The Blue Jackets find themselves in second place in the tough Western Conference, and tied for fourth in the league overall, but that position conceals some growing concerns for Columbus management, players and fans.
The Jackets started the season with a red-hot powerplay, but their performance with the man advantage has gone cold of late. After going a perfect 2 for 2 against the Habs, the Jackets are 0-for-19 in the past six games, and as a result have managed only 8 goals total in that stretch (including 1 shorthanded marker, tonight in a 1-1 game against St. Louis where the Blues' goal in regulation was also a shorty. Weird.).
The Jackets have only managed to win twice in that span, but have points in 4 of 6 thanks to a tight defence, led (uncharacteristically) by their penalty kill, which has been among the league' worst for most of the season, but has allowed only 1 goal in 20 opportunities over the same span. Jackets goalies have only been scored on 9 times in those games, outside of the shootout to keep the team among the league's best in both save% and goals against. Columbus' once-vaunted powerplay has slipped to 20%, good for only 17th in the league, while their PK has climbed to 78% - still not impressive, but good for 20th overall which is a far sight better than it had been for much of the year. Good thing, too, with the Jackets ringing up the 6th most penalty minutes.
The team's offensive malaise may be tied partly to the injury to key playmaking winger (and surprisingly busy shooter) Alex Tanguay, but with Tanguay out for another 2 months or more, the Jackets will have to find some way to wake up their offence if they want to hold onto their position among the contenders. The rest of the West's playoff teams (ranked 3 through 8) are all within 5 points.
The pressure is on Head Coach Mike Babcock to find a way to get his team scoring again, or GM Doug Emerson may have to pull the trigger on a deal to shake things up.
[*The decline in goal production is not necessarily tied to shots, though. Not with the Lightning's Brian Boucher (*****) turning aside 46 of 47 shots to earn the shootout win tonight in yet another 2-1 game. Just need some more finish.]
The Jackets made a move today to address their contined scoring drought, acquiring veteran winger Johan Franzen from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Alex Tanguay, Mats Zucarello and Columbus' 1st round selection in this summer's entry draft. The Jackets also received Tampa's third-round selection in the trade.
Franzen brings a proven scoring touch, along with decent defensive zone coverage and a willingness to play a physical game in high traffic areas.
The Jackets hope that Franzen's addition will help jump-start an increasingly moribund offense. The team continues to explore other avenues to improve its chances as contenders load up for what looks to be an incredibly competitive drive for the postseason.
Nice of Franzen to play one last meaningless game in for the Lightning, and get injured. What happens I guess when several game days go by before the trade is finalized.
My own fault for not requiring him to be benched until the trade, I guess.
Columbus continues to make roster changes, moving out winger Scottie Upshall to the New Jersey Devils along with prospect Jason Zucker and Columbus' 1st round pick in 2013. Coming to the Jackets are Bryan Little, Frans Nielsen and STL 4th 2012.
Upshall has played well for Columbus this season, but his regression in the NHL combined with the size of his NHL deal in Florida made replacing him a priority.
Little, just 24, is a former 30-goal scorer whose game appears to have take a slight step back. Nielsen 27, is considered one of the league's most underrated players, providing Selke-calibre defense while enjoying a career-best season offensively. Both players are expected to be controllable for another 4 or 5 years at reasonable cap hits.
The move further bolsters the Jackets' forward depth, but once again plunders a swiftly declining prospect pool. With no first rounder this year or next, and no second this year either, Columbus will have to count on turning up more quality assets in later rounds.
GM Doug Emerson indicated that he isn't done tinkering, and that he expects to add two more pieces by the trade deadline, which is a little over a week away.
Emerson's next move in the deadline shuffle sees retail Bryan Allen moved out with a pick for Tom Gilbert.
The addition of Gilbert adds to the Jackets' collection of slick-skating puck movers, leaving Ladislav Smid the only true stay-at-homer in their starting six. It's hoped that having balance and speed throughout the blueline (Timonen, Giordano, Daley, Gunnarsson and Gilbert) will make up for the unit's general softness, and the absence of an impact shutdown top-pairing defenseman.
One further trade remains under review, thought to involve a veteran forward, while Columbus continues to look for a 7th defenseman for the playoff run.
They have to get there first: a recent three-game skid including embarrassing losses to basement-dwellers Tampa Bay and San Jose has the BJs trailing in the division and falling out of the top 4 in the West.
Emerson's next move in the deadline shuffle sees retail Bryan Allen moved out with a pick for Tom Gilbert.
The addition of Gilbert adds to the Jackets' collection of slick-skating puck movers, leaving Ladislav Smid the only true stay-at-homer in their starting six. It's hoped that having balance and speed throughout the blueline (Timonen, Giordano, Daley, Gunnarsson and Gilbert) will make up for the unit's general softness, and the absence of an impact shutdown top-pairing defenseman.
One further trade remains under review, thought to involve a veteran forward, while Columbus continues to look for a 7th defenseman for the playoff run.
They have to get there first: a recent three-game skid including embarrassing losses to basement-dwellers Tampa Bay and San Jose has the BJs trailing in the division and falling out of the top 4 in the West.
Does this void the future considerations from the CBJ/NYR Bryan Allen deal from last month?
Rumours in Florida mention that Tampa Bay and Columbus have came to an agreement regarding a trade after talking for several days. GM Martin Sedin denied to comment on those rumours late monday night.
