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No Playoffs Again

by Paul on 02/29/08 at 10:59 AM ET
Comments (1)

from Ken Campbell of the Hockey News,

There’s a perfectly sound reason why Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock didn’t comment publicly when GM Scott Howson moved captain Adam Foote at the trade deadline.

It’s because he didn’t want to say anything he’d later regret.

With that one deal, Howson cut the guts out of his team and ensured it would remain the only one in NHL history to have yet to play in a playoff game.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Comments

Really, now?

There seems to be this sentiment among GMs in the league that players who stand to become unrestricted free agents must be dealt at the deadline in order to get something for them, rather than have them walk for nothing.

But what some of them don’t seem to understand is, just because a player is a potential UFA, it doesn’t mean he can’t still be an asset.

That’s nice and all, except for this little issue that Foote himself admits in a recent article ...

“When (Howson) asked me to play the year out, he really confused me,” Foote said. “I thought I had played good enough hockey to be part of the future there.”

[...]

Foote was asked why he turned down a contract extension with the Blue Jackets when he said Tuesday that finishing the season without a new deal would create too much uncertainty. The Avalanche reportedly won’t offer him a deal until the offseason.

In short?  Campbell should better know when to comment about certain things.  Suffice it to say, I get the highly distinct feeling that had Foote been kept while under this sort of mental duress and confusion, it would have made things worse in the locker room moreso than helped a playoff push that allowed only 3-4 losses in 17-18 games.

Posted by Michael Turner from Columbus, OH on 02/29/08 at 11:49 AM ET

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