country to Czech defenseman. Here is Aaron's assessment of Hejda. To quote Young MC, "Break it down for me, fella":
When the Blue Jackets signed Jan Hejda in the summer of 2007, I got the following reports from scouts.
Scout No. 1: "Yawn Hejda. He does nothing for me."
Scout No. 2: "He has a prodigious butt." A strange observation, to be sure. But the second scout was right, and that's a good thing.
Hejda and his massive butt are two of the best-kept secrets in Columbus. Hejda is plus-41 in 139 games with the Blue Jackets, a massively "minus" club since it joined the NHL.
Hejda is hush-quiet. His partner, Mike Commodore, was born with a bullhorn in his throat. They're the odd couple, but they've been a great shutdown pair for Columbus this season. You know coach Ken Hitchcock. He likes his top pair to be able to blow skaters off the puck. Commodore and Hejda won't lug three zones and score, but they fit perfectly with what Hitchcock wants to do.
Hejda's a funny dude, too. When he scored his second NHL goal earlier this season, he deadpanned, "It's hard for me to say which of my goals is most beautiful." He also caused a furor in Canada's capital by calling out Ottawa's Jason Spezza after a recent game: "It's like he didn't even want to play."
Watch Hejda as he backs into the zone with a forward trying to get around him with speed. He has mastered the old-school hipcheck, and it's a beauty to watch as he slings his lower body into the hip of the forward in a flash, sending him halfway up the boards and flat on the ice.
What good is a big can if you don't use it?
Aaron, Sir Mix-A-Lot concurs, yo. Sincerely, Bucci.
Hejda has been an unsung player and what is not mentioned in the article is how much in synche he and Commodore has been and their great communication. They are definitely Hitch players, grinders whose numbers, though great for a defenseman, don't tell the whole story.
Hedja is one of my favorites on this team, as well as the Hejda/Commodore tag team. I never heard of the "butt" thing before, I'll be watching for Hejda's hip checks in the furure, they should be massive.
Thanks to Don of Westerville for bringing Hejda to Buccigross' attention. Buccigross could probably fit on the media bandwagon for the CBJ. I believe he's been fair in his criticism over the years. Just keep that ESPN putz Burnside away.
Edit: Ooh...a quick google of "Scott Burnside" finds that he's a "Stupid tool who does not check his facts when writing articles. Typically he makes fun of people who have far more money and far more power then he could ever think of having."
Thanks to Don of Westerville for bringing Hejda to Buccigross' attention. Buccigross could probably fit on the media bandwagon for the CBJ.
A media bandwagon would be good for us, and frankly well-deserved. Our playoff drive is a story. Media love can't possibly hurt us in free agent season.
I love Hejda as a defenseman, but when he gets the puck on his stick, I get nervous. Especially when there's pressure on him. Not the best puck skills in the world but he always seems to make the smart play, even if it's not always a tape to tape pass.
I love Hejda as a defenseman, but when he gets the puck on his stick, I get nervous. Especially when there's pressure on him. Not the best puck skills in the world but he always seems to make the smart play, even if it's not always a tape to tape pass.
It's hard to get too nervous with a guy who's plus-19