It’s been a busy deadline, and while there’s still a week to go and some minor deals possibly in the works, the Jackets have locked up the last major piece for their playoff drive.
Heading to Tampa Bay are prospect forward Andrei Loktionov and recently acquired center Frans Neilsen. Coming to Columbus is top-6 playmaking center Mike Ribeiro. The addition of Ribeiro strengthens the Jackets’ offensive production throughout the lineup, allowing Brandon Dubinsky to move over to wing and shuffling Bryan Little and Chris Kelly to the third and fourth lines, respectively.
“We’re excited to have Mike join us," said GM Emerson. "He’s a proven competitor, has great vision, great hands, good speed, good on draws. We like how he fits into our roster this year."
There is some concern that with all of the new additions, the Jackets’ morale has suffered. “You’d think that a competitive player coming from a basement dweller to a contender would be pretty jazzed about it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said Head Coach Mike Babcock. “But we expect a certain amount of disruption while the guys get used to a new organization, new system, new linemates. We’ve got a stretch of 30 games to close out the regular season, plenty of time for the guys to gel.”
The trade caps a series of moves designed to keep the Jackets in contention in the midst of what has been dubbed the Great HFNHL Arms Race. Never before in the history of the league have we seen the top teams load up so much heading into the deadline. With names like Selanne, Gaborik and Ryan on the move, the Jackets may not have landed one of the top stars, but their moves make up in volume what they lack in star power. Here’s the tally so far:
OUT:
D Marek Zidlicky
LW Alex Tanguay
RW Scottie Upshall
RW Mats Zuccarello
Prospect C Andrei Loktionov
Prospect LW Jason Zucker
Prospect D Dylan Olsen
CBJ 1st 2012
CBJ 1st 2013
IN:
LW Johan Franzen
C Mike Ribeiro
D Tom Gilbert
RW Bryan Little
TAM 3rd 2012
STL 4th 2012
LAK 4th 2012
$1 million
Babcock is expected to try out different player combinations in a hunt for line chemistry, but out of the gate is expected to ice a lineup like this:
Burrows - Zajac - Briere
Dubinsky - Ribeiro - Franzen
Kulemin - Malhotra - Little
Kelly - Moore - Thorburn
Clarkson
Bold moves, Douglas. All in I guess, moving your next two 1st rounders. A very deep and solid line-up, although perhaps missing an elite top liner. But that hasn't stopped teams from making a run before!
Bold moves, Douglas. All in I guess, moving your next two 1st rounders. A very deep and solid line-up, although perhaps missing an elite top liner. But that hasn't stopped teams from making a run before!
Those are exactly my concerns, Nick. I'm hoping that having scoring in depth will make up for the absence of a game-breaker. I'm also concerned that the blueline is soft (outside of Smid, anyway)... but they can all skate and move the puck, so we'll see if that's enough.
But yes, I've pretty much hemorrhaged prospects and picks, so will have to count on having more success in the 3rd/4th/5th rounds (where I've been pretty lucky picking up legit NHL talent in the past).
Fortunately, the team is built for next season as well - I haven't been picking up aging rentals, so I won't have to blow my brains out in free agency or trades. Hopefully that will help stop the bleeding in young assets and cash for a while.
Losing 5 of 6 would be bad enough. Having 4 of those losses come at the hands of Tampa, San Jose, Dallas and Minnesota is simply inexcusable.
Perhaps those cellar-dwellers were buoyed by strong performances from former Jackets looking to take a puns of flesh from the club that exiled them to hockey purgatory (in Mike Sauer's case with Dallas, quite literally out of Mark Giordano's face). But that doesn't justify the Jackets continuing to take teams below them in the standings far too lightly.
The only bright spot has been the play of the newly-formed Kulemin-Malhotra-Little line. The rest of the lineup has been held off the scoresheet in the past two games.
Babcock is expected to shuffle things up a bit on the top lines in an attempt to kick start Columbus' declining offense.
With a few days left before the trade deadline, there's still time for the Jackets to get creative if necessary. Who knows? If this recent slide continues, they may have to join the parade of sellers trying to unload veteran contracts before the deadline.
In the midst of trade deadline talk, Columbus was able to put signatures on contract extensions for Captain Kimmo Timonen, Daniel Briere, Brandon Dubinsky and Carl Gunnarsson.
Veterans Timonen and Briere signed one-year extensions, avoiding UFA status this summer. Steady young blueliner Gunnarsson also signed a one-year deal, while Dubinsky is locked up for three years.
The Jackets still have another five players to ink to contracts, including pending UFAs Manny Malhotra, Dominic Moore and the recently acquired Tom Gilbert, as well as RFAs Nikolai Kulemin and Devan Dubnyk.
Columbus remains busy as the trade deadline approaches, acquiring steady veteran defenceman Radek Martinek from the Rangers for a mid-round pick.
Martinek brings a steady two way game with great size and good mobility. His contract has another year left at $2.1m, which is expensive for a depth defenceman, but the 35-year-old is good enough to be on almost any club's third pairing, and should be again next season despite having missed the bulk of this year with a concussion. He adds significantly to Columbus' depth and stability at the back end heading into what looks to be a fiercely competitive stretch drive.
... I grabbed Clitsome for a 4th rounder; he'll be a perfectly decent replacement for Gio and give me a chance to give different guys some icetime, hopefully improving overall morale. So, thanks for that!
Fortunately...
