Bethany's Hockey Rants

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Jackets Cut More

by Bethany on 09/25/08 at 01:11 PM ET
Comments (8)

The Columbus Blue Jackets have cut twelve more players from training camp. This brings the camp down to 47 players.

Erik Felde, Ryan Garlock, John Hughes, Brian McGuirk, Peter Pohl, Kirill Starkov, John Vigilante, Shane Willis, Trevor Hendrikx, Dan Smith, Jon Landry, and Ryan Mior were the men cut. None of the names surprise me, they weren’t expected to make the big club. McGuirk, Pohl, Starkov, Vigilante, Hendrikx, Smith, and Landry were assigned to the Crunch. We still have to get it down a lot more before opening night.

Nikita Filatov won’t be playing on Friday, he will likely play one week from today, at the game against Buffalo, or Friday vs the Wild. I will likely be attending the game against the Wild.

Here are my thoughts so far on what is going on with the Jackets, and who I think will be on the ice opening night.

Goaltending

As expected Pascal Leclaire will be our starter, and Fredrik Norrena will be the backup. With Mason getting injured LaCosta will get any callups at least until Mason is 100%.

Defense

Mike Commodore, Jan Hejda, Rusty Klesla, Fedor Tyutin, and Christian Backman are pretty much guaranteed a spot on the team. That last spot, it’s between Rome, Tollefsen, and Russell. I have my thoughts on who I think should make the team, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who is used to reading my blog, Rome. He’s big, tough, and mean. He hits when he needs to, and is just a solid stay at home defenseman. Tollefsen is also very solid, but, I like Rome’s style more than OKT. Russell is young and small, I think he could be very, very, effective down in Syracuse. Don’t get me wrong he has a ton of potential to be that puck-moving defenseman that we so desperately need, and I am sure he will develop into that, with time.

Forwards

I’m not going to get into lines or anything like that. Rick Nash, RJ Umberger, Raffi Torres, Jakub Voracek, Michael Peca, Manny Malhotra, Jared Boll, Jason Chimera, Fredrik Modin, Derick Brassard, and Kristian Huselius. Our problem last year was our scoring. We brought in guys who compliment the players that we have, and that will hopefully have chemistry which will lead to goals.

Am I wrong on any of these? Let me know what you think.

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Comments

Is MATTY still There??

Posted by OtMoHal on 09/25/08 at 01:15 PM ET

Matty Calvert? No, he was in the first group cut.

Posted by Bethany on 09/25/08 at 01:49 PM ET

NO Richard Matvichuk , played under Hitch in Dallas(STanley cup winner) Was supposed to play against Minn , according to the Columbus paper but did not! ?

Posted by OtMoHal on 09/25/08 at 01:53 PM ET

He’s still here, but he’s not expected to play Friday, but that could change in a moments notice.

Posted by Bethany on 09/25/08 at 02:04 PM ET

THANK YOU JJ’s STARS

Posted by OtMoHal on 09/25/08 at 02:05 PM ET

I’d be surprised if Russell gets sent down to the minors, he’s got great offensive skill and skating ability. What he lacks in size he more that makes up for in smarts.

Posted by dash_pinched from Mill Bay on 09/25/08 at 03:23 PM ET

Holy crap, I didn’t see that you moved until just now. Congrats, Bethany!

Posted by Shaggy from Toledo, OH on 09/25/08 at 10:05 PM ET

dash_pinched I don’t think he will get sent down, but I feel like he should. He is extremely smart, but watching him last season he seemed lost at times. His offensive skills haven’t carried over into the NHL just yet.
Shaggy thank you